Blessed by Jesus

Jesus Christ proved to be the answer to the longing in Job's heart.  When this God-fearing man suffered greatly in a trial, he mused in Job 9:32-35:  "He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. ³³ If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, ³⁴ someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. ³⁵ Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot." (NIV)  Job realised God is infinitely greater than man and he lacked a mediator or advocate between himself and God.  Job felt he was being unjustly treated, not realising God's intent to show Himself merciful, compassionate, and to doubly bless him in the end (James 5:11).

What Job observed God also acknowledged by the word of the LORD through the prophet in Isaiah 59:16:  "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him."  God saw fit to provide the Man and Mediator man lacked by putting on human flesh and coming to earth.  The living God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, to seek and to save sinners and to provide intercession for them after His death, resurrection and ascension to heaven.  God Himself brought salvation for sinners, and He provided the required payment for sin by shedding His own blood.  Because Jesus is our great High Priest, He is the one we ought to rely upon to effectively communicate our prayers--not priests, elders or pastors.

Paul explained this important role Jesus continues in to this day in 1 Timothy 2:1-6:  "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time..."  God heard the longings of Job and the desire of every human being for justice, help and hope in troubling times, and when we pray to God Jesus is our Mediator and Advocate.  This truth is echoed in 1 John 2:1-2:  "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."  Scripture tells us Jesus lives to make intercession for us, dedicated to our salvation and every need (Hebrews 7:25).

As we pray for ourselves and others, Jesus also prays for us.  Knowing Jesus Himself is handing our case, we can rest assured He will communicate our desires clearly for our good.  God also blesses us by filling believers with the Holy Spirit who helps us as it is written in Romans 8:26:  "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."  Unlike courts that operate with limited hours and plan hearings months in advance, we are invited to enter the LORD's presence in our moment of need by prayer.  Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  Little children may not always be permitted in the presence of an earthly king, but Jesus commanded the little children not be hindered to come to Him.  He took those little ones in His arms and blessed them, and in heavenly glory He lifts us in His arms to the Father so we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Forgiven, Cleansed and Holy

Memes have their place in this world, but among my general rules of thumb is never to use them as source material for any Christian belief, nor should they be assumed to be accurate.  In the case of one meme I read recently, I was not able to verify the accuracy of the quote so I will not repeat it in full.  With an aim to support the extra-biblical concept of purgatory, the quote suggested it was impertinent to imagine an instant after dying any sinner could enjoy being in the presence of God.  An "additional divine operation" was required on the soul before entering into God's presence with joy, and to say otherwise was to "underestimate either your sinful nature or God's holiness or the gap between them."

When I read this quote a rebuttal came to mind:  "Or the author of this quote seriously underestimates the work Jesus did on the cross."  Jesus said those who receive Him by faith are born again, and this means receiving a new nature and to be washed clean from all sin.  Paul wrote in Romans 6:5-6, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."  Whilst we continue to live in bodies of flesh after being born again, our "old man" was crucified with Christ.  Having been cleansed from all sin and filled with the Holy Spirit, we are therefore able to present ourselves as living sacrifices unto God.  The new heart God promised to give His people by the word of the LORD through the prophets is ours by grace through faith in Jesus.

Because God has cleansed us from all unrighteousness and adopted us as His children, it is not presumptuous to say we are positionally holy as God is holy.  There are no degrees of holiness, for all who are born again are sanctified in Christ.  The apostle wrote in 1 Peter 1:13-16 to believers:  "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; ¹⁵ but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."  Holiness is not something we can muster up or do by any effort of the flesh, but God has created us to be holy by virtue of our spiritual birth.  This new identity in Christ is something we constantly fail to measure up to due to the frailty of our flesh.  That is why believers are exhorted again and again to strive to forsake sin and do what pleases God, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling--for it is God who works in us to both to will and do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

Having been born again by faith in Jesus, Christians are assured our sins are forgiven.  1 John 1:9 says to the believer who sins:  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Paul was confident at the death of his body he would be in the presence of the LORD (2 Cor. 5:8)--and this wasn't because he was self-righteous or his deeds could make him holy.  He was a man who laid claim to being the chief of sinners!  From his own mouth we can judge him of needing further refinement in the eternal state--that is, if you believe Jesus was unable to cleanse him from all unrighteousness!  There is no need for Christians to go through the "boot camp" of purgatory to enter heaven, for Jesus has already claimed complete victory over sin and death through His resurrection.  By faith in Jesus Christians have been cleansed of all sin, Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us, and we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.  As long as we remain on this earth is the fitting season for our refinement, and may we submit to God in every trial He allows.

