The Psalm 23 Adventure, Part 53
August 18, 2017
We could very well run
long again today, but I need to connect all of the dots for you as we wrap up
this discussion on the cup, so let’s get started. Let me cover some of the same ground that I
did last week in order for you to see the connection.
II Corinthians 5:17-19: So then, if any person
is grafted into and immersed in the Anointed One (and His anointing), he is a
new fabrication -- a newly formed being; the previous life [the lifestyle and
the old characteristics thereof] has perished; you can see and perceive for
yourself that every part of one's being is an unprecedented substance -- a new
species.
And all that has happened and taken place has its origins in God,
Who did this purposefully to reconcile and restore our relationship with Him
through Jesus Christ, Who has given us that same ministry, namely, that God was
and is in Christ, restoring the world to that intimate relationship with
Himself, and not indicting the world for its sins and
failures;
He has
committed to us that Word (and the responsibility) of reconciliation and
restoration. (RAC
Translation & Amplification)
Now,
watch as we see what is unfolding. We
are becoming the cup-bearers to the world!
The
picture that Paul draws is that not only was Jesus in the Father, but that the
Father came to earth IN JESUS!
Have
a look at another scripture.
Colossians 1:19-22: For
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or
things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh
through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his
sight.
This
passage is a revelation all by itself.
Go back to the Cross and take a look at Jesus hanging there. It isn’t just Jesus: it is you hanging there;
it is me; it is all of us hanging there on the Cross.
Look
at what Paul says once again. “For
it pleased the Father that in Him (Jesus) should all fullness dwell.”
What
“fullness”? ALL — A L L fullness! That’s
us, folks! Think about this for a
minute.
(1) Jesus
was/is the Word (John 1:1-3).
(2) Jesus was/is the Life (John 1:4, 14:6).
(3) Jesus
was/is The Light (John 1:4, 14:6)
(4) Jesus is The Way
(John 14:6) and there is no other way!
(5) Jesus
is The Truth (John 14:6) "the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth."
(6) Jesus
is the Christ, the Messiah (Maschiach), the Anointed One (Mark 8:29, 14:61-62,
I John 2:22, 5:1)
(7) Jesus
is the Resurrection (John 11:25)
(8) Jesus
is The Name Above Every Name (Philippians 2:9)
(9) He
is the I AM (Revelation 1:8)
(10) Jesus
is LORD (Philippians 2:11, Acts 10:36, Revelation 17:14) and He is LORD of
Lords!
(11) Jesus
is Peace (Ephesians 2:14)
(12) Jesus
is the Alpha and Omega -- the Beginning and the End (Revelation 1:8, 11)
We've
really only scratched the surface with these descriptions, titles and
appellations.
Paul
properly expressed it when he wrote (and this is from the Amplified Bible), “For
it has pleased {the Father] that all the divine fullness — the sum total of the
divine perfection, powers and attributes — should dwell in Him permanently.”
And
this is where Paul takes it the next step to show what happened when Jesus took
us into Himself.
Colossians 1:21-22 (Amplified Version): And
although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and of hostile
attitude of mind in your wicked activities, Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah]
reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order
to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father’s]
presence.
Are
you seeing it now?
When
Jesus hung on the Cross He took us into Him.
He put us in Him as He hung on the Cross so that we [that is to say, our
sinful nature and flesh] — in and through Him — would die.
But
Jesus didn’t leave things there. We
didn’t just die in and through and with Him: we experienced resurrection with
Him, in Him, and through Him. When Jesus
rose from the dead, we rose too because we were in Him! Remember how Paul said that all the divine
fullness existed in Christ — how everything is made complete in Him? We, too — because we are in Him — are complete. Here’s how Paul continues in his letter to
the Ekklesia in Colosse:
Colossians 2:9-13 (Amplified Version): For
in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily
form — giving complete expression of the divine nature. And you are in Him, made full and have
come to fullness of life — in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and reach full spiritual stature. And He is the Head of all rule and authority
— of every angelic principality and power.
In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made
with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by
stripping off the body of the flesh [the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its
passions and lusts], [Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with
Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new
life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He
raised Him up from the dead.
And you, who were dead in trespasses and in the
uncircumcision of your flesh — your sensuality, your sinful, carnal nature — [God]
brought to life together with [Christ], having (freely) forgiven us of all
sins. (See
also KJV)
When
Jesus rose from the dead, therefore, because we were (and are) in Him, we also
rose from the dead.
We’ve
already talked about the fact that Jesus provided death cancellation for all of
us by keeping our appointment with death.
In fact, we were in Christ when He hung on the Cross, keeping our appointment. When Jesus rose from the dead, coming out of
that tomb, we were in Him.
If
I seem to be repeating myself, I am, but my objective is to say this in as many
different ways as possible so that we all get this revelation. I personally believe there is no revelation
more important than this.
Everything
that Jesus does in our lives, everything we accomplish, our growth and
spiritual development, our ministry, the miracles that we perform and
participate in — all hang on our being in Christ when He died, and then rose
again from the dead.
Death
cancellation means we don’t have to put up with death. Resurrection from the dead means that death
has no power or hold of any kind over us.
It
also means that we are free from all disease, infirmity, sickness and pain —
since they all stem from the dying process.
Thus,
“He that eats and feeds on my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells
continually in me, and I [in like manner dwell continually] in him.”
