Luke 1:73-74
"The oath which he swear to our father Abraham. That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,"
How is He going to bring the Hebrew out from under the hand of their enemies? He’s going to destroy them is what the religious man or natural Hebrew would think, for they saw themselves as isolationists, the elite, nationalist of mankind. They saw themselves as favored of God because they were of the natural seed of Abraham. Now with that said who are the enemies of God and Christ? The lawless ones, as depicted in the worlds religiousness as religion opposes God and the true knowledge of God as revealed through His Son. When is He going to put His foot on their neck, as it were, like a footstool. Oh, the day is coming. The Bible repeats that over and over, how that, after ‘He had sat down waiting until He would make His enemies His footstool.’ Now the world, those held as Israel was under the hand of the tormentor, Satan, by religion or the unspiritual person [thou receptive of Satan's influence] sees that it is something other than what it is. The key for this is found in what was said about the spiritual and the natural, the discerning of spiritual things and those who don't posses discernment. (1Corinthians 11:12, 12:10; Hebrews 5: 14) Verse 75:
Luke 1:75-76
"In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (it’s a Kingdom of righteousness. That’s why we call it the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.) And thou child, (speaking of John the Baptist) shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;"
Which, of course, John the Baptist did in his ministry. "To give knowledge of salvation unto his people and by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day-spring from on high has visited us."
Oh! I could just keep going, but back to Hebrews. These are the promises that will be fulfilled when the ‘until’ of Psalms 110 verse 1 comes about. When He will have his enemies as His footstool and the ruling with a rod of iron in Psalm 2 verse 9 is fulfilled. And we always put the expression, when He’s got His foot on their neck. And they are submissive to Him and He will destroy them all. Now come back to Hebrews chapter 10 and we come in at verse 14.
Hebrews 10:14a
"For by one offering…"
I know this is repetition of Scripture to hammer it home to these Hebrews that were hanging on to this old economy (Law and God's first dealings). But, like I’ve shown you, Paul says the same things only in different language back in Romans and Galatians and so forth. That that system of Law which was good for its time is now worn out. It’s useless and it’s been set aside by this, which is so much better. Now don't make the mistake that so many do and that is of mixing up of the terms Law...ie Levitical Law, Commandment....that which is spoken out side of the Law, Testament....or Covenant....that which is found in both the Old and the New that is not dealing with the Law or the Levitical Laws (with its amendments, ordinances, and statutes). For Christ was and is the only offering and thusly the last offer needed as mans conscience has been cleansed by His blood. But religion seeks to add to or deny Him and the finished work of the cross by replaying or replication of the old systems, thusly mocking both Christ and God.
Hebrews 10:14a
"For by one offering (that death on the Cross) he has perfected…"
Yehovah has Fine tuned it. You remember I’ve stressed it over and over. Twice in all of Biblical history, which also includes human history – twice God did something so perfect by which there was not one thing that He could add to improve it. There was not one flaw that He had to patch when He finished it – it was so perfect, that, what did He do? He rested. The first one was when He finished Creation in Genesis chapter 1. And He saw the work of Creation, the spiritual man is now on the scene, nature and the animal kingdom, the bird kingdom, the fish, everything is in God’s Creation and it was perfect. There wasn’t anything He could change or correct, and so next verse says, "He rested." That’s understandable isn’t it? How can you add anything if it’s perfect – and so then what had you might as well do? Sit down. Enjoy what God had done, enjoy God and be in harmony with Him. And that’s what God did.
Then the second time is when, in Hebrews it tells us, that after He had purged us from our sin (which of course is the work of the Cross, His death, burial, His shed Blood, His resurrection and ascended taking the captives back to glory), He did the same thing. It was such a perfect complete work of redemption that not one human soul could ever say, "Well, I missed it because it wasn’t good enough for me." It’s perfect, and it’s complete. And again, what did He do when He completed the work of the Cross? He sat down, because Grace was now in operation through Him, the complete One. There wasn’t anything more He could do. And so this is what Hebrews is screaming at us. It was such a perfect work of redemption. Once for all. And so, by that one death on the Cross, He has perfected forever those that are sanctified (or set apart), purchased by His blood. Now the question comes are you one of those people, sanctified? All right, verse 15.
Hebrews 10:15-16a
"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us; for after that he had said before, This is the covenant…"
The reason the Holy Spirit is given, the Holy Spirit prompted Jeremiah and Ezekiel to write of this covenant; and we’ll go back and look at it in just a bite. The Holy Spirit prompted Jeremiah to write, "This is the covenant that I will make with them (Israel. The Nation of Israel, His Covenant people and/or those who will to be willing to accept His terms and conditions, death to self-love and the world and the spirit of the world) after those days, saith the Lord. And I will put my laws into their hearts." Not on tables of stone, but “in the heart” or with a whole heartedness of every Hebrew and Gentile. "And in their minds, I will write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." It’s going to be a done deal. Come back to Jeremiah 31.
Jeremiah 31:31 Whenever you hear or see the Bible speak of the New Covenant, this is what it is. Now you and I are under the New Covenant because we’re of the mystery Israel, but we’re certainly enjoying all the ramifications of it. Everything that God did to fulfill the covenant made with the Hebrews has been to our benefit (Grace as found in the person of His Son). It was just like the Law, when He gave the Law, who came under it? The nation of Israel made up of Hebrews. But, did the Law stop at the borders of Israel? Yes, the Levitical Law did, but the commandment spoken to Adam when it become a law by Adams one act of rebellion it went to the whole human race and we have all become guilty.
The same way with the work of this New Covenant. Yes, the ramifications of it are limited to the house which God rules as they are the Kingdom. And we are now as Gentiles for the last 2,000 and some odd years have enjoyed all the ramifications of it. Even though we are not part and parcel of the Hebrews but we are called by God as His-Israel when we have passed through the veil and our trust becomes His faithfulness again.
Jeremiah 31:31-32
"Behold the days come, saith the LORD (now remember this is written about 600 BC) that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel [this is not as many suppose it to be as this Israel are the spiritually awakened ones], and the House of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt; (Which covenant was not of the Law) which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:"
Here's where we find the separation between Israel and Judah, Judah being all those of Judaism under its rule or of the religion bond to Satan. Because they are constantly in rebellion, see? Now verse 33:
We're talking about this New Covenant that God is going to fulfill with the Nation of His making and also known as Israel and all those who through the old path become heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Which happened when Christ left and took His position at the right hand of the Father, having defeated all of His enemies. Which is what happened in 70 AD. Of course, we've already been taken up into Heavenliest and are awaiting the remaining times of [greater] tribulation of seven years in earth time, as we'll have passed with our Lord into Glory. We’ll have been through the Bema Seat experience where we receive our reward for what we have done in this old body while working in His revelation as disciples for Him down here today.
But the main thing we’re looking at here is this New Covenant as it’s directed to the Nation of Israel, and those who have passed through the veil, water and blood of His flesh by way of trusting His word. It will be fulfilled to the last jot and tittle. And every Hebrew will no longer have to practice the sacrifices. They will no longer have to battle the old sin nature and Satan, Religion, for it will be Heaven on earth. The remnant of the Nation of Israel [those separated from Judaism by choice] and become Christ-like-ones, as the house El rules, will be in their physical bodies in the Kingdom Age, along with all believers who are birthed during and make it through the Tribulation.
Hebrews 10:18
"Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin."
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCXXXVII
Romans 15:8
"Now I say that Jesus Christ was (past tense) a minister of the circumcision (the Nation of Israel, the Hebrews) for the truth of God, (and here’s the purpose for His coming, to be the ontological introduction and) to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:"
Now how much plainer can English make it? Now you do have to be a little bit of a student of Scripture – what were the promises? Oh my goodness, I could fill the rest of this study with them. But primarily it was that, after they’d become that chosen nation and after God had brought them into their promised deeded lands, God in the Person of the Messiah, the Son, would be their Messiah-King. And all those promises were wrapped up in those three formats. That here they are now, the covenant people (thou broken by them and now divorced from God and alienated from Him), a nation in the Promised Land, waiting for the coming of their Messiah, Redeemer and King.