God's Way or Ours

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

Joshua 1:7-8

After Joshua was chosen and called by God to lead the Hebrews into the land of promise, God commanded him to be strong and courageous in heeding God's commands written in the Law.  He was not only called to familiarise himself with God's commands but to speak of them, meditate in them day and night, and observe them faithfully.  If you are not aware, there were hundreds of commands and prohibitions in addition to the 10 Commandments detailed in the Law of Moses.  Observing God's Law was a huge, life-changing demand placed upon Joshua he was responsible to keep before God--in addition to leading the Hebrews like Moses before him.

In observing God's command to Joshua, it is important not to reduce the relationship God and Joshua shared as transactional:  you do this, and I will do that.  God did not say He would make Joshua's way prosperous if he kept God's Law:  God promised Joshua would make his way prosperous and have good success in fulfilling his responsibility by choosing to walk in the way God revealed in His Law.  God had already told Joshua the way he and the children of Israel ought to live, and by going God's way their way would be prosperous.  In His wisdom, God allows people to face good and bad consequences of our own decisions.  Before Joshua and all His people, God placed clearly marked paths that lead to life or death, and under Mosaic Law they would be blessed or cursed depending on their choices and performance.

During a recent study of the book of Romans, we discussed how Paul explained the Law is good and by it is the knowledge of sin.  The Law of Moses does not provide any ability to keep the Law without fail!  The Law acted as a schoolmaster to bring Jews and Gentiles to Jesus Christ to be justified by faith and declared righteous by God's grace.  Jesus identified Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Jesus went beyond the requirements of the letter of the Law, for Jesus said many times while teaching His disciples:  "It has been written...but I say unto you..."  It is not by what good things we do or by sin we avoid we are made righteous but by faith in Jesus the Messiah.  God's word has revealed the Truth we ought to believe, and the Law, Psalms and prophets wrote concerning the Prophet like Moses God would raise up--and Jesus is more than a prophet but Immanuel, God with us, who frees us from the curse of sin and death.

All mankind proved unable to follow the the Law that revealed the righteous way to live, and Jesus has been revealed as the Way we can follow by grace through faith in Him demonstrated by obedience.  Having been born again by the Gospel, this ought to transform our hearts, minds and lives more than Joshua having a new leadership role.  Day and night we are to be led by our Saviour we seek to please by heeding wisdom of His word and the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments."  Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He loves us, and by this all people will know we are Christ's disciples.  It is Jesus who leads us in the way of prosperity and success in doing God's will, and God places the choice before every one of us if we will choose to make God's Way our way.  If we choose to go our own way, we hinder our own prosperity and success.  If we trust Jesus to save us forever, we ought to heed Him in living today.

Jesus In The Flesh

During Friday night Bible study, we discussed how the divinity of Jesus is often more the focal point than whether or not Jesus was a person who lived years ago.  Though the modern date and year hearkens back to the existence of Jesus, John warned there were people in His day that denied this.  He said matter-of-factly in 1 John 4:2-3:  "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."

Gnosticism was a heresy in the early centuries of the church whose adherents claimed to have secret knowledge of God, and it was believed through secret knowledge they alone comprehended one could be freed from illusions of darkness and "saved."  Gnostics would not have denied Jesus came to earth, but claimed He did not have a human body--it just appeared that He did.  They viewed physical matter as inherently evil and only what is spirit is good.  This created a situation where anything done in a physical body was of no consequence because what is done in the spiritual realm matters.  These views are totally contradictory to the revelation of God and sound doctrine in the Bible.

From a biblical perspective, it is very important to establish Jesus did indeed come to the earth as a human being in a physical body.  Unless Jesus was born He could not die for sinners, and if He did not die He is not risen.  If Jesus Christ is not risen our faith is futile, we are still in our sins and everyone is headed to everlasting destruction!  John said those who do not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of Antichrist which was already in the world in John's day.  There are people today who do not hold to Gnosticism yet deny Jesus came to the world as a historical figure.  Perhaps by casting doubt on the historicity of Jesus they hope to spare themselves the need to consider His life, words, works, death and resurrection--and His promise to return in judgment.

Though the Antichrist has not yet been revealed, that malevolent and deceitful spirit was already at work in the world, and it is through the revelation of Scripture Christians are made wise to it.  To call Jesus "Christ" is to acknowledge He is the promised Messiah, the anointed one of God who will save His people from their sins.  Jesus being born in human flesh, dying on the cross, and bodily rising from the dead are all fundamental, essential doctrines of Christianity.  To deny any of these facts is to deny Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible.  Those who confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and we can say this by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth, who provides understanding of God's word, and helps us to walk in God's will.  The spirit of the Antichrist at work in the world ought not trouble us as Christians, for we serve the Christ who is greater than all, stands ready to save us and will deliver us from the wrath to come.