Colossians 2:13-15: And you, being dead (nekros:
a corpse) in your sins (paraptoma: intentional and unintentional error, lapse
or deviation) and the uncircumcision of your flesh (akrobustia:
metaphor for non-covenantal state), hath he quickened together (suzoopoieo:
reanimate con-jointly) with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting
out (exaleipho:
obliterate) the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And having spoiled (apekduomai: divesting oneself wholly and completely) principalities
and powers
(arché
& exousia: “chief” authorities [archangels or demonic
authorities] and “superhuman” magistrates or controllers — demonic powers), he
made a show of them openly, triumphing (thriambeuo: “noisy iambus”, to make an exclamatory
procession) over them in it.
The
picture that Paul draws here is that of Jesus loudly proclaiming — even singing
clamorously and poetically — and putting on exhibit Satan himself and all his
demonic forces to show and demonstrate that their power and authority was
finished.
Satan
had committed a crime for which he was judged and sentenced. His crime was thievery and murder. He killed someone — Jesus — who was not
subject to his authority.
We
have already noted in the past that under universal law, slaves were considered
as property. They were not regarded as
human beings, and therefore had no right to protest their treatment by Satan.
Jesus
took us with Him, in Him, and was in us when He went to the grave and was
buried in the tomb. By the same token,
when Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father, we were raised in Him, with
Him and He in us.
Notice
exactly how Paul phrases this.
Colossians 2:13: “He re-animated [us]
con-jointly with Him; and at the same time obliterated, demolished and wiped
totally clean the decrees of judgment (and accompanying sentence of death) that
had been written against us.” (RAC Translation
& Amplification)
So
what happens each time we eat and drink at the Table of the Lord? We eat and drink of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Thus, we have “Christ in us!” But notice, once again, how Paul parallels
this to Water Baptism.
Colossians 2:12 (Amplified Version): [Thus
you were circumcised (and entered into His Covenant) when] you were buried with
Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life]
through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up
from the dead.
We
enter into the Covenant through Water Baptism.
(1) The corpse of
sin gets buried. The “non-person” slave,
subject to Satan is put in the grave.
(2) We as new,
reanimated, living, breathing creations — re-made in the image and likeness of
God — come forth from the grave as beings not subject to the Law of Sin and
Death.
(3) Just as Jesus
did, we make an open show of principalities and powers in triumph and joyful,
noisy song by virtue of having entered into this New Covenant.
(4) Water Baptism
not only engages the Covenant for us with Him, it also puts on notice Satan,
his archangels, his magistrates and all his demonic foot soldiers that their
power or authority over us has been broken and demolished once and for all!
(5) Without Water
Baptism, even though we were in Christ and He was in us when He died and was
buried, and then rose from the dead, no covenantal step has been taken on our
part to demonstrate our acceptance of the
New Covenant. Without Water Baptism — and
this is an act of faith — nothing has taken place that says to Satan and his
armies, “Your authority and power over me has been broken. Your right to torment me, your right to steal
from me, your right to take my life — without legal consequence — has been
broken by the Blood of the Lamb.”
Remember
how John saw this picture?
Revelation 12:11: And
they (the faith-filled and faith-acting believers) subdued, conquered and
prevailed over Satan, gaining complete victory by the Blood of the Lamb [shed through
his painful beatings and suffering, and death on the Cross] and the Word of
their testimony [the evidence, report and record given] (that they too were in
Christ when He died and rose again] spoken, sung and acted upon in Water
Baptism; and they did not love, adhere to and cling to their souls, their
mindsets and their old thought processes, willingly and determinedly putting
their souls, their mindsets and their old thought processes to death. (RAC Translation
and Amplification)
What
precipitated this statement by John?
What was it that he witnessed when he was transported into the
Heavenlies in and by the Spirit?
Revelation 12:10: And I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our
God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
which accused them before our God day and night.
The
accuser — our accuser — is finished! But
that “finishing” is accomplished through faith.
We finish him by the Word of our testimony.
We
give evidence, first-hand testimony as personal witnesses by virtue of the fact
that we were in Christ when he died, that we were in Christ when He rose from
the dead, and that we have entered into the new Covenant with Him. We further give first-hand testimony to the
fact that He became The Lamb That Was Slain which took away the curse and all
our sins. Finally, we can testify that
we have acted upon the Covenant extended to us by being buried with Jesus Christ
in baptism; and that we have been raised to New Life in Christ!! We are in Him! We are in Him! We are in Him! And He is in us! He is in us!
HE IS IN US !!!
NOW
you see why the cup is running over!
It’s inevitable because of what has taken place in our lives and the
Covenant we entered into when we declared that The Lord is my
Shepherd! That Covenant initiated a process in our
lives that has brought us to this day.
Our cup truly runneth over!
For
those of you who’ve been participating in our Monday night Healing Prayer
Conference Call, we just want to let you know that beginning with the month of
July and continuing until the first Monday night in October, we will be taking
a break for the summer. We’ve found
during the past three years of doing this call that participation during the
summer months drops significantly because of folks taking their vacations, and
being involved in other activities. That
said, we will resume our prayer calls on Monday night, October 2nd.
At the same time, in
case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our
Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about
10:45AM Pacific. That conference number
is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings
available by Skype. If you wish to
participate by video on Skype, my Skype ID is regner.capener. If you miss the live voice call, you can dial
(712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in
later. The video call, of course, is not
recorded – not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
.
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact:
CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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