January 31, 2014

 

Do you ever get sick and tired of being sick and tired? Do you ever become so frustrated with yourself over the fact that you KNOW what the Word of God promises, and yet you somehow always seem to miss it when you pray over situations in your life, or the lives of other folks? You know what it is, right?

 

There is that drawing inside your inner being -- a craving that goes so deep you have no words to express it -- for the manifestation of the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ being developed in your character and makeup to the degree that when you speak His Word, it comes to pass instantly! This is that place you come to when you KNOW He has so developed His nature and personality within you that His Word becomes your Word, His heart's desire becomes your heart's desire, His yearnings become yours.

 

Well, folks! That's where we're headed! This is precisely what Holy Spirit is drawing us towards. Writing to the Ekklesia in Ephesus, Paul is describing the gifts of the five-fold ministries given to the body of Christ and he says that the objective is: "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Understand? That's what the cry is at the core of our beings!

 

I Thessalonians 5:9-11: For God hath not appointed us to wrath (orge: anger, indignation, vengeance), but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

 

From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He made it clear that He came to bring life — not death. Death, after all, had contaminated human DNA because of Adam’s disobedience, and every single person (with the exceptions of Enoch and Elijah) had experienced the unnatural — the sub-natural — curse of death.

 

Incorporated into the creation of the human race through Adam and Eve was eternal life. We were never created to die: we were created in the likeness and image of God, imbued with His attributes. One of those most basic attributes was zoe life — eternal existence! To emphasize that fact, God placed within the Garden of Eden the Tree of Life.

His warning to Adam and Eve was to NOT eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

 

Eternal life was what we were created for — not some transitory period of life on earth, punctuated with sickness, infirmity, weakness, disease and —finally — dying!

 

The warning given to Adam and Eve was meant to preclude any possibility of death entering the human genome. When they did eat, they brought upon themselves and their seed after them the curse of death. With death, of course, came separation from God, separation from eternity, separation from fellowship, and separation from the blessing which God had declared and decreed at their creation.

 

Death brought a certain judgment. With that judgment came the processes of death. Every single disease known to man begins with the death of one of more cells in the human body. The judgment of death is sickness, disease and infirmity. The judgment of death is the result of choosing some answer to one of life’s problems, or the choosing of some avenue of provision outside of God’s Word.

 

The judgment of death is the byproduct of making ourselves equal to, or superior to God. The judgment of death, however, is not the end of the matter. The apostle Paul put it like this:

 

Hebrews 9:27-28: And as it is appointed unto men once (hapax: one time) to die, but after this the judgment (krisis: tribunal of justice — either for or against): So Christ was once (hapax: once and for all time) offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 

Some of you will remember my sharing of being transported in the Spirit to the crucifixion and seeing all the sins of the world, past, present and future gathered together like one huge cloud — a hurricane or gigantic tornado, if you will — and centered upon the Cross as Jesus took those sins upon Himself.

 

The picture at the right scarcely does justice to what I saw, but it gives you an idea of what took place. Sin has that same effect upon the world today. It brings catastrophe, destruction, disease and death. Once Adam disobeyed God’s Word and ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he had sinned. In so doing the genesis of death commenced. Thus Paul makes the point that Jesus fulfilled the necessity for our death, keeping our appointment for us.

 

The appointment of death for the human race became ingrained into the very substance and nature of our existence with Adam’s sin. Death was the destiny of every living being on the planet. And, with death came every disease, sickness and infirmity.

 

Under the Law, provision was made for healing from sickness and disease. Under the Law, atonement* for sin was taken care of by the shedding of the blood of lambs, bulls and goats and offering up burnt offerings. Under the Law, atonement for sin existed, but not remission** or erasure. The blood of animals was simply a prophetic forerunner of One whose death would forever erase the sins and finish off the death sentence for all who accepted His death.

[*The word, Atonement, is a translation of the Hebrew word: kaphar. This word means: to cover over, to pacify, to extend mercy, to reconcile or placate. It differs radically from the picture of remission as you will see in the following paragraph. **Remission is a translation from the Greek word: aphesis. As we have already noted, this word is taken from its root: aphiemi; and it means to send away, to erase, to wipe out so completely as to forget it ever existed. A corollary Scripture is found in Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.”]

 

As the Word so clearly demonstrates, Jesus didn’t just cover over our sin, He eradicated it to such a degree that it was buried in the sea, away from even the memory of the Father. (See Micah 7:19) Three times in the Word (see Acts 3:19) we are told that our sins were blotted out. The Greek word occurring here is exaleipho. It means to wipe out, to obliterate from memory.

 

That means that Jesus kept our appointment with death. He removed the necessity of our keeping the appointment and in the process eliminated:

 

(1) the curse of death,

 

(2) the disease, sickness and infirmity that comes with it,

 

(3) and the curse of having to work for a living.

