“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” (Psa 23:1-3 NASB)

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Journal,

Here is the problem. While the angels of God continue with their nature intact, our spiritual nature and personal identity with God was displaced in the fall of Adam. We forfeited our unique relationship with all of creation. We actually lost something of the divine. We lost our glory and our majesty. (More on this later.)

I realize that the idea of humans having something of the divine is difficult to grasp. Yet a restoration of Adam’s lost glory is a very real part of God’s plan of redemption. And this restoration includes something of the divine nature.

Pay attention to these Scriptures (Caps for emphasis only):

“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death HE MIGHT RENDER POWERLESS him who had the power of death, that is, THE DEVIL.” (Heb 2:14 NASB)

Again,

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom3:23)

Jesus took to Himself the fallen human race. Satan’s authority over all humanity was broken at the cross. From that moment on any person who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Calling on Jesus relates to His becoming Lord and Savior to the one calling on Him.)

But it doesn’t stop there. Peter gives additional insight:

“… seeing that His divine power has GRANTED TO US EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, SO THAT BY THEM YOU MAY BECOME PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, Having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (2Pe 1:3-4 NASB)

That which was lost in the fall of Adam, has been restored in Jesus Christ.

Note the two things restored:

• We once again have a share in the divine nature.
• Everything that pertains to life and godliness has been granted to all believers.

The point is that Satan was able to take advantage of Adam’s fallen state and build his earthly kingdom around this aspect of disrepair. Satan is called the god of this world, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, and the authority of ‘the domain of darkness.’ All that changed with the coming of Jesus Christ.

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The two kinds of humans…

So now there actually are two kinds of humans on this planet. You have the ‘in Adam’ human. And you have the ‘in Christ’ human. Those who are in Christ, have turned to Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior. They belong to a new creation. Those who have not turned to Jesus still yet belong to the old creation. They are still under Satan’s jurisdiction.

Listen to these Scriptures that describe the two kinds of humans on planet earth today:

“[We all] formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were BY NATURE CHILDREN OF WRATH, even as the rest.” (Eph2:2,3)

Here is the description of those who have turned to Jesus Christ:

“For we are [God's] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we would walk in them.” (Eph2:10)

And again,

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away, new things have come.” (2Co5:17)

See the distinction of natures?

You have humans in disrepair and you have humans who have been restored to their proper nature and in right relationship with God.

The unregenerate human has in himself the nature of wrath, which, in turn, is aroused by the working of the powers of darkness.

As for the repaired one, again we hear,

“For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”(Gal6:15,16)

Once the human nature has been repaired this brings the principle of godliness back in place, and that which most closely relates to the divine. We now have a heart that is very much like God’s heart.

This does not mean that the repaired Christian cannot sin. No person on this planet has as sensitive a conscience as that of a person who has been born again. It is the nature of a Christian to seek cleansing from sin.

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I’ll be your father…

With that being said let’s take a closer look at the believer’s new status with God. Jesus said,

“The thief [Satan's environs and activities] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn10:10)

The true believer is born from above. When a person is born from above their human nature has undergone a spiritual repair, and is in the process of being restored to its proper purpose.

The born again person is now a very child of God. The child of God once again has something of the divine within him. He belongs to the family of God.

I have a Christian brother who was raised in a fatherless home. His heart ached for the need of his father. His mother did the best she could with her three children but the void was still there. This brother often shared with me a major healing point in his life. One day while in prayer over his life, the Lord spoke these words into his heart, ‘I’ll be your Father.’

The heavenly Father spoke life to him. This is what Jesus meant when he said,

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the word that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63)

Through our journey in this world, the Lord gives us life words. He speaks to us as our Father. But He also brings healing where healing is needed.

Repairing the broken…

The disrepair of our humanity can only be corrected one way. It is found in the working principle of the cross. Jesus alone is the One who repairs us. It is to Him alone that we bring our broken humanity. It is to Him that we make our appeal to His Lordship and to His saving grace. This is why the true apostolic message never changes, which says,

“And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved [repaired].”

The word salvation [soteria] in Greek speaks of preservation and deliverance. The word ‘save’ [sozo] means, to bring safely, get well, to restore, etc.

Listen to angel’s message to Joseph concerning Mary having a Son:

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Mark 1:21)

Being saved from our sins is not a one time event. It is the maxim of the cross. Being saved from our sins is a process of life. The Lord saved us, He is saving us, He will save us. Jesus came to save us from all our sins, past, present and future.

The writer of Hebrews said it this way:

“…but He, have offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.” (Heb10:12)

Let’s carry this further. Even our moments of repentance are workings of the Holy Spirit. The very word repentance in the Greek includes an idea of a moral conquest of the mind. (Result of conviction.) We change our minds about the path we’ve lived, and we turn to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Every bit of this involves our thinking.

The Greek word for repentance is metanoeo: Meta denotes a change of place or condition, and, noeo, meaning to exercise the mind, to think, to comprehend. Repentance involves regret or sorrow, accompanied by a change of heart toward God. It implies pious sorrow for unbelief and sin and turning from those things, to God and the gospel of Christ. This sorrow is produced in us by the Spirit of the Lord. Thus we have this continual renewing of our spiritual life in place.

“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” (Tit 3:5 NASB)

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Made a little lower than God…

Here is the Scripture that troubles some folk:

“What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty!” (Psa 8:4-5 NASB)

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, `My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” (Ps91:1,2)

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Journal,

When David speaks of the shelter of God, or the shadow of God, or even the secret place of God, he often has in view the holiest of holies. But David was also seeing past the symbolisms of the tabernacle and into the very heart of redemption.

David often spoke of Jesus. David was’t the only Old Testament prophet who had visions of Jesus. In fact the underlying theme of the entire Old Testament centered on the coming Messiah.

It begins in Genesis:

“[To Satan] And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”" (Gen 3:15 NASB)

From the Old Testament prophets to the apostles the message never changes:

“[Preaching of Peter] And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” (Act 3:17-18 NASB)

Think God for the prophets of old

“How great is Your goodness, which YOU HAVE STORED for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men!

“You hide them in THE SECRET PLACE of Your presence, from the conspiracies of man; You keep them in THE SHELTER from the strife of tongues.” (Psalm 31:19,20 nasb.) - Words in bold are for emphasis only -

The Hebrew for “the secret place of Your presence”, can equally be translated, “the secret of Your face.” The idea is that God hides His people from the view of their enemies, that is, by bringing them to the very place that He Himself dwells.

David also speaks of God’s people as being, ‘the hidden ones.’

“They make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire together against Your TREASURED ones.” (Psa 83:3 NASB)

Hidden in Christ

This wonderful truth is brought to fulfillment in the new covenant. The lives of all true believers are hidden with God in Christ. In the new covenant we are brought into heaven’s holiest of holies.

Let’s see how the tabernacle sets forth this truth of our hiding place. The only furnishing in the holiest of holies was the ark of the covenant. Two angels have their gaze firmly fixed on the golden mercy seat. Their wings touch in the center. Above the mercy seat was a brilliant light. In the light was a form.

Peter explains the prophetic intent of the holiest of holies. Notice how Peter connects the Old Testament prophets, with the apostles, and with the two angels over the mercy seat:

“It was revealed to them [the Old Testament prophets] that they were not serving themselves, but you [true believers in Christ; the treasured ones], in these things which now have been announced to you from heaven [by the apostles]-things into which ANGELS long to look.” (1Peter 1:12)

In the Light over the mercy seat was a form that only Moses was allowed to see. The form was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. We see this by tying the Old Testament and the New Testament together.