Now all you have to do is go back and just read some of the promises of the Kingdom as they’re laid out in the Old Testament prophets. When Isaiah speaks of the day when the lion will feed with the lamb. And when the wild animals will literally be the playmates of kids and children. And when there will be no suffering, there will be no death, there will be no sickness. It’s going to be Heaven on earth. All those were promises made to the fathers. It’s coming. The Hebrews didn’t believe it the first time around, but they will the next one. And they’ll recognize that Messiah and to the last Hebrew that remnant nation will be saved. And then all these things are going to become a reality. But does this mean a physical or spiritual reality? Read on.
Luke 1:72-73
"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham."
See how plain all this is. Zacharias is just simply taking us back to where I’ve just taken you. The Abrahamic Covenant and then all the promises that were associated when that covenant would finally be fulfilled. It hasn’t been yet, in the physical realm but what about in God's spiritual realm? The religionists would say, but it’s coming – if anybody ever questions you why you put so much trust in this Book, you can answer it with two words. The Hebrew/Jew. He’s the proof of the pudding. But is it and are they really? For God as we've said before is not always relating to physical things as many suppose through their religious up bring just as Israel had been. For when Jesus with James, John and Peter were on the hill top and they were witness to His Glory and the two prophets. Moses being the Law and Elijah being the Prophets and they were talking to Jesus about His resurrection. They, the disciples witnessed the change from the old toward the New thing that was yet on the horizon that was to come about through Christ's death.
The Hebrew - my goodness, he should have disappeared hundreds of years ago. In fact, the latest book by Patrick Buchanan using demographics that are coming out from research outfits, by the year 2050, the Nation of Germany will disappear. There will no longer be German people; they’ll be assimilated. Not much longer than that America will disappear, as America, the three will become one (North, Central, and South). Great Britain will disappear as Great Britain. Because we’ll all be assimilated into these third world people or nation, that are multiplying ten children per woman where most of Western Nations are one child per woman. This is the course set into play by the god of this worlds order, Satan. This will come about through his instruments of man as a one world government and religion. All counterfeits of God's divine Kingdom as brought into focus by His Son, the Lord of Life.
This doesn’t take a mathematics major to figure that out. If only one child per woman is what keeps a nation going, you need two to play even, you need three to grow. And so, one means the demise of the people. All right, but the reason I’m pointing that out is this. Germany today is a nation of 75-80 million people. We’re a nation of 270 million and if we’re going to disappear as a people in 50 years, then how in the world is this little nation of never more than 15 million people (most of the time more like 10 or 11 million, scattered out into all the nations of the world for now 2000-3000 plus years) still there? Just like this Book said they would be. What did God tell them?
Deuteronomy 30:1
"And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,"
Do you hear what He is saying to them? Then down to verse 4.
Deuteronomy 30:4-5a
"If any of thine be driven out unto the outer most parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the LORD thy God, will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it;...."
Since the first advent of the Messiah, the God ruled man, the Christ and His appointed death the land scape has been changed through His death, resurrection ascension and then His ascension again. For God is a spirit and all those who come to Him are required to become spirit again. As the terrestrial must put on the celestial or to become spiritually active in receptivity of the divine, and not remain the religion of the physical, external [in mans flesh] or under Satan's rule. For His Christ is our and their true promise land or Canaan of God.
Then you jump up into Ezekiel 36 and some of the other prophetic books and they all say the same thing. That after the Hebrews have been scattered among the nations, God will one day bring them back to their homeland. There they are. The world can scream and holler all they want that they don’t belong there. Well, the world doesn’t know this Book. Because it lays under the veil of religion which hides from mere men the understanding of all that which is spoken of as belonging to the spiritual Isra-El of God who are in Christ and with the essence of Christ's rule reestablished within them.
This Book says that’s where they and we belong. And it’s proof that this Word is true. That after almost 3000 years of being scattered amongst every nations – they should have lost their identity 2000 plus years ago. They should have lost it at least 1000 years ago, but they haven’t. Now the natural Israel there they are back in their homeland, Palestine, just like God said they would be. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that these people who call themselves Jews, really aren’t, because archeology proves it over and over and over. As stated not all this is called Israel is the true Israel of God. Because a true "Christian" is a house ruled by God again for they have as Abram placed their trust in Him through Christ Jesus.
Here in the last few years they’ve dug up Jewish writings that were intrinsic to the Ashkenazi Hebrews, Hebrews in Eastern Europe and those writings had been there for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. All associated with the Hebrews of Eastern Europe. Well then only about a few years or so ago, they found the same kind of a cache of great library works from the other segment of the Sephardim Hebrews that had been primarily in Spain and North Africa, all proving that these people, both groups, have been totally under the control of this Old Testament Bible for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. And there they are! Proof that this Book knows what it’s talking about.
All right, so now if you’ll come back with me to Luke chapter 1. When Zacharias spoke, the nation of Israel wasn’t ready for it and they rejected it all. But now we’re approaching the day – the Hebrews are back in the land and most of the Hebrews do not even realize that it’s time for their Messiah to come. Oh, they’ve got that inner heart-cry. They know they want Him to come but yet they won’t voice it verbally. For all humanity is hungry for the true Israel and its Messiah to be exposed/unveiled if you will. But the world is not aware of how God will do it. But here it is:
Luke 1:73-74
"The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,"
"Now I say that Jesus Christ was (past tense) a minister of the circumcision (the Nation of Israel, the Hebrews) for the truth of God, (and here’s the purpose for His coming, to be the ontological introduction and) to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:"
Now how much plainer can English make it? Now you do have to be a little bit of a student of Scripture – what were the promises? Oh my goodness, I could fill the rest of this study with them. But primarily it was that, after they’d become that chosen nation and after God had brought them into their promised deeded lands, God in the Person of the Messiah, the Son, would be their Messiah-King. And all those promises were wrapped up in those three formats. That here they are now, the covenant people (thou broken by them and now divorced from God and alienated from Him), a nation in the Promised Land, waiting for the coming of their Messiah, Redeemer and King.
Now all you have to do is go back and just read some of the promises of the Kingdom as they’re laid out in the Old Testament prophets. When Isaiah speaks of the day when the lion will feed with the lamb. And when the wild animals will literally be the playmates of kids and children. And when there will be no suffering, there will be no death, there will be no sickness. It’s going to be Heaven on earth. All those were promises made to the fathers. It’s coming. The Hebrews didn’t believe it the first time around, but they will the next one. And they’ll recognize that Messiah and to the last Hebrew that remnant nation will be saved. And then all these things are going to become a reality. But does this mean a physical or spiritual reality? Read on.
Luke 1:72-73
"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham."
See how plain all this is. Zacharias is just simply taking us back to where I’ve just taken you. The Abrahamic Covenant and then all the promises that were associated when that covenant would finally be fulfilled. It hasn’t been yet, in the physical realm but what about in God's spiritual realm? The religionists would say, but it’s coming – if anybody ever questions you why you put so much trust in this Book, you can answer it with two words. The Hebrew/Jew. He’s the proof of the pudding. But is it and are they really? For God as we've said before is not always relating to physical things as many suppose through their religious up bring just as Israel had been. For when Jesus with James, John and Peter were on the hill top and they were witness to His Glory and the two prophets. Moses being the Law and Elijah being the Prophets and they were talking to Jesus about His resurrection. They, the disciples witnessed the change from the old toward the New thing that was yet on the horizon that was to come about through Christ's death.
The Hebrew - my goodness, he should have disappeared hundreds of years ago. In fact, the latest book by Patrick Buchanan using demographics that are coming out from research outfits, by the year 2050, the Nation of Germany will disappear. There will no longer be German people; they’ll be assimilated. Not much longer than that America will disappear, as America, the three will become one (North, Central, and South). Great Britain will disappear as Great Britain. Because we’ll all be assimilated into these third world people or nation, that are multiplying ten children per woman where most of Western Nations are one child per woman. This is the course set into play by the god of this worlds order, Satan. This will come about through his instruments of man as a one world government and religion. All counterfeits of God's divine Kingdom as brought into focus by His Son, the Lord of Life.
This doesn’t take a mathematics major to figure that out. If only one child per woman is what keeps a nation going, you need two to play even, you need three to grow. And so, one means the demise of the people. All right, but the reason I’m pointing that out is this. Germany today is a nation of 75-80 million people. We’re a nation of 270 million and if we’re going to disappear as a people in 50 years, then how in the world is this little nation of never more than 15 million people (most of the time more like 10 or 11 million, scattered out into all the nations of the world for now 2000-3000 plus years) still there? Just like this Book said they would be. What did God tell them?