 

 

We describe this last one as “poverty.” You’ll recall what God told Adam:

 

Genesis 3:17-19: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in [painful toil and] sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

 

In simple terms, we define the word, "Blessing," as an empowerment to prosper. The word, "curse," is the inverse of the blessing. It literally means the removal of the empowerment we have in God to prosper, to bless and to be blessed. Minus the empowerment to prosper, we are left to our own devices. A curse is nothing more and nothing less than the removal of any empowerment to prosper.

 

That’s the curse that Jesus eradicated by keeping our appointment with death. The apostle Paul, being a lawyer by training and schooled in the Law of Moses, described our deliverance from the curse in legal and judicial terms:

 

Romans 8:1-2: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, (**who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (

Are you seeing it? Are you beginning to grasp just how powerful Jesus’ act was on our behalf? Take another look at what Paul wrote in his epistle to the Hebrews:

 

Hebrews 9:27-28: And as it is appointed unto men once (hapax: one time) to die, but after this the judgment (krisis: tribunal of justice — either for or against): So Christ was once (hapax: once and for all time) offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 

We all have had an appointment with death, but Jesus kept the appointment on our behalf. So long as we accept Jesus’ death and resurrection; so long as we acknowledge Him for who and what He is, and so long as we walk according to His Spirit, a different judgment is rendered on our behalf.

 

The judgment after death for those who refuse and rebel against the Lordship of Jesus Christ is destruction and eternal damnation. So long as people refuse the Lordship of Christ in their lives, the judgment of death continues in their mortal beings, bringing with that judgment, disease, sickness, infirmity, disease, weakness, continual need and poverty.

 

On the other hand, the judgment that follows for us who accept and acknowledge Jesus’ death in our place and His subsequent resurrection, confessing Him with their mouths and walking according to His Spirit is eternal life, health, wholeness, strength, energy, vitality, blessing and a life of abundance.

 

The judgment that follows those who have made Jesus Christ their Lord is that if they die physical deaths they will be resurrected by the Lord. Paul addressed this issue when writing to the Ekklesia in Thessalonica.

 

I Thessalonians 4:13-18: But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

 

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

 

Most of you have heard me share my own personal experience with the Lord that took place when I was seven years of age. I awoke one morning to see Jesus standing at the foot of my bed. He began to unfold for me many things including His plan and purpose for my life.

 

One of the things that He said was that I would be alive and see His return. He told me that I would “not see death as men know death.” There has always been the expectation in me from that point that I would simply walk into the thousand-year reign with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

There have certainly been many efforts of Satan to rob me of that promise and to prevent that Word from being fulfilled. While working with David Wilkerson in the San Francisco Bay Teen Challenge outreach during a period of time when I was in Bible College, I was driving in the Santa Cruz mountains headed for a meeting where we expected to minister to a fair number of young people whom we had talked to on the streets of San Jose, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz.

 

Coming around a curve in the highway I hit a patch of soft gravel that road workers had left. My car twitched sideways and I reacted to correct the slide. It became very apparent that my corrective effort wasn’t going to be enough and we were going off the road. I hollered, “JESUS” at the top of my voice. In that same instant the Holy Spirit spoke audibly in me and said, “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

 

The car hit a rain gutter on the side of the road, propelled into the air and sailed 120 feet into trees, dropping 90 feet on its nose. When it was over, the young lady who was riding with me and I were both in the back next to the tailgate (we were in a station wagon) still attached to the front seat. Except for some glass in my hair, I hadn’t even suffered any bruises.

 

That was only one of many times when Satan made a serious effort to kill me. The Word of the Lord has held true to me for the almost 65 years that have passed since Jesus made that promise. That promise was the confirmation of what Paul wrote in Romans 8:2 when he said, “The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death.”

 

We are free from the Law of Sin and Death! The Table of the Lord has been given to us to remind us of that fact and to give us the opportunity to eat the Bread of Life continually.

 

Let me amplify Paul’s statement a bit. The Law of Sin and Death incorporates our susceptibility and vulnerability to disease, sickness, infirmity, weakness and poverty. The Law of Sin and Death is that — without the Life that is in Christ Jesus — we have an empowerment to fail. There is an absolute lack of the Blessing of the Lord. Reminding us of the principal purpose and design of this “ordinance” we know as the Table of the Lord is Paul’s statement to the Ekklesia in Corinth:

 

I Corinthians 11:23-29: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.

 

Are you seeing it? We are showing — putting on display and reminding ourselves — that Jesus kept our appointment with death. We no longer need to fret with death. We are no longer subject to the curse of death and all that it brings in the form of disease, sickness, infirmity, weakness, shortened life spans, etc.

 

Think for a moment about what David wrote in the 91st Psalm.

 

Psalm 91:9-16: Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

 

Jesus said it quite unequivocally.

 

John 6:54-57: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

 

You see it, don’t you? The zoe life that is Christ Jesus becomes our life as we eat and drink of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is no ritual; this is no commonplace practice: this is the infusing of Christ in us!

 

Well, I've gone long again today, and only scratched the surface of this. We'll continue this again next week.

 

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Blessings on you!