When the Lord rebuked Miriam and Aaron over their presumptuous attitude towards Moses, He said to them,

“Not so, with My servant Moses, he is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds THE FORM OF THE LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?” (Num 12:7-8 NASB)

Who did Moses see? He saw the image of the invisible God. This is exactly who Jesus is. To the Jews, God’s Messiah was known as the form of God, the glory of God, the image of God, the Word of God, and at times even the Shekinah of God.

Now listen carefully. Paul said of Christ,

“Although HE EXISTED IN THE FORM OF GOD, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself…” (Phi2:6)

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Now back to the tabernacle.

John wrote,

“And THE WORD became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

- Transpose ‘the Word’ with any of these terms, ‘the Glory’, ‘the Form’, ‘the Image’, etc. All these words were part of the ancient Hebrew expressions for Messiah.

Actually the Greek word for ‘dwelt‘ calls attention to the holiest of holiest in the tabernacle. The glory that rested over the mercy seat was now tabernacled in Jesus Christ. The Greek for ‘dwelt’ is ‘skenoo‘. In Revelation 7:15 this word is translated, ‘spread His tabernacle’.

Also note that John speaks of Jesus as ‘the Father’s glory.’ Now note how Paul specifically calls Jesus, “The Lord of glory”

“…but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have CRUCIFIED THE LORD OF GLORY.“ (1Co 2:7-8 NASB)

“And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” (Mat17:2)

But why David would speak of the holiest of holies as the hiding place for God’s people? David could see by the Spirit into the redemption of Christ. He saw past the veil, and into God’s redemption plan that would stretch across eternity past and eternity future.

Another picture we have of our hidden life is with the high priest. When the high priest entered into the holiest of holies, he carried over his heart all of Israel. The twelve stones on his vestment represented the twelve tribes. And so when the high priest entered past the veil, he carried with him and over his heart all of God’s people.

Listen carefully to the apostle:

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

“…how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:11-12,14 NASB)

And again,

“… even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:5-7 NASB)

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The ever present reality

The mercy seated of the tabernacle represented the very throne of God. We have been raised up together with Christ and seated with Christ at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Old Testament saints somehow knew in their hearts that the Lord Himself was their ever present security in life. As Moses looked down on the scattered tents of Israel, he said,

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (Psalm 90:1,2)

Here Moses uses the same word that David used with regard to the ‘secret place’ of the tabernacle.

Again think about the two cherubim with their golden wings spread over the mercy seat. Listen again to David:

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, `My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” (Ps91:1,2)

David uses the same word again which references the secret place of God’s presence, that is, the mercy seat in the holiest of holies. God’s people dwell under the very presence and protection of angels.

Here is where we come to the great mystery of God’s love for His people. The Psalmist Asaph speaks of God’s people as His ‘treasured ones.’

David puts things together when he writes,

“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

“For in the day of trouble He will CONCEAL me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock [the Rock is Christ]. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.” (Psalm 27:4-6)

The Hebrew for ‘conceal’ is the same word for God’s ‘treasured’ ones. God’s people are His treasures in the earth and for all eternity. This allows us to have a better understanding of a kingdom parable concerning a treasure. Jesus said,

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field [world], which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matt13:44)

The story is the story of the cross. Jesus Christ gave His life for the hidden treasure. Jesus came to seek that which was lost. Now the treasure is hidden again, but this time it is hidden in Christ.

Paul said,

“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col3:3,4)

All that we have read in David’s writings have their fulfillment in the finished work of the cross. Being hidden in Christ means that every believer is eternally secured from the power of darkness. We can never be separated from God’s love. Our life is placed in the Light of God’s very being. Peter said that our calling was into “His marvelous light.” (1Pe2:9) - Pass your curser over this Scripture for the full effect -

While this may seem difficult to grasp, what we need to realize is that our faith is to be based upon our position in Christ. Our position in Christ is secured. We have already been raised up and seated with Him in the heavenly places. Our concern is in living out our present life with the knowledge of our eternal placement. God gives us heavenly life as a foretaste of eternity. Heavenly life is God’s oversight of our lives.

Take time to listen to the message of the song, ‘Your Love Never Fails.’ (Jesus Culture)

Always in love with Jesus,

Buddy

Journal,

What a celebration to be remembered. Saturday was my 70^th birthday. I could not have had a more wonderful day. All my family gathered, children, grandchildren, great-grand children. And of course the church had to pull a sneak attack with a surprise party. And to top everything, there was a request for the Martin family to share some gospel music.

My, how the time does fly. Seems of late I find myself traveling more and more down memory land.

I’ve often thought, ‘Who am I that the Lord would grant to me such a stewardship as Christian Challenge. This is such a wonderful ministry. Seems all our members carry the heart of a disciple. We are a family.’

Its not that we are bigger or better than any other ministry. Actually we have never been very large. It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with me personally. I’ve always felt very small when it comes to kingdom work. And yet the Lord has helped us to gather much fruit for His kingdom.

The Psalmist said it best of all…

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.” (Psalm 115:1)

Christian Challenge began as a fledgling ministry in 1976. We had no financial backing. No denominational support. What we had was a stewardship

Through the years we’ve trained hundreds of believers for service in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Some have entered the mission field. Others are now pastors. But every student that has come through our School has carried something of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ from the School.

Yes, the CCI School for Christian Workers is very unique. It all relates to our ministry philosophy. We center exclusively on Biblical discipleship. The motto of Christian Challenge International is, ‘How Beautiful Upon the Mountains.’ The motto for the School for Christian Workers is, ‘Preparing Servants for the Nations.’

So, here we are again. For those who would like to know more about the world of a disciple, the 45^th CCI School for Christian Workers is forthcoming. Pray about it.

Would you like to know how a fourteen week course can radically change a believers spiritual life view. Here is your chance. (Note: The School is nondenominational. We’ve trained believers from a number of Christian backgrounds.)

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Here is a short study on some of what we teach in our Disciple’s Heart Training Program.

Learn to Extract the Precious from the Worthless

This is what the Lord had to say to the prophet Jeremiah:

“Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you– Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them.” (Jer15:19)

It is crucial that believers learn how to appraise spiritual things accurately. Those who are born from above have a unique ability to recognize the things that are of God. The believer’s ability to place a value on all things becomes more acute with spiritual maturity.

Paul said that a spiritual man ‘knows’ and ‘appraises’ all things.

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” (1Co2:12)

The word ‘know’ is *eido* in Greek. It means ‘to see, perceive, to turn the eyes, the mind, or the attention to anything; to get knowledge of; to be skilled in, or to know the meaning of.”

Then in verse 15, Paul says,

“But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.”

The word ‘appraises’ is *anakrino* in Greek. It means to examine, to ask questions, search, discern, and enquire into, to scrutinize, to sift. In a forensic sense it means to hold an investigation to determine the excellence or the defects of any thing.

The apostle is bringing out the strength and beauty of a believer’s spiritual life. The crown of a believer’s walk is his ability to know that which is of the Lord. It is this spiritual ability that protects a believer from error. Satan cannot successfully mislead a mature child of God.