Deuteronomy 30:1
"And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,"
Do you hear what He is saying to them? Then down to verse 4.
Deuteronomy 30:4-5a
"If any of thine be driven out unto the outer most parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the LORD thy God, will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it;...."
Since the first advent of the Messiah, the God ruled man, the Christ and His appointed death the land scape has been changed through His death, resurrection ascension and then His ascension again. For God is a spirit and all those who come to Him are required to become spirit again. As the terrestrial must put on the celestial or to become spiritually active in receptivity of the divine, and not remain the religion of the physical, external [in mans flesh] or under Satan's rule. For His Christ is our and their true promise land or Canaan of God.
Then you jump up into Ezekiel 36 and some of the other prophetic books and they all say the same thing. That after the Hebrews have been scattered among the nations, God will one day bring them back to their homeland. There they are. The world can scream and holler all they want that they don’t belong there. Well, the world doesn’t know this Book. Because it lays under the veil of religion which hides from mere men the understanding of all that which is spoken of as belonging to the spiritual Isra-El of God who are in Christ and with the essence of Christ's rule reestablished within them.
This Book says that’s where they and we belong. And it’s proof that this Word is true. That after almost 3000 years of being scattered amongst every nations – they should have lost their identity 2000 plus years ago. They should have lost it at least 1000 years ago, but they haven’t. Now the natural Israel there they are back in their homeland, Palestine, just like God said they would be. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that these people who call themselves Jews, really aren’t, because archeology proves it over and over and over. As stated not all this is called Israel is the true Israel of God. Because a true "Christian" is a house ruled by God again for they have as Abram placed their trust in Him through Christ Jesus.
Here in the last few years they’ve dug up Jewish writings that were intrinsic to the Ashkenazi Hebrews, Hebrews in Eastern Europe and those writings had been there for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. All associated with the Hebrews of Eastern Europe. Well then only about a few years or so ago, they found the same kind of a cache of great library works from the other segment of the Sephardim Hebrews that had been primarily in Spain and North Africa, all proving that these people, both groups, have been totally under the control of this Old Testament Bible for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. And there they are! Proof that this Book knows what it’s talking about.
All right, so now if you’ll come back with me to Luke chapter 1. When Zacharias spoke, the nation of Israel wasn’t ready for it and they rejected it all. But now we’re approaching the day – the Hebrews are back in the land and most of the Hebrews do not even realize that it’s time for their Messiah to come. Oh, they’ve got that inner heart-cry. They know they want Him to come but yet they won’t voice it verbally. For all humanity is hungry for the true Israel and its Messiah to be exposed/unveiled if you will. But the world is not aware of how God will do it. But here it is:
Luke 1:73-74
"The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,"
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCXXXVI
Before we get started today allow me as a reminder to say that when we become one in and with Christ by way of His essence through divine illumination we do not remain stagnant. As we're always on the increase of divine revelation of Christ as He's the Lord of Life, Truth, Grace and Love and His working is therefore both within and then through us. As long as we remain open and receptive of His activity.
Luke 1:67-68a
"And his father (that is the father of John the Baptist) was filled with the Holy Ghost, and (he, John's father) prophesied, (spoke forth by way of revelation) saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;…"
Not the whole world yet, but Israel. I’ve said it more than once, people get a little bit upset when I point this out – that Christ came only to fulfill the covenants made with His covenant people, Israel. Up to that time in that particular economy wherein God had been dealing only or exclusively with Israel as a nation. So this makes it so plain and I’ve often had to quote Romans 15 verse 8 where Paul says, "I say now, that Jesus Christ was (past tense) a minister of the circumcision. (The Hebrews) For the truth of God (not because Paul dreamed it up but because it was a fact of Scripture) that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to fulfill the promises made to the fathers."
That was the purpose of His first advent. This falls right in line with what Zacharias is speaking by the leading of the Holy Spirit's inspiration. All right look what he says, verse 68.
Luke 1:68-71a
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed His people, (the Nation of Israel) And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us (who are the ‘us’) in the house of his servant David (house of Judah); As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world (some would say ages, but since the trusting of God by trusting Abraham who's trust was credited him as faith because he passed through the crisis, through which he acquired the promise of his son Isaac) began. (speaking of the Old Testament/Covenant writers.) That we (the Hebrews) should be saved from our (what?) enemies,…"
Now, when Psalms speaks of sitting at the Father’s right hand, until He puts His foot on his enemies, what does it speak of? He’s going to destroy them [the religionists]. They’re under His control and He’s fed up with them. And they’re going to disappear. But we must understand that for the Hebrews elitists (those of the Sanhedrin or the Pharisee's, Sadducee and Scribes) the gentiles were all enemies and that because of the corruption of Judaism their hearts were blind to God's intent as revealed through His Son Christ Jesus. Look what it says:
Luke 1:71
"That we should be saved from our enemies, from the hand of all that hate us;"
My doesn’t the Middle East just ring in your ears? Yeah, it’s coming. Those that hate the physical nation of Israel, why? But this is only seen from the practical and religious perspective as God hates all forms of religion be it Judaism or Islam or even the western form of Christianity [Christian-Judaism if you will] because they all oppose God's activity through His Son Christ Jesus. Now here's their argument. Because their heirs of Abraham's covenant, the land of Palestine and are blowing them up every day. Oh, their (those who have become Christ centered their) enemy’s day is coming. Remember God has separated the Jews from the Israel of God for this house is made up of all who have become Christ centered ones, or the house El rules which is the meaning of Isra-El.
The God of glory is yet one day going to bring peace to Jerusalem. Now I must say this, God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel also included those who would come to the same kind of trust as Abram had. They're the descendents of the promise, they're the ones in a figure as the stars of the heavens great in number. Remember that the stars told the story of this Gospel but on the day Satan was cast from the presence of God the stars were shaken by force or moved out of their proper orbits by a degree or so, just as the earth was and will be again. For now that day there was an earth quake which split the rocks around the city of Jerusalem. Good thing that Jesus was crucified outside the city gates for I personally feel that the hole of it would have fallen just like Jericho did.
Luke 1:72
"To perform the mercy promised to our father, …"
What did the verse in Romans 15 that I quoted earlier say? We’d better go back and look at it. You probably can’t remember what I quoted anyway. So come back to Romans (keep your hand in Luke) because, see all these things fit. That’s the best way I can put on it, because it fits like fingers in a glove. Here in Romans chapter 15, this is from the Apostle of the Gentiles who is declaring the finished work of the Cross. But he’s letting it be known so clearly that Jesus had nothing to do with Gentiles in His earthly ministry (with one or two exceptions), and here’s the reason:
Romans 15:8
"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:"
Luke 1:67-68a
"And his father (that is the father of John the Baptist) was filled with the Holy Ghost, and (he, John's father) prophesied, (spoke forth by way of revelation) saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;…"
Not the whole world yet, but Israel. I’ve said it more than once, people get a little bit upset when I point this out – that Christ came only to fulfill the covenants made with His covenant people, Israel. Up to that time in that particular economy wherein God had been dealing only or exclusively with Israel as a nation. So this makes it so plain and I’ve often had to quote Romans 15 verse 8 where Paul says, "I say now, that Jesus Christ was (past tense) a minister of the circumcision. (The Hebrews) For the truth of God (not because Paul dreamed it up but because it was a fact of Scripture) that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to fulfill the promises made to the fathers."
That was the purpose of His first advent. This falls right in line with what Zacharias is speaking by the leading of the Holy Spirit's inspiration. All right look what he says, verse 68.
Luke 1:68-71a
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed His people, (the Nation of Israel) And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us (who are the ‘us’) in the house of his servant David (house of Judah); As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world (some would say ages, but since the trusting of God by trusting Abraham who's trust was credited him as faith because he passed through the crisis, through which he acquired the promise of his son Isaac) began. (speaking of the Old Testament/Covenant writers.) That we (the Hebrews) should be saved from our (what?) enemies,…"
Now, when Psalms speaks of sitting at the Father’s right hand, until He puts His foot on his enemies, what does it speak of? He’s going to destroy them [the religionists]. They’re under His control and He’s fed up with them. And they’re going to disappear. But we must understand that for the Hebrews elitists (those of the Sanhedrin or the Pharisee's, Sadducee and Scribes) the gentiles were all enemies and that because of the corruption of Judaism their hearts were blind to God's intent as revealed through His Son Christ Jesus. Look what it says:
Luke 1:71
"That we should be saved from our enemies, from the hand of all that hate us;"
My doesn’t the Middle East just ring in your ears? Yeah, it’s coming. Those that hate the physical nation of Israel, why? But this is only seen from the practical and religious perspective as God hates all forms of religion be it Judaism or Islam or even the western form of Christianity [Christian-Judaism if you will] because they all oppose God's activity through His Son Christ Jesus. Now here's their argument. Because their heirs of Abraham's covenant, the land of Palestine and are blowing them up every day. Oh, their (those who have become Christ centered their) enemy’s day is coming. Remember God has separated the Jews from the Israel of God for this house is made up of all who have become Christ centered ones, or the house El rules which is the meaning of Isra-El.