This brings us to the importance of discernment. The ability to know if a thing is of God is important because the supernatural realm makes up more than the things of God. Satan is a spiritual being. The hallmark of Satan’s work is deception. Paul said,

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this spiritual darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph6:12)

We are especially warned that in the last days there will be a great increase of deception at work in the earth. The Lord said that this deception would be so acute that even the very elect will have to maintain a special guard. (Cf. Matt24:24; 1Tim4:1-6; 2Tim3:13.)

To take this a step further, the work of demons is closely linked to the prideful flesh of man. Demons work with fleshly people. And what the fleshly person attributes to God are ‘soulish’ powers that are in cooperation with spirits of darkness. (Cf. Gal 5:19-21)

How do we know if it is a soulish power at work in a person, or if it is truly of the Spirit? When prideful flesh is at work it glories in itself. The balance comes in where God’s people are told to keep a pilgrim attitude about life. We are to hold tightly to Jesus, and loosely to the world. Paul said,

True Biblical discipleship has a spiritual base. It is an outflow of a proper relationship with the Lord. This proper relationship has a heart attitude that is set forth in the word ‘humility.’ We are to live with humble hearts before the Lord, never striving after things of the world. The Lord Himself said that if we will seek first God’s kingdom, and His righteousness, then everything else will be provided for us.

Here are some things that can help you to maintain a proper balance in your walk with the Lord:

• First – Keep in view that not all supernatural things are from God. Don’t be afraid of offending the Lord by questioning. Remember that everything the Lord has, the enemy has a substitute.
• Second – Understand that anyone can be deceived, if but for a time, even the most devoted of believers, if the believer is ignorant of how Satan works. It is this knowledge that will help keep you on guard.
• Third – Learn to trust your own spiritual judgment. This is what the renewing of the mind is about. As we consecrate ourselves to God’s service, we find our ability to judge becoming keener. (Cf. Rom12:1-3)
• Fourth – Understand that discernment and testing aren’t necessarily the same thing. You discern by the Holy Spirit. You test by the Word of God. Therefore when you may sense a thing is wrong, don’t ignore that sensing. But the more you become acquainted with God’s Word, the more you will be able to determine why what you sense is wrong. [Be willing to test every experience; dreams, visions, etc., by the Word of God.]
• Fifth – Be willing to adjust the way you do things. Even the apostles had to make changes. Peter would not go to Cornelius’ house until the Lord opened his understanding. (Cf. John7:17)

In all this, every believer must study the Scriptures to make sure they have a clear understanding of the gospel message.

The above us just a sample of what you can expect. in our School. There is so much more.

OK, let’s not leave without a song. Here is ‘Sanctuary, by Randy Rothwell…

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May the Lord richly bless you as you learn the walk of obedience,

In Christ always,

Buddy

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev 21:2 NASB)

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Journal,

All who believe in the God of the Bible, that His Word is true, and that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, of whom they have received and accepted as their own Lord and Savior, these have secured for themselves an eternal and blessed destiny, and an eternal and blessed life. God gives all these precious believing ones the path of life they are to follow.

Jesus said,

”I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” - John 8:12

Now lets talk about this Light of life that Jesus came to give us.

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The essence of life from God

In Biblical Christianity there is one issue that determines whether a person is truly a Christian or not. It has nothing to do with our religious affiliation. The crown of a believer’s walk is summed up in the term, ‘Knowing the Lord.’ That term should never be taken lightly. It is the very essence of what Christianity is all about.

The apostle Peter shares insight into the life that true believers enjoy:

“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (2Pe1:1,2)

Peter has much more to say, but for the moment let me point out two important principles the apostle is presenting with regard to the covenant of Christ. First, Peter is saying that all believers participate equally in the kingdom of God. We have all “received a faith of the same kind as [the apostles.]“

The term ‘of the same kind’ is the Greek word ‘isotimos.’ This is a political term and speaks of equal honor. Peter’s point is that all believers share in equal honor before the throne of God. There are no second class citizens in the covenant of Christ. We are equal in standing. (This is not an issue of stewardships, or gifting, or placement, or maturity, etc. It is a relational term.)

For the second principle pay close attention verse two;

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

The word for knowledge here is ‘epignosis.‘ This word has to do with a more perfect or a fuller knowledge. The word is very expressive. It speaks of consciousness, and recognition. It especially speaks of knowing something with a degree of thoroughness. In the new covenant it would include the idea of coming to know God’s heart. Epignosis is what a believer acquires through faith in Jesus.

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To Know the Father as the Son knows the Father

To appreciate how wonderful this word is in regard to our Christian walk, listen carefully to Jesus:

“All things have been handed over to me by My Father, and no one knows [epignosis] the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know [episnosis] the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Matt11:27)

Did you catch it. The only ones who can truly know the heart of the Father are those to whom Jesus reveals Him. If we take this to its logical conclusion, Jesus is saying that in the new covenant, all born again people will have innate within them this ’conscious, definitive, recognition’ of the Father.

This knowing experience of God is the crown of a believer’s life. It is a growing knowledge. And it comes to us from Jesus Himself.

(To appreciate how the word ‘epignosis’ is used in relation to the new covenant pass your cursor over the following Scriptures. Where you see ‘knowledge‘ the word is epignosis.  - Cf. Eph1:17; 4:13; Phil1:9; Col1:9,10; 2:2; 3:10; 1Ti2:4; Phm1:6)

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The cry of the children

The very heart of the new covenant is the ‘Abba! Father!’ experience. It really doesn’t matter your church affiliation. You cannot tell a person who knows the Lord that they don’t know the Lord. The promise of the new covenant is,

“They will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” (Heb8:11)

Jesus placed eternal life on the basis of knowing God.

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Joh 17:3 NASB)

The apostle Paul had this to say:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal3:26)

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge [epignosis] of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

As the truth [reality] of God reveals itself in our hearts, the result is a multiplying of grace and peace. This is why believers go through these experiences of, “I must have been born again, again.”

No, you weren’t born again, again. Truth is at work in your life. And truth always works out the freedom of Christ in us. Paul spoke of this as ‘Christ being formed in us.’ In another place, Paul says,

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed ot His death.” (Phil3:10)

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The believer’s protection

But we have to yet go a step further. To know the Lord is the greatest protection that a believer has. This is why we can call ‘knowing the Lord’ the crown of a believer’s life. In this knowing the Lord, the believer is protected from the false prophet.

It is this knowing that causes a believer to distinguish false teaching. It is this knowing that gives the believer the deepest of assurance that he or she is in the will of the Lord. It is this ‘knowing‘ that is the sign of a person who is truly born again.

Jesus nails this down in John 10:26-29. Follow this through:

“But you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish.” (John 10:26-28)

Jesus says there is a knowing relation between both Him and His sheep. In verse 5, He says of the sheep,

“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not *know* the voice of strangers.”

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He calls us one by one by one – He calls us by name

In the new covenant Jesus did not leave it up to the efforts of man to establish people in His kingdom. He calls us one by one by one. And He still speaks into our lives in that manner.

Our walk with the Lord is very personal. But for a believer it is a ‘knowing’ walk. We know that we are children of God. We carry that testimony in our hearts. We know that this world is not our home. We also carry that testimony in our hearts.

With that in mind I’ll conclude this journal entry with the song, ‘Jerusalem‘ by the Hoppers. Take time to listen. The Lord may have something for your heart.

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In love with Jesus,

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Buddy

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. ‘Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus *said to them, ‘Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.’” (Mat 21:28-31 NASB)

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Journal,

In this entry I want to follow two closely related tracks. One will concern itself with those who have a self-righteous religious attitude. The other track will address the Church that Jesus established, that is, the church made up of prostitutes and tax collectors. The tracks will run together.

To appreciate what Jesus had to say about prostitutes and tax collectors entering the kingdom of God before the religious authorities of that hour, we need a bit of background. The day prior, Jesus ran the money changers out of the temple area. When He returned to the temple the following day, He was confronted by the authorities:

“…the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.’” (Mat 21:23-24 NASB)

When Jesus asked them if the baptism of John was from heaven or from men, it caught them completely off guard. They were unable to respond. The crowds saw John as a prophet, and were being drawn to Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. They were calling Him, ‘Son of David.’ (This term had regard to the promised Messiah.)

It is how Jesus ends this parable that is so interesting. He simply says that the prostitutes and tax collectors would enter the kingdom of God, ahead of these Jewish leaders?

Think about it. The Lord was in the temple complex speaking to the recognized leaders of world Judaism. Included in this group would be those who would have Him crucified.

Yes, you guessed it. Religion crucified Jesus.

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The gospel of the prostitute

But why did Jesus draw attention to prostitutes and tax collectors? After all they were considered the very dregs of Jewish society, the very worst of sinners. For one reason they were utterly detested especially by the Pharisees. And so you have the dregs of society versus the high and mighty. You have those who know they are sinners, and you have the religious bigots, the very epitome of the self righteous, those who look down their noses at everyone not of their sort.

Yet it is in the prostitutes and tax collectors that we see the true gospel story.

Strangely enough the verity of ‘the prostitutes entering first’ can be seen of a sorts in Biblical form. In the very genealogy of Jesus Christ, only four women are recorded. Three of the four women were non-Hebrew in ancestry; Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Canaanite, and Ruth the Moabite. Two had prostitution written in their lives, Tamar and Rahab. One was an adulteress, Bathsheba. (Bathsheba was the only Hebrew of the four. She was from the tribe of Judah.)

All four of these women were in the direct lineage of Jesus Christ. Does that tell us anything at all? Why were these the only women recorded? Perhaps it is because in these women we see the very heart of the gospel story and of God’s love for all of humanity.

Here is a brief rundown.

• Tamar dressed herself as a temple prostitute in order to deceive Judah. Through Judah would come King David, and thus Messiah. (Story in Genesis 38)
• Rahab was a ’harlot.’ [Hebrew is 'zanah' which means to be a harlot or to commit fornication.] The two spies were to sent spy out Jericho. Rahab protected them. She believed in the Lord God of Israel. (Story in Joshua 2)
• Ruth’s story is one of the most beautiful in all the Bible. She was a Moabitess. Once again we have a non-Israelite woman preserving the seed of Messiah. (See the book of Ruth.)
• Finally we have Bathsheba. She was married to Uriah the Hittite. David paid dearly for his sin of adultry with Bathsheba. And yet this is another of the four women who are written into the genealogy of Jesus.

It is important to understand that this is not an issue of lifting up immoral sexual behavior. If we knew the times well enough, we would know how much the women were at the mercy of the men. A woman was born under complete control of the father. This went to the husband. And as a rule, she received no inheritance from her dead husband. It passed to the sons. The sons were to care for the mother. If she did not have sons, her situation was not good. The sons were the social security system of the time. (There are variations on this, so I’m not being technical.)

Now back to the prostitutes entering the kingdom of God first. What is Jesus speaking to with the story of the two sons. One thing it tells us is that religion in itself can become the very destroyer of faith. Sometimes we exalt our religion to the extent that we’ve become ‘religion worshipers.’ This is what had happened in Israel’s religious establishment.

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We say stone her! What do you say?

We see religious blindness in the gospel story of Jesus. When the men wanted to stone a woman caught in adultery, Jesus diverted the attention of the men to their own sins. He spoke nothing but kindness to the frightened woman. Jesus said two things to her that we must never forget. First, He did not allow her to remain under the bondage of condemnation. And secondly, Jesus simply told her to free herself from the sin that she was involved in. He Himself would be her freedom.

The woman at the well is another classic example. This lady had been married five times and was then living with a guy. How did Jesus handle her? He began by helping her process her life. He spoke to her heart. He awakened something in her. Jesus Himself would be her answer.

But notice that the woman has a final argument. It had to do with religion. She said,

“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

There it is. See how our religion can get in the way. All she knew was religion. She had a pain in her heart and couldn’t do anything about it. The Lord took it out of the hands of religion. He said,

“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”

He goes one to say,

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Now we know the primary reason the temple authorities hated Jesus. He was dismantling their power over the people.

Jesus was telling the lady at the well that there wasn’t going to be any more special mountains she needed to go to. There will be no anointed places you need to seek out. There will be no great religious figures you will need to bless you. True worship will be a matter of the heart. It will be as personal as a kiss. (The Greek for worship, proskuneo, literally means ‘to kiss.’ It is a very intimate word. True worship is deeply personal.)

Paul later expounded on this, in saying,

“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” (Phil3:2,3)

This brings us full circle back to the high priests, the elders, the prostitutes, and the tax collectors. We need to stop looking at the religions of the world for answers. This includes all the hype you see on the television tube. Jesus is present with every one of His people. He is in their hearts. He is in their mouths. He is in their lives. You see, religion stopped at the cross. It was nailed there in the body of Christ.

What does all this mean? It means the door to heaven has been flung open. The curtain has been ripped. No one can ever again stand between you and the Lord God. There is no prophet that you need to go to. Just listen with your heart. Jesus said,

“I have other sheep also, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one Shepherd.”

Does this do away with the Church? May it never be. It establishes God’s true Church. The Church has never been a building. Christ Himself builds His Church, and He flocks His people as He wills. We just need to find out where we need to be.

Jesus dismantled religion

Did the Lord not say,

“Heaven is my throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me?” (Isa66:1)

Well, God did build a house to contain His glory. He built it out of fallen humanity. The apostle said it well enough;

“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts (this is the glory shining) to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [exact presence] of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels…” (2Co4:6,7)

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The flock of God

So, whence went religion? If the glory is shining in our hearts, why would we need an outward system of symbols and rituals, with vestments and forms, to tell us what God is like? Well, we don’t need any of that. The Messiah of God said,

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (Jn10:27,28)

Now another question – What need do we have for flocking together as a Church?

The need is great. God has ordained that each of His people be assigned to a particular flock for their care and safety.

There are hundreds of thousands of gospel believing churches with the same hundreds of thousands of godly pastors who care deeply for their flock. We just need to look to the Lord to place us in our proper flock.

It should go without saying that we aren’t in heaven yet. Nor are we secured from the presence of evil. And so God has decreed that He will meet with every flock, regardless of how tiny it may be, and in these flockings, He will make Himself known in special ways. (This does not preclude the fact that we have the glory in our hearts.)

There is another reason for God flocking His people. The young lambs need a place of security so they can grow properly, and be taught the ways of the Lord, and not have to worry about harassment by wolves. Mature believers are a safe guard against spoilers of the flock.

Paul warned us about them. Wolves are sly. They often try to enter the flocks disguised as sheep. But you can recognize them after a bit. They emit an order that is unpleasant to the sheep. Besides that, wolves are really stuck on themselves. They can’t hide it. On the other hand, sheep are humble creatures and non-threatening.