The God of glory is yet one day going to bring peace to Jerusalem. Now I must say this, God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel also included those who would come to the same kind of trust as Abram had. They're the descendents of the promise, they're the ones in a figure as the stars of the heavens great in number. Remember that the stars told the story of this Gospel but on the day Satan was cast from the presence of God the stars were shaken by force or moved out of their proper orbits by a degree or so, just as the earth was and will be again. For now that day there was an earth quake which split the rocks around the city of Jerusalem. Good thing that Jesus was crucified outside the city gates for I personally feel that the hole of it would have fallen just like Jericho did.
Luke 1:72
"To perform the mercy promised to our father, …"
What did the verse in Romans 15 that I quoted earlier say? We’d better go back and look at it. You probably can’t remember what I quoted anyway. So come back to Romans (keep your hand in Luke) because, see all these things fit. That’s the best way I can put on it, because it fits like fingers in a glove. Here in Romans chapter 15, this is from the Apostle of the Gentiles who is declaring the finished work of the Cross. But he’s letting it be known so clearly that Jesus had nothing to do with Gentiles in His earthly ministry (with one or two exceptions), and here’s the reason:
Romans 15:8
"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:"
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCXXXV
Acts 15:10
"Now therefore why tempt (or test) ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, (or upon the believers. Now we’re talking here about Paul’s converts up there in Gentile country. Not talking about the Twelve Disciples. Don’t get the terminology switched. So why test God, to put a yoke upon the neck of those believers) which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear."
Again, is yoke a nice word? No, it’s a detestable word. Because what does a yoke indicate? You’re a beast of burden. It simply makes you nothing more than a beast of burden. That’s what it was to be under the Levitical Law and that is what it is to be under a religious legalism such as Judaism. My some of you have been there. You know what I’m talking about when you find that your now Free from what? The bondage of religion. And I won’t give you the name of the denomination, but it was a denomination of bondage as most of them are. Oh, to be set free from that stuff. And that’s all it is, it’s stuff. It’s a yoke of bondage. It’s beggarly. It’s weak. It’s legalism.
All right, now then, let’s come back to Hebrews again because I’ve got a thought that I’m sure I want to hit and I think it’s in some of these coming verses.
Hebrews 10:11
"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, stood daily ministering and offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin;" Now what’s the first word again in verse 12?
Hebrews 10:12a
"But (oh, the flipside! See?) this man, (the one who received the body there in Virgin Mary. Who grew up in the carpenter’s shop. Who began His ministry up and down the dusty roads of Palestine. And for the most part stayed away from the Judaism of Jerusalem. But, this man,) after he had offered (how many?) one (not a million) sacrifice for sins for ever,…"
Listen if you don’t remember anything else. I want you to remember that little set of words. "But this man after He had offered one sacrifice for ever,..." That means exactly what it says.
It is forever and when we come under the power and the redeeming liberty of that sacrifice, we are safe forever. Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Unending. The question came up, How long is eternity? It’s as long as God lives! How long is that? No end! And that’s how long we’re going to be there – forever. All right, because of the sacrifice for sin that Christ made, what did He do? He sat down. See? After He had established that one sacrifice that was sufficient for all mankind for all eternity. He could do what? He could sit down. He didn’t have to start making plans for the next time he would come back. He didn’t have to start lining up arrangements for when He could go back to the planet and do it again. There is never any need of that being done again, and why do so many show they're ignorance by repeating they're need of a sacrifice again. Unbelief and lawlessness. Why do they want to begin the old customs of the Judaizers again because they have hearts veiled by God. They want to resurrect all the old ways of man because it has become a mans religion.
No, it’s been done once and for all. That sacrifice has covered all the sins of the human race – and then we worry and moan, "Is what He’s done really enough for my salvation? Is it enough for me?" You better believe it! And don’t go trying to add to it. Just receive it as your own, as if it was you on that tree, then believe it in your heart for your salvation! Yes! receive His Salvation as it is your own. When we put our trust in that sacrificial work of Christ, we’re safe for all eternity. Nothing can take us out of that security! And we’ll be looking at the efficacy or the power of the cleansing of that shed blood of Christ. And oh listen, as a result of it, He could sit down at the right hand of God. He is my security is He your? Its Christ in you as He is in me, just as Paul has stated by way of divine revelation.
He’s not going to sit there forever so far as dealing with lost humanity because He’s still going to deal in His wrath with lost unbelieving and lawless mankind – but we’ll pick that up soon enough.
Hebrews 10:12
"But this man, (the One to whom God gave the body up there in verse 5.) after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, (not just for once a year as Israel’s high priest did. Now “Once Forever”) sat down on the right hand of God;"
Now we covered that quite extensively previously. Now verse 13.
Hebrews 10:13
"From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."
Once He ascended back to glory having finished the work of Grace our Redemption and Salvation on the Cross, "He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High until." Now let’s go back to Psalms 110 verse 1 and pick up the Old Testament format of that very same act – that all of this was prophesied. None of this is strange to the Old Testament prophecies. Psalms 110 verse 1. And this, of course, was accomplished at His ascension then in Acts chapter 1, when the Eleven watched Him go. As He entered into the Holy of Holiest in Heaven, and He sat down at the right hand of the Father on High. Keep in mind also that this was the second ascension as He had already taken captive captivity on into the Holiest place when He sanctified them with His Blood.
Psalms 110:1a
"The LORD (God the Father, Elohim) said unto my Lord, (God the Son, Yehovah, Yeshua-Christ the Messiah) Sit thou at my right hand, (the place of power and Authority, what’s the next word?) until…"
Now you want to highlight that or underline it because that’s the key word. He has not seated Himself for eternity. The work of the Cross is finished forever but His seating Himself at the right hand of the Father is not for eternity. It is only until the Father says:
Psalms 110:1b
"…I make thine enemies thy footstool."
When will that happen? When He returns at His second advent. When Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation (now here's a thought or question what's the purpose of the tribulation, or what's involved in the events that will take place during it? To make His enemies His footstool!), it’s not going to be with love and mercy and grace and salvation. It’s going to be with wrath and judgment. It’s just simply a fact of Scripture, that God has now been giving out His Grace for 2,000 plus years – offering salvation to anyone from the top of the totem pole to the bottom, none excepted. Rich or poor. Black or white. Red or yellow. The whole human race has now had an opportunity to receive God’s tremendous salvation because of what He has done. Just as verse 8 of Psalm 2 tells us. Why the wrath and judgment? Because they've made light of His Gospel which is Christ and trampled under foot His cross and Blood by so doing.
There’s coming a day, and we think we’re getting close, where this ‘until’ will finally come to pass. And that is when He will make His enemies His footstool, when He returns with wrath and judgment and cleanses the earth of all the wickedness – everything that smacks of religion in this materialistic, wicked, lawlessness, sensual world will disappear as well as the people with it. Now, to give you a glimpse as to how even the Hebrews of Jesus’ day were looking forward to this. Come with me to Luke chapter 1, because there we have a beautiful description of what the believing Hebrews of Jesus’ day were looking for, but the Nation of Israel as a whole, rejected it.
This is from the lips of a man filled by the Holy Spirit. Luke chapter 1 and he lays it out so clearly of what God was ready to bring into the Nation of Israel. They rejected it (three times if memory serves me in Acts alone), but God is still going to do it. He’s still going to return at His second advent and all of these things spoken of here by Zacharias will become a literal fulfilled reality. All right, let’s jump in at verse 67 where Zacharias now (the father of John the Baptist, one of the last priests working the Temple rites in Jerusalem) has just been filled with the Holy Spirit and he is prompted to speak this:
Luke 1:67-68
"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,"
"Now therefore why tempt (or test) ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, (or upon the believers. Now we’re talking here about Paul’s converts up there in Gentile country. Not talking about the Twelve Disciples. Don’t get the terminology switched. So why test God, to put a yoke upon the neck of those believers) which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear."