But even here we need caution. Systems of worship are not necessarily wrong. Neither are they necessarily right. The problem is that God does not deal with us according to our systems of worship. He deals with us one on one on one. He deals with us family by family. He deals with us flock by flock.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that you don’t have to worry about which system is right. None of them are right. The question is whether we are right with the Lord.

I have been a pastor for a long time. My greatest joy is to look at those who have been made part of God’s church. All I can say is…

“Thank you Lord, for every prostitute and every tax collecter. Thank you for all these beautiful people. They were once sickened in sin, but you have glorified Yourself in them. Thank you Jesus.”

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Well, I must not leave this entry without a song. Here is the story of the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ. Please take time to listen. The Lord wants to speak to your heart. It is titled, ‘Through It All.’ (By the Booth Brothers)

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Much love in Jesus,
Buddy

“But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” (1Co 15:54-55 NASB)

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Journal,

If the fact be told, Christianity is the only religion that sets aside death and judgment for her believers. Every other religion leaves humankind in a state of uncertainty and often even in hopelessness. In this entry I want to deal with that most crucial issue in the human experience, death and judgment.

As a beginning place I’ll share words from three men who represent the best that their religion had to offer; Rabbi Saccai of Judaism, Mohammed of Islam, and the Apostle Paul of Christianity. Each man speaks to what their religious world offered with respect to death and judgment.

Let’s begin with Saccai. Rabbi Saccai lived before and after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  His full name was Rabbi Yochanan ben Saccai. [Yochanan is Hebrew for John.] Some scholars believe that Rabbi Saccai was the ‘John’ who sat in judgment of the apostles and possibly participated in the trial of Jesus.

If that is the case here is the Scripture reference that may apply to Rabbi Saccai:

“On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. When they had placed them [Peter and John] in the center, they began to inquire, ‘By what power, or in what name, have you done this?’…

“[After the council had deliberated] And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Act 4:5-7,18 NASB)

Yochanan ben Saccai was so well known and revered in Judaism that when anyone spoke of John of the Sanhedrin, no futher identification was needed. He was so highly regarded in Judaism that he had the title, ‘the light of Israel, the right pillar of the Temple, and its mighty hammer.’

[The Jews loved titles as do many among Christians today. Jesus warned believers against the use of titles. That's why I have little for those who like to be called 'apostle' or 'prophet' so and so. To me it reeks of pride.]

As for Rabbi Saccai, this man was the major influencing factor in giving shape to Talmudic Judaism after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d.. But did he deserve the title, ‘light of Israel’? I’m afraid not. That title belongs to one Person alone, the Messiah.

Here is the Saccai’s death bed testimony as recorded in the Talmud:

Rabbi Saccai’s deathbed testimony

“When dying, his disciples came to see him. He burst into tears. Ask, ‘Why?’ ‘If I were now to be brought before an earthly king, who lives today and dies tomorrow, whose wrath and whose bonds are not everlasting, and whose sentence of death, even, is not that to everlasting death, who can be assuaged by arguments, or perhaps bought off by money I should tremble and weep; …

“…how much more reason have I for it, when about to be led before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be he, who liveth and abideth for ever, whose chains are chains for evermore, and whose sentence of death killeth for ever, whom I cannot assuage with words, nor bribe by money! …

“…And not only so, but there are before me two ways, one to paradise and the other to hell, and I know not which of the two ways I shall have to go whether to paradise or to hell: how, then, shall I not shed tears?”

Think about Yochanan ben Saccah’s death bed testimony. Does it sound like he had any assurance in that which was to come?

Then we have this statement from the writings of Islam, concerning Muhammed’s own insecurity.

How Muhammad looked at death

“Muhammad said: ‘By Allah, though I am the Apostle of Allah, yet I do not know what Allah will do to me.’” (hadith 5:266) - In Islam the only guaranteed way to enter heaven is by martyrdom. This is the driving force of suicide bombers.

Now compare these statements to Paul;

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The testimony of the apostle

“For me to live is Christ and to die is gain…But I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” (Phil1:21-24)

Paul carried in his heart what old timers called ‘divine assurance.’ Every true believer carries this assurance.

Can we carry this further? How about the Hindu religion? It is the same. They preach ‘another’ Jesus. He is one of the many reincarnations of God, called an Avatar.

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How about superstitions…

It doesn’t matter how many crosses a rock star may hang around his neck, this has nothing to do with Jesus of the gospels. The cross is not some amulet to wear to give good luck. The only cross that saves is the message of the cross. Paul said this message is, “foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.“ (1Co1:18)

What then is the point? The point is that there is only one Jesus Christ. He Himself is in the message of the cross. And when Jesus Christ is preached, and received, and accepted as the atonement of our sins, and as Redeemer and Savior, for the believing one there is a seal placed upon their heart.

This seal carries in it the testimony of divine assurance. The seal carries in it the very life that Jesus came to give us. The seal contains the presence of heaven as a continual reminder that we are simply pilgrims on a journey.

And the seal carries in it that the believer has already been judged in Christ and that heaven is the believer’s assured destiny. Christian believers are the very children of the throne.

Consider:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.“ Joh 5:24

Follow through with these Scriptures.

“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Heb 2:14-15 NASB)

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” (Php 3:20-21 NASB)

” [God] and raised us up with Him [Jesus}, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:6-9 NASB)

Yes, Jesus laid death and judgment in the grave

This is why there is no such thing as a person not knowing if they are saved or not. You either believe in and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, or you don't. There is no middle ground. If you truly trust in Jesus as Lord of your life, this means you have left the world of darkness, that you have turned from your sins, and that you now carry in your heart a divine seal of salvation.

Paul adds to this in saying,

"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Rom8:14)

And again,

"The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..." (Rom 8:16,17)

John the beloved adds to the record by saying,

"The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself ... and the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life..." (1John5:10)

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Now we know why...

...Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai faced death with tears and dread. and why Mohammed did not know what Allah would do with him. And we also understand why true believers have no dread of death or fear of eternity. It is because God's 'seal' of the heart carries with it the very essence of our heavenly home.

God's children all carry in themselves a heavenly consciousness. We know that this world is not our home. We share in the testimony of Jesus Christ.

"And He was saying to them [Pharisees], “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” (Joh 8:23)

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” (Joh 15:19)

“[Father] I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they [all true believers] are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (Joh 17:14)

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The simplicity of faith in Jesus

God’s divine seal of assurance goes much much deeper than our emotions. It is a thing of the heart. Paul said that with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. What he is saying is that the confession is an automatic response to what has happened in the person’s heart. We speak what is in our hearts. If Jesus Christ is our Lord, we will certainly let people know it.

The apostle also warns against believers following after strange teachings and following after things that may not be of God:

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.“ (2Co 11:3NASB)

Did you catch it? Our entire walk in our journey of life is to be based on a simple devotion to Jesus Christ. Don’t be led astray from the simplicity and purity of your devotion to Jesus Christ.

It is the simple message of faith in Jesus Christ, and in the finished work of the cross that we must preach and tell the world. If we are preaching anything else, there can be no work of salvation. The apostle quoted Isaiah, in saying,

“Lord, who has believed our report [message]?” He then says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Cf. Rom10)

Christ Himself actually speaks to the hearts of men and women in the preaching of the cross. This is what makes preaching so powerful. Paul says it plain enough when he said to the Corinthians,

“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1Co2:2)

He then explained why this was the only message he preached;

“So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (Cf. 1Co2:5)

With all this in mind, let me share just a bit about…

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The Jordan message…

Crossing the Jordan is a figure of speech that believers use for our passage into the eternal kingdom of God. As a long time minister of the gospel it has been my great honor to attend to the going home of so many of God’s children. It is as the Psalmist said,

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.” (Psalm 116:15 nasb)

The Lord called me to preach the gospel of His Son when I was twenty-four years old. I will soon be seventy. But the Lord did something a bit extra on my behalf. He has also allowed me to sing the gospel in the form of songs that He has given me.

Some years ago the Lord gave me a song to share about the believer’s journey into His eternal kingdom. The song is entitled, ‘At the Crossing of the Jordan.’

There is nothing professional about the song, but it does carry with it a message from heaven. Take a moment to listen to ‘At the Crossing of the Jordan.’ Its me on the guitar with help from some dear friends and family. The song speaks to our journey home. Let it speak to your heart.

That’s it for now.

May the Lord be gracious to you,

Buddy

“May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”

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Readers,

Before I venture into the subject, ‘The Shelter of His Wings,‘ for those interested, here is a list of my top journal entries that are presently receiving the largest number of readers:

“Speaking in Other Languages” – http://buddymartin.net/blog/2009/12/speaking-in-other-languages/

“Walking Down Memory Lane” – http://buddymartin.net/blog/2010/08/walking-down-memory-lane-gods-faithfulness/

“Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment” – http://buddymartin.net/blog/2009/11/mercy-triumphs-over-judgment/

“Passing Through the Valley of Baca” – http://buddymartin.net/blog/2010/01/passing-through-the-valley-of-baca/

And now…

Under The Shelter of His Wings

There was a lady who suffered greatly from a female disorder. Hearing about Jesus, she said to herself, “If I only touch His garment¹, I will get well.” (Mt9:21) We don’t often catch what she was really saying. The part of His garment she wanted to touch was the fringe (tassel) of His cloak. (¹The Luke account has krispedon for garment, which literally means ‘fringe’ or ‘tassel.’)

The ancient Jews had a tradition concerning the fringe of the cloak that had to do with God’s Messiah, and of His healing presence. The background for this came from God’s commandment to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.”(Num15:38)

The cord of blue was said to represent the throne of glory, or the heavenly life. Over time these tassels took on the term ‘wings.’ Keep this in mind and you’ll have a bit more insight into those Scriptures that speak of God’s wings and why the lady wanted to touch the garment (tassels) of Jesus.

Listen:

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty … He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge.” (Ps91:1,4)

And,

“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.” (Mal4:2)

Then we hear Jesus say,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Mt23:37)

The language that Jesus uses here speaks to who He really is. The Lord God in the person of His Messiah, walked the land of Israel. The leadership refused Him. Isaiah speaks of Jesus as God Himself:

“Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news [the gospel], lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, [message of the apostles]; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’” (Isa40:9)

Take time to read this larger prophecy. I’ll break it down by portions for emphasis:

“Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

“For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; thechastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.

“By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?” (Isa 53:1-8 NASB)

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But there were those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

This is why the peoples crowded around Jesus, hoping just to touch the fringes of His garment. Notice how deeply felt this belief was concerning the garment of Messiah.

“Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.” (Mar6:56)

Keep in mind that to the people the blue fringe represented the throne of glory and the heavenly life. The heavenly life was walking among them. They were taught that the Messiah would bring with Him the very life of God.

But a question remains —

Does this idea of the wings of God have any relationship to the sacred Scriptures themselves? Can the heavenly life be found in the Bible? …

Paul said that the Scriptures carry in them the very breath of God.  The Bible comes to us from the throne of glory. Therefore it can be said that when we believe the message of God’s Messiah that flows through the Scriptures, that in our believing we actually come under the shelter of His wings.

However, it is important to understand that it isn’t simply the Bible in itself that causes miracles and gives us the answers that we need. It is the heavenly voice that speaks to us from the Scriptures. Make this distinction and you have the true essence of why we love the book of heaven so deeply, and why we can say that the Bible is imbued with the life of Jesus.

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Once again let’s hear the prophet…

Is it any wonder why the book of Isaiah is spoken of as the fifth gospel. When Jesus opens the scroll of Isaiah, He begins to read,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Cf. Luke 4:16-22)

What happens next? The people are astonished at what they are hearing. They were wondering at the gracious words that were flowing from His lips. What made the difference in this case? It was Jesus speaking from the Scriptures. The people were hearing a living voice speaking from the book of heaven. It is the voice of heaven that makes the Bible the book of heaven.

Once again listen to the prophet:

“On that day the [spiritually] deaf will hear words of a book [gospel], and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the LORD, And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” (Isa 29:18-19 NASB)

Jesus said to the Jewish leaders,

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” (Jn5:39)

And again,

“Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offerings You have not desired and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure’ … Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll [or volume] of the book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God.’” (Heb10:5-7)

The term for ’scroll’ is a reference to the total volume of the book and to the spindle around which the scroll wraps itself. The picture being presented is Jesus as the spindle around which the entire Bible wraps itself.

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The blue thread of heaven…

Now back to the lady with the issue of blood. She had been taught that the blue thread in the fringe (tassel) represented the throne of glory and the heavenly life. She saw Jesus as that heavenly life that comes from the throne of God. It was her faith in Jesus as the heavenly life that brought her healing.

It takes awhile for the child of God to understand the principle of how God speaks to us. This is why it is so important for the believer to be in the congregation of God’s holy people. As the man of God speaks from the Scriptures, we began to hear the Lord speaking to our own hearts. It isn’t the man of God who is speaking to us. It is the Lord speaking from the book of heaven. This is what Jesus is speaking of when He said,

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Mt18:20 – He is present in His Word.)

Is the Bible a living book to you or do you just use it to argue doctrine? Everything rests upon how you view the Scriptures.

These are the hard questions — But there is an issue involved. Do you really know the Lord, or do you simply know some form of religion? What think ye? Is the Bible the book of heaven?

Think about it.

Here is your song by Carmen. (Tell Me the Story of Jesus, I Surrender All, What A Friend We Have in Jesus.)

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I love you with the love of Jesus,.

Buddy

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Journal,

The single most important factor that will affect a believer’s walk with the Lord has to do with coming to realize the very character and nature of God.

I have loved the Lord deeply the greater part of my life. In fact I answered my call to the ministry at age 24. This month I will turn 70.

Even though I loved Jesus fervently from my heart, I didn’t always understand that much about God’s character. Most of the preaching I had heard was filled with passion but short on teaching on the ways of the Lord, or on discovering the very heart of God. My ministry was molded around what I had heard.

In 1971, I left the full time ministry. The drain was just too much. So, for the next three years I devoted myself to serious spiritual adjustments. Sure, I preached out and continued my ministry of winning souls to the kingdom, but I also went into business. In my mind being in full time ministry was a thing of the past.

Those three years became a mile stone in my walk with the Lord. It was during that time that I began to experience the Lord on a level that I never knew existed. What had been a mixed struggle and a strain in my walk of faith, was now becoming a joyful walk filled with stability and grace. The Lord was teaching me His heart. A whole new world was opening up.

It is hard to find a single beginning point for this great turn around in my life. There was so much the Lord was showing me, so much about His nature that I was coming to understand.