Again, is yoke a nice word? No, it’s a detestable word. Because what does a yoke indicate? You’re a beast of burden. It simply makes you nothing more than a beast of burden. That’s what it was to be under the Levitical Law and that is what it is to be under a religious legalism such as Judaism. My some of you have been there. You know what I’m talking about when you find that your now Free from what? The bondage of religion. And I won’t give you the name of the denomination, but it was a denomination of bondage as most of them are. Oh, to be set free from that stuff. And that’s all it is, it’s stuff. It’s a yoke of bondage. It’s beggarly. It’s weak. It’s legalism.
All right, now then, let’s come back to Hebrews again because I’ve got a thought that I’m sure I want to hit and I think it’s in some of these coming verses.
Hebrews 10:11
"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, stood daily ministering and offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin;" Now what’s the first word again in verse 12?
Hebrews 10:12a
"But (oh, the flipside! See?) this man, (the one who received the body there in Virgin Mary. Who grew up in the carpenter’s shop. Who began His ministry up and down the dusty roads of Palestine. And for the most part stayed away from the Judaism of Jerusalem. But, this man,) after he had offered (how many?) one (not a million) sacrifice for sins for ever,…"
Listen if you don’t remember anything else. I want you to remember that little set of words. "But this man after He had offered one sacrifice for ever,..." That means exactly what it says.
It is forever and when we come under the power and the redeeming liberty of that sacrifice, we are safe forever. Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Unending. The question came up, How long is eternity? It’s as long as God lives! How long is that? No end! And that’s how long we’re going to be there – forever. All right, because of the sacrifice for sin that Christ made, what did He do? He sat down. See? After He had established that one sacrifice that was sufficient for all mankind for all eternity. He could do what? He could sit down. He didn’t have to start making plans for the next time he would come back. He didn’t have to start lining up arrangements for when He could go back to the planet and do it again. There is never any need of that being done again, and why do so many show they're ignorance by repeating they're need of a sacrifice again. Unbelief and lawlessness. Why do they want to begin the old customs of the Judaizers again because they have hearts veiled by God. They want to resurrect all the old ways of man because it has become a mans religion.
No, it’s been done once and for all. That sacrifice has covered all the sins of the human race – and then we worry and moan, "Is what He’s done really enough for my salvation? Is it enough for me?" You better believe it! And don’t go trying to add to it. Just receive it as your own, as if it was you on that tree, then believe it in your heart for your salvation! Yes! receive His Salvation as it is your own. When we put our trust in that sacrificial work of Christ, we’re safe for all eternity. Nothing can take us out of that security! And we’ll be looking at the efficacy or the power of the cleansing of that shed blood of Christ. And oh listen, as a result of it, He could sit down at the right hand of God. He is my security is He your? Its Christ in you as He is in me, just as Paul has stated by way of divine revelation.
He’s not going to sit there forever so far as dealing with lost humanity because He’s still going to deal in His wrath with lost unbelieving and lawless mankind – but we’ll pick that up soon enough.
Hebrews 10:12
"But this man, (the One to whom God gave the body up there in verse 5.) after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, (not just for once a year as Israel’s high priest did. Now “Once Forever”) sat down on the right hand of God;"
Now we covered that quite extensively previously. Now verse 13.
Hebrews 10:13
"From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."
Once He ascended back to glory having finished the work of Grace our Redemption and Salvation on the Cross, "He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High until." Now let’s go back to Psalms 110 verse 1 and pick up the Old Testament format of that very same act – that all of this was prophesied. None of this is strange to the Old Testament prophecies. Psalms 110 verse 1. And this, of course, was accomplished at His ascension then in Acts chapter 1, when the Eleven watched Him go. As He entered into the Holy of Holiest in Heaven, and He sat down at the right hand of the Father on High. Keep in mind also that this was the second ascension as He had already taken captive captivity on into the Holiest place when He sanctified them with His Blood.
Psalms 110:1a
"The LORD (God the Father, Elohim) said unto my Lord, (God the Son, Yehovah, Yeshua-Christ the Messiah) Sit thou at my right hand, (the place of power and Authority, what’s the next word?) until…"
Now you want to highlight that or underline it because that’s the key word. He has not seated Himself for eternity. The work of the Cross is finished forever but His seating Himself at the right hand of the Father is not for eternity. It is only until the Father says:
Psalms 110:1b
"…I make thine enemies thy footstool."
When will that happen? When He returns at His second advent. When Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation (now here's a thought or question what's the purpose of the tribulation, or what's involved in the events that will take place during it? To make His enemies His footstool!), it’s not going to be with love and mercy and grace and salvation. It’s going to be with wrath and judgment. It’s just simply a fact of Scripture, that God has now been giving out His Grace for 2,000 plus years – offering salvation to anyone from the top of the totem pole to the bottom, none excepted. Rich or poor. Black or white. Red or yellow. The whole human race has now had an opportunity to receive God’s tremendous salvation because of what He has done. Just as verse 8 of Psalm 2 tells us. Why the wrath and judgment? Because they've made light of His Gospel which is Christ and trampled under foot His cross and Blood by so doing.
There’s coming a day, and we think we’re getting close, where this ‘until’ will finally come to pass. And that is when He will make His enemies His footstool, when He returns with wrath and judgment and cleanses the earth of all the wickedness – everything that smacks of religion in this materialistic, wicked, lawlessness, sensual world will disappear as well as the people with it. Now, to give you a glimpse as to how even the Hebrews of Jesus’ day were looking forward to this. Come with me to Luke chapter 1, because there we have a beautiful description of what the believing Hebrews of Jesus’ day were looking for, but the Nation of Israel as a whole, rejected it.
This is from the lips of a man filled by the Holy Spirit. Luke chapter 1 and he lays it out so clearly of what God was ready to bring into the Nation of Israel. They rejected it (three times if memory serves me in Acts alone), but God is still going to do it. He’s still going to return at His second advent and all of these things spoken of here by Zacharias will become a literal fulfilled reality. All right, let’s jump in at verse 67 where Zacharias now (the father of John the Baptist, one of the last priests working the Temple rites in Jerusalem) has just been filled with the Holy Spirit and he is prompted to speak this:
Luke 1:67-68
"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,"
Saturday, November 10, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCXXXIV
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Do you see why he mentioned the body a few verses earlier? It had to come. We had to have Christ in the flesh. God had to have that body prepared so that it could be the supreme sacrifice. Now again, most of us don't comprehend the idea and the necessity of the blood sacrifice (what most people don't do is dig into the word, take the fig leaf how many know its secret?). It’s beyond our human reasoning or comprehension. One day, when we get to Glory, I think we’ll understand, but I don’t think most of us can even get a smidgen of the understanding of why God has demanded the blood sacrifice. The closest I can come to it is that life is in the blood, but what does that mean? That we cannot get life unless there is first death. I mean that’s one of the laws of nature – for a seed to germinate and have new life, it has to first die. Well, spiritually it’s the same way, see? We cannot experience new life until we have experienced death to the old self willed sin nature. Let’s move on. This power is reserved to God in Christ and the mystery He had hidden in our sight but not our understanding until the Holy Spirit has taken His place within us. So in verse 11, we go back to the old economy.
Now before we can go any farther we need to understand something about the tree to which the axe had been laid as revealed by John the Baptist. This tree just like the sycimore we used earlier was symbolic of the religion of the day and is in fact the symbol of all such religion. When John saw the religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming for baptism, he unleashed a severe denunciation about their being a “brood of vipers,” the offspring of snakes! Or we can say sons of Satan as this is the plight of all humanity until the day of Christ be formed within us. John was the son of a priest, in his day of birth the high priest and the last such son with both parents being of Levi. And may have seen firsthand the hypocrisy and corruption of the religious parties of his day. He knew the sinister and ulterior motives of these religious leaders; they were not coming to repent of their sins. For they held themselves above the common people, supremer in all their ways and self-righteousness. John portrays them as low-down, poisonous snakes, just as Jesus does later (Matthew 12:34; 23:33), and inherent in that designation is the Jewish understanding of the serpent identified with Satan (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:9; 20:2), with whom Jesus identifies the activities of such religious leaders and in fact all religion (John 8:44).