But let me draw attention to an incident that sort of set the state. It had to do with what I will call…

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God’s Psalm of Life

Here is how it went…

Psalm 37 is what can be called ‘a fullness Psalm.’ It has to do with God’s wisdom for life. Psalm 37 is designed to help shape our faith walk. The essence of this Psalm is that we need to learn to trust the Lord in every circumstance of life. I point to Psalm 37 because it had a major place in reshaping my faith walk those thirty-six years ago.

Here is the story:

It Happened in My Morning Devotion

With my first cup of coffee in place I’m into my morning devotion. That day my devotion brought me to Psalm 37. When I come to verse 4, I read, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

I had to pause. It was like a divine moment was in place. As I sat there looking at that verse, I said a prayer in my heart, ‘Lord, did you mean that?’ That was when I heard in my heart, ‘Try Me and see.’ It was like God had given me an invitation to ask of Him anything that I wanted.

I quietly responded in my heart, ‘Lord, I thank you for my sons. I would like to have a daughter.’ Almost in the twinkling of an eye, I heard once again in my heart, ‘She’s yours.’ That was it. Business had been conducted with the throne of God.

At the time Betty was expecting our fourth child. We had no idea what our next child was to be. The Lord had already blessed us with three sons.

I shared with Betty what the Lord said. Then when I shared this with some of the church members, they gave me this kindly smile, sort of like, ‘Yeah. We’ll see.’ Someone even challenged me on what I shared. It made no difference. I had heard from the Lord.

Well, see we did. The nurse walked down the corridor towards the window where I was standing behind the glass pane. She mouthed to me, ‘It’s a girl.’ The tears of happiness rolled down my face. My heart overflowed with joy.  Once again the Lord had shown Himself faithful.

But my happiness was not limited to the fact that we now had a daughter. My happiness wrapped itself around a promise that the Lord had given me. The Lord had given me His Word.

For some reason this learning experience was different this time. The Lord had often shown me things. I’ve had dreams and visions. I’ve had the Lord put in my heart things that were going to happen. And they did. So what made this event so different? This time there was a direct connection with a promise written in God’s sacred Word. The Lord said that if I would delight in Him, that He would give me the desires of my heart.

What was the great lesson I was learning? I was learning that you cannot separate God from His Word, and that a life of faith must have an anchor. The anchor for our faith journey is to be based entirely upon the promises of God.

I was learning that everything I would ever need in life, to live by and to accomplish God’s work had already been provided. God even put His provision in written form, the Bible. My entire faith journey was to be an outworking of God’s promises. The Bible is a book of living words.

Jesus Himself said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Did the Lord stop dealing with me by dreams and visions and other directives in my heart? Not at all. What I had now was a deeper appreciation for God’s holy book. I found that the Bible is given to us as a guidebook that God uses to instill His promises into the deep of a believer’s heart.

Oh yes, the Bible is much more than a book of facts where we can collect information and argue doctrine. When the Holy Spirit moves on God’s Word and begins ministering to our heart, it then becomes a living book.

And this, my friend is the essence of the new covenant. Listen carefully to how God’s prophet describes the covenant of Christ:

“’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

“… not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD.

“‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law [Torah means 'instructions'] within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD,

“‘…for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” (Jer 31:31-34 NASB)

I broke the afore Scriptures into paragraph portions because I wanted you to read each segment on its own. God writes His instructions upon our heart.

And so not long afterwards, the Lord open the gate to miracle land for me and my family.

We walked through the Gate right into of Miracle Land

Do you remember what the Lord said about the gate and the narrow? Listen:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mat 7:13-14 NASB)

I’m not sure the Lord was simply referring to salvation itself. Salvation is not that hard a matter. It reduces itself down to a matter of repentance and calling upon the name of the Lord. No, it seems to me that the Lord is speaking of how we can learn to live in the life that He has for us.

In our case one more step was needed. At the end of my three years of spiritual adjustment, I made a contract with God. My heart was filled with the things of heaven. But there was something that I needed to do. I realized this sounds strange but the Lord Himself had drawn me to this place.

I made a contract with God

This was my contract – I told the Lord that I would go anywhere He wanted me to go, and I would do anything He wanted me to do, that my life was no longer mine to direct. But there were two things that I wanted from Him. 1st, I ask the Lord to tell me personally what He wanted me to do and not send someone else to tell me. And, 2nd, I must have my wife.

In such a short time the Lord opened to us the gate to miracle land. He had accepted my contract. Betty and I, along with our sons and our new daughter were back into full time gospel ministry. That was 1975.

Oh yes, there were many more lessons to learn, but into miracle land we ventured. Now we had the answer to every need, to every trial, to every circumstance that would come our way. We were experiencing God’s character, God’s heart, and God’s faithfulness.

I wish I had time and space to share more on our journey into miracle land. But alas, the story is still being written.

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Now let’s hear from Peter:

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (everything has already been provided for.)

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (2Pe 1:2-4 NASB)

Did you catch it? Living by faith is nothing less than living on His precious and magnificent promises. The land of faith is also called the land of promise. You don’t earn the promises. You are an heir of the promises.

Listen to how Paul adds to this:

“For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us–by me and Silvanus and Timothy–was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” (2Co 1:19-20 NASB)

The Lord God has laid out before us great and mighty promises. We are the heirs of those promises.

Here’s the problem. How can you live by the promises of God if you don’t know what they are? Living by faith is not living by our feelings, or emotions, or ‘I hope so’, or, some esoteric experience, and so on and on. Living by faith has to have an anchor. It has to have a divine connection with the Lord Jesus Himself.

The anchor of the faith walk will always center on the Word of God. We are to believe in, and live from the promises of God. We are the very heirs of God and of all the Christ promises.

What more can I say. I shared just a bit of my walk down memory lane. I’ve had so many people ask me to write a book about the things I learned. But how can I do that. The book has already been written.

Have you made your full surrender? Here is a song. Let it speak to your heart.

Think about it.

Always your servant in Christ,

Buddy

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Readers,

It is quite interesting how the religious man attempts to rebuild what God has torn down. Old Testament Judaism with its temple sacrifices and mediatorial priesthood had served a purpose. That purpose ended with the cross. It was replaced by a much greater covenant, the covenant of Christ.

The covenant of Christ is about personal freedom and direct access to the throne of God. It is about our heavenly life in Christ. It is about the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The covenant of Christ is about a new creation where all the former things pass away.

In the new covenant, everything is new. The covenant of Christ is not the covenant of the Law, renovated, revived, reformed, refurbished, or ‘re’ anything. The covenant of Law was made for an earthy people. The covenant of Christ is for a heavenly people.

Listen to what the writer says in his letter to the Hebrews:

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22

For some background on this we need to reach back to the time of Adam.

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The Undefiled Conscience

When God created Adam, he was created with no sense of guilt, no consciousness of sin, or of worthlessness, or even of inferiority. Adam was adorned with glory. He was made in the very image and likeness of God. It never once entered Adam’s mind to question his right to the awesome presence of God.

Even the angels knew that Adam was different from them. Actually Adam is the only person in the Bible, aside from Jesus Christ, to ever be called ‘the son of God.’

We see this in Luke as he relates the genealogy of Jesus;

“… the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Luk 3:38 NASB)

Of course we know the story. Adam rejected God’s Word and God’s will for himself. From that moment Adam became conscious of the nature of sin. And now the Adam race could only approach the Lord in measured ways.

Such a fall — From glory to earthliness. Adam and Eve lost their glory and found themselves in a culture of sin and death.