John goes on to ask these religious leaders, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7). “Are you just trying to save your own skins, and get off the hook?” “The wrath of God is coming,” John asserts in agreement to Psalm 2:9. The opposition of God against all evil. In fact, “the axe is already laid at the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9) of their unproductive and unfruitful religious tenets and practices. John could see that the judgment of God was going to fall upon the religion of Judaism and Israel, and their roots were already exposed for the felling blow. Such a declaration of coming judgment is not necessarily referring to a future and final judgment, but to the judgment of God on all evil and religion as the New Covenant kingdom arrives in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. This hostility is carried to the max with the death of the Messiah as He ends all Judaism and its accompanying legalism and in deed the religions of the world as they all have their root in Satan.
Hebrews 10:11
"Every priest standeth daily (none excepted) ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Those sacrifices could never take away sins. It was impossible. And so the whole thing was just a failure. God set it aside. Let me show you just some of the things that the Scripture itself refers to. We’ve used these before and this again is just a little quick review. Come back to Galatians, chapter 4. And of course Galatians is written to Gentiles who were having pretty much the same problem that the Hebrews were in this Epistle of Hebrews. They were being tempted to go back under the ramifications of the Levitical Law. And Paul is just almost screaming at the top of his voice, "Don’t go under that Law!" Why? I’ll show you.
Galatians 4:9a
"But now, after that ye have known God, (that is through our being redeemed) or rather are known of God, (in other words, we are now His. Now look at the question) how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements….?"
Well what’s he referring to? The Levitical Law! And their paganism of a false religion. And they were both Weak and beggarly. Now that term beggarly in the Greek I think is even stronger than it is in the English. It means just what it says. It begged for all the things it didn’t have. It had no power. It had no transforming ability in the lives of the people that kept it. And, as I showed you, all it could do was condemn, religious legalism of any form condemns, it does not justify or release man from its hold of death. And so it was "weak and beggarly." Then come on over to chapter 5, still in Galatians, and verse 1. Again Paul is referring to that system of Law when he says for us in Grace:
Galatians 5:1a
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, (now here it comes) and be not entangled…"
Now that’s not a very pretty term is it? Have any of you ever been entangled or ensnared again in something? Most of you probably haven’t. In a hunting situation you can find those things a lot quicker than you can a lot of other places. Have you ever been in a briar patch and can’t find your way out? It’s scary. But anyway, this is Paul’s language for the Law. "Don’t get entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Isn’t it amazing what the human race wants to do to itself? Instead of being out in the freedom of Grace and the glory of it, they’d rather get back where they can get entangled in laws and rules and regulations with all the forms of a godliness but without the power thereof. I can take you to another one from the lips of Peter. Come all the way back to Acts, chapter 15.
Acts 15:10
"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Do you see why he mentioned the body a few verses earlier? It had to come. We had to have Christ in the flesh. God had to have that body prepared so that it could be the supreme sacrifice. Now again, most of us don't comprehend the idea and the necessity of the blood sacrifice (what most people don't do is dig into the word, take the fig leaf how many know its secret?). It’s beyond our human reasoning or comprehension. One day, when we get to Glory, I think we’ll understand, but I don’t think most of us can even get a smidgen of the understanding of why God has demanded the blood sacrifice. The closest I can come to it is that life is in the blood, but what does that mean? That we cannot get life unless there is first death. I mean that’s one of the laws of nature – for a seed to germinate and have new life, it has to first die. Well, spiritually it’s the same way, see? We cannot experience new life until we have experienced death to the old self willed sin nature. Let’s move on. This power is reserved to God in Christ and the mystery He had hidden in our sight but not our understanding until the Holy Spirit has taken His place within us. So in verse 11, we go back to the old economy.
Now before we can go any farther we need to understand something about the tree to which the axe had been laid as revealed by John the Baptist. This tree just like the sycimore we used earlier was symbolic of the religion of the day and is in fact the symbol of all such religion. When John saw the religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming for baptism, he unleashed a severe denunciation about their being a “brood of vipers,” the offspring of snakes! Or we can say sons of Satan as this is the plight of all humanity until the day of Christ be formed within us. John was the son of a priest, in his day of birth the high priest and the last such son with both parents being of Levi. And may have seen firsthand the hypocrisy and corruption of the religious parties of his day. He knew the sinister and ulterior motives of these religious leaders; they were not coming to repent of their sins. For they held themselves above the common people, supremer in all their ways and self-righteousness. John portrays them as low-down, poisonous snakes, just as Jesus does later (Matthew 12:34; 23:33), and inherent in that designation is the Jewish understanding of the serpent identified with Satan (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:9; 20:2), with whom Jesus identifies the activities of such religious leaders and in fact all religion (John 8:44).
John goes on to ask these religious leaders, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7). “Are you just trying to save your own skins, and get off the hook?” “The wrath of God is coming,” John asserts in agreement to Psalm 2:9. The opposition of God against all evil. In fact, “the axe is already laid at the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9) of their unproductive and unfruitful religious tenets and practices. John could see that the judgment of God was going to fall upon the religion of Judaism and Israel, and their roots were already exposed for the felling blow. Such a declaration of coming judgment is not necessarily referring to a future and final judgment, but to the judgment of God on all evil and religion as the New Covenant kingdom arrives in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. This hostility is carried to the max with the death of the Messiah as He ends all Judaism and its accompanying legalism and in deed the religions of the world as they all have their root in Satan.
Hebrews 10:11
"Every priest standeth daily (none excepted) ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Those sacrifices could never take away sins. It was impossible. And so the whole thing was just a failure. God set it aside. Let me show you just some of the things that the Scripture itself refers to. We’ve used these before and this again is just a little quick review. Come back to Galatians, chapter 4. And of course Galatians is written to Gentiles who were having pretty much the same problem that the Hebrews were in this Epistle of Hebrews. They were being tempted to go back under the ramifications of the Levitical Law. And Paul is just almost screaming at the top of his voice, "Don’t go under that Law!" Why? I’ll show you.
Galatians 4:9a
"But now, after that ye have known God, (that is through our being redeemed) or rather are known of God, (in other words, we are now His. Now look at the question) how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements….?"
Well what’s he referring to? The Levitical Law! And their paganism of a false religion. And they were both Weak and beggarly. Now that term beggarly in the Greek I think is even stronger than it is in the English. It means just what it says. It begged for all the things it didn’t have. It had no power. It had no transforming ability in the lives of the people that kept it. And, as I showed you, all it could do was condemn, religious legalism of any form condemns, it does not justify or release man from its hold of death. And so it was "weak and beggarly." Then come on over to chapter 5, still in Galatians, and verse 1. Again Paul is referring to that system of Law when he says for us in Grace:
Galatians 5:1a
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, (now here it comes) and be not entangled…"
Now that’s not a very pretty term is it? Have any of you ever been entangled or ensnared again in something? Most of you probably haven’t. In a hunting situation you can find those things a lot quicker than you can a lot of other places. Have you ever been in a briar patch and can’t find your way out? It’s scary. But anyway, this is Paul’s language for the Law. "Don’t get entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Isn’t it amazing what the human race wants to do to itself? Instead of being out in the freedom of Grace and the glory of it, they’d rather get back where they can get entangled in laws and rules and regulations with all the forms of a godliness but without the power thereof. I can take you to another one from the lips of Peter. Come all the way back to Acts, chapter 15.
Acts 15:10
"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"
Friday, November 9, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCXXXIII
Hebrews 10:10a
" By the which will (by this new economy, this second,) we are sanctified…."
Way back in, I think probably in the Old Testament teachings, I explained that for the believer there are really two sanctification's. The moment we’re redeemed, we’re sanctified – set apart for God’s purposes – we’re His. But on the other hand, there is an experiential sanctification that comes as a result of what? Growth. Because I just love to see people, how, that today, they’re far more mature spiritually. (Read 2 Peter chapter 1 because he reveals that when we grow in the knowledge of all things spiritual we pass through and into Christ, Yes Christ is Jesus' last name as Christ is the promised Messiah of God or the Isra-el of God, the house or family which El rules. This is what we've called the first estate as it parallels with Israel as a nation and not yet as God's House the true Isra-el of God.) All others are but false religions and are of the devil or Satan because religion takes away from God's intent by imposing a works mentality of the flesh of man. We now have a better handle on this Book; we have a greater love for it than we did a year ago. And the further you’ve come with me, the more you can feel that you have grown. Well, that’s experiential sanctification, that is the ministry of Christ within us. The having passed through the veil of Christ flesh into the revelation of death from sin and the world which only the Spirit of Christ imparts to us. The nature and character of the Father re-infused back into us, where we become of His likeness and image again. A proper or mature fig tree.
You are far more set apart for God now than you were ten years ago. Six months from now we’ll all be more sanctified than we are today because it’s a growth process. As the essence of Christ grows within we become more and more mature in Him and He in us. He is to be our all in all, from glory to glory as His Shekinah (or Shehariah, which is the dawn) fills us.
When you haven’t seen your kids for a little while, what do you suddenly realize? How fast these children have grown up. Well, why? Because time has gone by. They’ve been nourished, they’ve been fed. Well the same thing should be happening spiritually within each of us always and forever. Every one of us should be more spiritually mature today than we were a year ago. And that’s the experiential sanctification the perfecting of His Holiness and Godliness restored within us. But on the other hand, yes, the moment we were saved, God set us apart – we’re His. We’re in the palm of His hand and no one can take us out. That’s His promise. But have we chosen to allow Him to fulfill His calling of us? Lets look at another of Jesus' parables found in Luke chapter 17 verses 5 and 6 for a minute:
Luke 17:5-6
"And the apostles said unto the Lord, 'Increase our faith'. And the Lord said, 'If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.'"
And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith'. And the Lord said, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea; and it (the sycamine tree, the false teachings, doctrines of all mans religions ie Christian Judaism, Judaism, Islamism...etc.) should obey you.
The term "as" a grain.....is simply, "in the same manner". We all know from our childhood science classes how a seed grows, don't we? We must TRUST God through receptivity which grows into BELIEVING God and then our trust IN GOD grows to the point through crisis of death into the FAITH of Jesus, Jesus then finishes verse 6, "you might say to this sycamine tree, Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea; and it should obey you." Now according to Thayer's Greek Dictionary the sycamine (or sycamore) tree is basically the imitation of the fig tree.
Strong's number G4807 in the OT Hebrew H8256 in the Thayer's and Strong's Dictionaries: sycamine tree, having the form and foliage of the mulberry, but fruit resembling the fig, is very sweet. It has leaves like those of the mulberry, the fig on the other hand are not as sweet and are highly sought after, they're of greater value than its cousin the sycamine tree. It was the leaves of the fig tree that were used by Adam to cover their nakedness from God. The prefiguring of all false religion and false beliefism of fallen man.
Remember how Jesus taught of the fig tree that produced no fruit and how He likened it to the barren religion of the Hebrews, Judaism (Hosea 9: 9-10; Matthew 21:19; Revelation 6:13), or cursed the fig tree (Matthew 21:19-21, 24:32, Mark 11:13, 20-21, 13: 28) at the root because it didn't produce any fruit only beautiful foliage? He said that it would not produce fruit forever, this is speaking of the Jewish religion as a type of sycamine tree. Well, in this case, the sycamine tree is to be plucked up and cast out. What does this mean, you ask. Well, think about it. The deception, the overly sweetness of its gospel and the false spirit in the churches today, which are leading even the elect straight to hell. Its as said above a "Christianity of Judaism" the very thing that Paul warned both the Galatians and then the Hebrews of.
The church must come out of this spiritually drugged and groggy state of deception, or the love gospel, the prosperity gospel, the heal me now gospel for I deserve it, the so called name it and claim it gospel and the Hebrewism thing that are going around now, where EVERYONE is okay....wake up and be alert.....find that seed within you and allow it to die and germinate. Through death is the only way a seed can grow. (John12:24) And this is ONLY through God working in and through that seed that it bears fruit. As a gift of the Holy Spirit's activity within. If the fruit is not the TRUE fruit of the Holy Spirit, then it's deceptive and only good for the burn pile. John 15:1-8 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" read the rest on your own through verse 8. Otherwise there is no fruit or the fruit is an imitation. Just like the sycamore tree. I don't know about you, but I only want the REAL thing that my Father be glorified through Christ IN me. (see also 1 Chronicles 27:28)
All right so, "By the which will we are sanctified...." In other words, this whole new economy of God’s Grace, triggered by our trusting first as a little child. Then just as a child grows in wisdom and knowledge we are to also grow through trials which not only brings His Love to grow in us but our trusting turns to His faith through our obedience to His Will, the “by the which will”.
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
" By the which will (by this new economy, this second,) we are sanctified…."
Way back in, I think probably in the Old Testament teachings, I explained that for the believer there are really two sanctification's. The moment we’re redeemed, we’re sanctified – set apart for God’s purposes – we’re His. But on the other hand, there is an experiential sanctification that comes as a result of what? Growth. Because I just love to see people, how, that today, they’re far more mature spiritually. (Read 2 Peter chapter 1 because he reveals that when we grow in the knowledge of all things spiritual we pass through and into Christ, Yes Christ is Jesus' last name as Christ is the promised Messiah of God or the Isra-el of God, the house or family which El rules. This is what we've called the first estate as it parallels with Israel as a nation and not yet as God's House the true Isra-el of God.) All others are but false religions and are of the devil or Satan because religion takes away from God's intent by imposing a works mentality of the flesh of man. We now have a better handle on this Book; we have a greater love for it than we did a year ago. And the further you’ve come with me, the more you can feel that you have grown. Well, that’s experiential sanctification, that is the ministry of Christ within us. The having passed through the veil of Christ flesh into the revelation of death from sin and the world which only the Spirit of Christ imparts to us. The nature and character of the Father re-infused back into us, where we become of His likeness and image again. A proper or mature fig tree.
You are far more set apart for God now than you were ten years ago. Six months from now we’ll all be more sanctified than we are today because it’s a growth process. As the essence of Christ grows within we become more and more mature in Him and He in us. He is to be our all in all, from glory to glory as His Shekinah (or Shehariah, which is the dawn) fills us.
When you haven’t seen your kids for a little while, what do you suddenly realize? How fast these children have grown up. Well, why? Because time has gone by. They’ve been nourished, they’ve been fed. Well the same thing should be happening spiritually within each of us always and forever. Every one of us should be more spiritually mature today than we were a year ago. And that’s the experiential sanctification the perfecting of His Holiness and Godliness restored within us. But on the other hand, yes, the moment we were saved, God set us apart – we’re His. We’re in the palm of His hand and no one can take us out. That’s His promise. But have we chosen to allow Him to fulfill His calling of us? Lets look at another of Jesus' parables found in Luke chapter 17 verses 5 and 6 for a minute:
Luke 17:5-6
"And the apostles said unto the Lord, 'Increase our faith'. And the Lord said, 'If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.'"
And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith'. And the Lord said, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea; and it (the sycamine tree, the false teachings, doctrines of all mans religions ie Christian Judaism, Judaism, Islamism...etc.) should obey you.
The term "as" a grain.....is simply, "in the same manner". We all know from our childhood science classes how a seed grows, don't we? We must TRUST God through receptivity which grows into BELIEVING God and then our trust IN GOD grows to the point through crisis of death into the FAITH of Jesus, Jesus then finishes verse 6, "you might say to this sycamine tree, Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea; and it should obey you." Now according to Thayer's Greek Dictionary the sycamine (or sycamore) tree is basically the imitation of the fig tree.
Strong's number G4807 in the OT Hebrew H8256 in the Thayer's and Strong's Dictionaries: sycamine tree, having the form and foliage of the mulberry, but fruit resembling the fig, is very sweet. It has leaves like those of the mulberry, the fig on the other hand are not as sweet and are highly sought after, they're of greater value than its cousin the sycamine tree. It was the leaves of the fig tree that were used by Adam to cover their nakedness from God. The prefiguring of all false religion and false beliefism of fallen man.
Remember how Jesus taught of the fig tree that produced no fruit and how He likened it to the barren religion of the Hebrews, Judaism (Hosea 9: 9-10; Matthew 21:19; Revelation 6:13), or cursed the fig tree (Matthew 21:19-21, 24:32, Mark 11:13, 20-21, 13: 28) at the root because it didn't produce any fruit only beautiful foliage? He said that it would not produce fruit forever, this is speaking of the Jewish religion as a type of sycamine tree. Well, in this case, the sycamine tree is to be plucked up and cast out. What does this mean, you ask. Well, think about it. The deception, the overly sweetness of its gospel and the false spirit in the churches today, which are leading even the elect straight to hell. Its as said above a "Christianity of Judaism" the very thing that Paul warned both the Galatians and then the Hebrews of.
The church must come out of this spiritually drugged and groggy state of deception, or the love gospel, the prosperity gospel, the heal me now gospel for I deserve it, the so called name it and claim it gospel and the Hebrewism thing that are going around now, where EVERYONE is okay....wake up and be alert.....find that seed within you and allow it to die and germinate. Through death is the only way a seed can grow. (John12:24) And this is ONLY through God working in and through that seed that it bears fruit. As a gift of the Holy Spirit's activity within. If the fruit is not the TRUE fruit of the Holy Spirit, then it's deceptive and only good for the burn pile. John 15:1-8 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" read the rest on your own through verse 8. Otherwise there is no fruit or the fruit is an imitation. Just like the sycamore tree. I don't know about you, but I only want the REAL thing that my Father be glorified through Christ IN me. (see also 1 Chronicles 27:28)
All right so, "By the which will we are sanctified...." In other words, this whole new economy of God’s Grace, triggered by our trusting first as a little child. Then just as a child grows in wisdom and knowledge we are to also grow through trials which not only brings His Love to grow in us but our trusting turns to His faith through our obedience to His Will, the “by the which will”.
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The Epistle to the Hebrews part CCXXXII
Hebrews 10:6
"In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins thou hast had no pleasure."
This almost flies in the face of most of our thinking concerning the Old Testament doesn’t it? But go all the way back to Psalms 40, where even the Psalmist makes it so plain; in fact, here is where Paul is quoting from. You want to remember, a lot of the things David said were not regarding himself, but regarding David’s seed the Messiah, the coming Christ. By his action he reveals that yes from as far back as Seth man had a knowledge of God's plain though not fully revealed but none the less seen in a shadowy form. All right, in Psalms 40 verse 6, here’s where Paul quotes from. And I just want you to see that all of this was not just something that came on the scene in Paul’s time, but it was from antiquity.
Psalms 40:6-7a
"Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; (that’s not what God was looking for) mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. Then said I, Lo, I come [this is Jesus speaking as Christ, the Messiah]: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (this is the Messiah speaking.) I delight to do thy will,…"
In Christ’s earthly ministry, what was He always praying to the Father? "Thy will be done." Not His, but the Father’s. So this is already declared back through the lips of the Psalmist.
Psalms 40:7-9
"Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is written within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest."
Who is the great congregation? The Nation of Israel? Not so, for there are many who will to become His brethren, and they are more then can be numbered. And Christ came and proclaimed Himself as the answer to all their needs through this One Who had been born in Bethlehem.
All right, all the way back to Hebrews again, if you will. So God prepares a body with which he can minister to the congregation, to the Nation of Israel, the Hebrews. But, in the long term it’s going to be that supreme sacrifice. That all will or are required to have passed through it requires a crisis of death in order to have the resurrection into being born again. That was the whole purpose of His coming, so that His sacrifice would end all sacrifices under the Levitical Law, commandments and the Prophets. And end all religiousness of Judaism's legalism through His vicarious death on behalf of all man kind not just for the lost Hebrew. Remember too that God has by now separated the Israel of God from Judah, or those who practice Judaism as their religion. For this is the teaching of this Epistle.
Hebrews 10:8
"Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;"
In other words, I want you to be constantly aware that we are talking about that Temple worship, the bringing in of these sacrifices. Now verse 9.
Hebrews 10:9
"Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will O God, (that’s why I took you back to Psalms 40, it’s the Messiah speaking) He taketh away the first, (the system of Levitical Law, the shadow) that he may establish the (what?) second."
Now, from the very beginning of Hebrews, over and over this is what we’re seeing. Yes, that which was past was good as far as it went. But oh, this is so much better. And it is so much better that most of us just cannot comprehend it. But, we can have the slightest notion that we can attain to all that God has provided for us. But, I’ll come to that a little later. For now we just have to realize that all these sacrifices aren’t what made God pleased with. Quite the opposite. But, it was what God laid down as the prerequisite for the Hebrews to find salvation, to cover their sin as an expression of their faith, even though most of it was done without trust, but it’s going to fade away so that something far better can come and take its place. All right, now verse 10.
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which (that is the second, the better economy that has come) will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Now look at that again. "By the which" (this second economy). Now when I use the word economy, I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about a system of mans devices. The Old Testament economy was that Old Testament system which included the Levitical Laws and Temple worship and sacrifices and what have you. Our economy is that we’re saved by trust through God’s Grace plus nothing. We become a new creation, we become a different person. We now have new goals, we have new priorities, we have new desires. So that’s the better economy I’m speaking of, the present economy of Grace, as found in the person of Christ Jesus, and it’s as difference as daylight and darkness, of Endless Life and eternal separation from the Living and Life giving and creative God.
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
"In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins thou hast had no pleasure."
This almost flies in the face of most of our thinking concerning the Old Testament doesn’t it? But go all the way back to Psalms 40, where even the Psalmist makes it so plain; in fact, here is where Paul is quoting from. You want to remember, a lot of the things David said were not regarding himself, but regarding David’s seed the Messiah, the coming Christ. By his action he reveals that yes from as far back as Seth man had a knowledge of God's plain though not fully revealed but none the less seen in a shadowy form. All right, in Psalms 40 verse 6, here’s where Paul quotes from. And I just want you to see that all of this was not just something that came on the scene in Paul’s time, but it was from antiquity.
Psalms 40:6-7a
"Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; (that’s not what God was looking for) mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. Then said I, Lo, I come [this is Jesus speaking as Christ, the Messiah]: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (this is the Messiah speaking.) I delight to do thy will,…"
In Christ’s earthly ministry, what was He always praying to the Father? "Thy will be done." Not His, but the Father’s. So this is already declared back through the lips of the Psalmist.
Psalms 40:7-9
"Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is written within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest."
Who is the great congregation? The Nation of Israel? Not so, for there are many who will to become His brethren, and they are more then can be numbered. And Christ came and proclaimed Himself as the answer to all their needs through this One Who had been born in Bethlehem.
All right, all the way back to Hebrews again, if you will. So God prepares a body with which he can minister to the congregation, to the Nation of Israel, the Hebrews. But, in the long term it’s going to be that supreme sacrifice. That all will or are required to have passed through it requires a crisis of death in order to have the resurrection into being born again. That was the whole purpose of His coming, so that His sacrifice would end all sacrifices under the Levitical Law, commandments and the Prophets. And end all religiousness of Judaism's legalism through His vicarious death on behalf of all man kind not just for the lost Hebrew. Remember too that God has by now separated the Israel of God from Judah, or those who practice Judaism as their religion. For this is the teaching of this Epistle.
Hebrews 10:8
"Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;"
In other words, I want you to be constantly aware that we are talking about that Temple worship, the bringing in of these sacrifices. Now verse 9.
Hebrews 10:9
"Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will O God, (that’s why I took you back to Psalms 40, it’s the Messiah speaking) He taketh away the first, (the system of Levitical Law, the shadow) that he may establish the (what?) second."
Now, from the very beginning of Hebrews, over and over this is what we’re seeing. Yes, that which was past was good as far as it went. But oh, this is so much better. And it is so much better that most of us just cannot comprehend it. But, we can have the slightest notion that we can attain to all that God has provided for us. But, I’ll come to that a little later. For now we just have to realize that all these sacrifices aren’t what made God pleased with. Quite the opposite. But, it was what God laid down as the prerequisite for the Hebrews to find salvation, to cover their sin as an expression of their faith, even though most of it was done without trust, but it’s going to fade away so that something far better can come and take its place. All right, now verse 10.
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which (that is the second, the better economy that has come) will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Now look at that again. "By the which" (this second economy). Now when I use the word economy, I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about a system of mans devices. The Old Testament economy was that Old Testament system which included the Levitical Laws and Temple worship and sacrifices and what have you. Our economy is that we’re saved by trust through God’s Grace plus nothing. We become a new creation, we become a different person. We now have new goals, we have new priorities, we have new desires. So that’s the better economy I’m speaking of, the present economy of Grace, as found in the person of Christ Jesus, and it’s as difference as daylight and darkness, of Endless Life and eternal separation from the Living and Life giving and creative God.
Hebrews 10:10
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)