The apostle said it well enough;

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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Where then is the victory

The judgment of condemnation was removed in Christ. Every person who comes to Jesus, enters the wonderment of a totally new covenant. In this new covenant there is an act of creation. Being born again means to be born from heaven. Believers are now heavenly citizens, actual sons and daughters of God. Yes, we are heavenly citizens in earthly bodies. That will change in due course.

Let’s look more closely at what Hebrews 10:19-22 has to say.

“We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.”

The covenant of Law provided limited access to God. Only priests were permitted to enter the holy place, and only the high priest could enter the holiest of holies once a year. Thus the priests became mediators between the people and God. In the new covenant there is only one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lose this truth and you place yourself under the bondage of another man made religious system.

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The Veil of Separation

The veil in the tabernacle spoke of man’s separation from God. Yet behind the veil was another picture. The mercy seat had two cherubim gazing intently at the center of the lid of the ark of the covenant. This was a picture of the angels in wonderment over the work of the cross.

What happened when Jesus yielded up His spirit on the cross? It says,

“And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:38)

This could only mean one thing. The Adam sin was accounted for. The veil of separation was removed by Jesus Christ.

Listen to Paul:

“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.” (1Co 15:45-47 NASB)

Condemnation has been removed. Our first estate is returned. We can now walk with God with no sense of guilt, of worthlessness, or of condemnation. We have divine rights to the very presence of our heavenly Father. The apostle said,

“There is therefore now no condemnation (katakrima means a sentence of judgment) for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom8:1,2)

The Romans 8:1 Scripture is emphatic in the Greek. The emphasis is clear; ‘There is not now, nor can there ever be a damnatory sentence against anyone who is in Christ Jesus.’ Why? Because of the law of the cross; ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

Does this mean we have carte blanche to live sinful lives? Far from it. Sin always carries consequences. What it means is that sin is no longer our master.

In addition to our full and completed salvation in Jesus Christ, we are given spiritual expressions and attributes that help us to deal with issues of sin. (A teaching in itself.)

Full Assurance of Faith

Back to our Hebrew Scriptures. What did the writer say? Follow closely —

“Brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.”

The word confidence is a strong word. Parresia speaks of unrestrained freedom to speak openly and directly and boldly with our God. Here we have a hint of Adam in the beginning. Adam could speak with confidence. He was not ashamed of who he was. He was God’s son.

How did we gain this direct access to God?

“By the blood of Jesus.”

How are we to approach God?

“In full assurance of faith.”

Under what conditions do we approach God? It says,

“Having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

This point is stressed throughout the letter of Hebrews. In quoting from the prophet Jeremiah, we hear,

“And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Heb8:11,12)

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How does this relate to our personal walk with the Lord.

God removed the haziness of religion to give man the full Light of His Son. People who keep reaching back into the Law of Moses are disinheriting themselves from the liberty and glory of being a very child of God.

Paul said to the Galatian believers,

“Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:6,7)

Too many Christians remained stifled in their spiritual life because they know so little about their true life in Christ. Don’t think of other people as special mediators between you and God. This includes both priest, prophet, and pastor. You have one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, we should love and respect those who teach us properly in the ways of the Lord. But never to the extent that they alone can hear from the Lord. God is your Father. You have a personal invitation to meet Him at the throne of grace any time you wish.

And so we hear this warning early on in the book of Hebrews:

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” (Heb 2:1 NASB)

“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.’” (Heb12:25,26)

Readers,

The eyes of the world remain focused on the Middle East. We are seeing an uncontrolled fire storm that began working its way out from the environs of ancient Babylon. The fire continues to break out here and yon. Right now the fire is burning intensely in Afghanistan. Break outs continue in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Somalia, not to speak of all the ‘***istan’ nations of the former Soviet Union. The fire in Iran continues to smolder.

What’s it all about? Believe it or not, the final thrust of anti-Christ Islam will be on Jerusalem. It all ends in Jerusalem. That is where the story of redemption had its beginning and that is where it has its ending. Jesus Christ is returning to Jerusalem.

As I have often said, the Bible is the only book under heaven that records history before it happens. As for Christians, we have our instructions. Jesus said that men’s hearts would began to fail because of the things coming on the earth. Not so with God’s people.

Jesus said,

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (Joh 14:1-3 NASB)

And again,

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.” (Joh 14:27-29 NASB)

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The war over souls.

You can be sure that all the wars fought on this planet have a spiritual backdrop to them. From time immemorial warfare has always been about the minds and souls of men and women. So while believers are told to remain focused on Jesus, the fact remains that we are engaged with spiritual forces. In the midst of all this we are told to keep ourselves aligned with the victory of Christ.

With this in mind I want to share part of a counseling session I had with a brother in Iraq. The enemy was playing with his mind. I was able to help him regain his footing.

Bob: I know the enemy is the “prince of the air” and I try to keep myself covered in prayer because of all the Muslim prayers that are broadcast over P.A. systems all around me 5 times a day.

Buddy: You are most correct that the enemy is called ‘prince of the air.’ Your situation is unique because of where you are. Islam is actually antichrist. Most people do not realize this. Satan has been preparing his antichrist armies for 1400 years in preparation for the count down.

I don’t mean to begin on a negative note, but it is very important that you understand this. Where you are, the ‘thoughts’ of darkness will be everywhere. This is why you are having battles in your mind. To ‘hear’ Muslim prayers 5 times a day is certainly a downer.

Bob: Lately I’ve started having troubling questions pop into my mind, even when I’m in prayer or reading the Bible. Basically, I find myself thinking, “How can this be true? Does God really exist? Is Christ a reality?” Now, mind you, this all happens while I am in fervent prayer to God or reading about Christ. I try to tell myself “If you didn’t believe you wouldn’t be praying to Him so intensely and talking to Him so much.”

Buddy: You are describing the battle of ‘thoughts’ perfectly. Two things are going to be very important for you in this regard. Foremost, recognize where all these doubts are coming from. (Remember Eve’s battle.) Knowing this is the key to knowing how to do spiritual warfare correctly. Here is your foundation Scripture:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing [thoughts, etc.] raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2Co10:4,5)

The second thing is going to come straight from you. This is the time to make quality decisions. I cannot stress this enough. Until you make a consistent, firm, and resolute decision that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, and that God’s Word is true, regardless, your whole thinking process will be honeycombed with doubts. Indecision is the path of failure. This is why you find so much in the Bible about making choices. The Lord does not remove our ability to choose for Him. Also keep in the background of your faith that the Lord will reinforce every decision you make for Him.

Bob: I’m troubled by even entertaining these questions. God has been so merciful to me and blessed me so greatly. Jesus has redeemed me from the darkness into the Kingdom of Light by paying for my sins by His sacrifice upon the cross. I do NOT like these troubling thoughts.

Buddy: If you are going to doubt anything, doubt your doubts. Do not allow even for a moment any thought to remain that speaks against your faith in Jesus.

Other things you can do are:

(1) Each morning as soon as you have time, reach for your Bible and pray the prayer of David; “Open my eyes, Lord, that I may behold wonderful things from Your Law.”

(2) Join yourself to another believer and began to extend your fellowship circle. Ask the Lord to lead you in this.

(3) Keep writing me. I will support you in all that I can. Ask questions. Share your thoughts. I will never stop being your friend.

…. End of Exchange….

Consider this news report from Washington  (Military brief. July 26, 2010): “Suicides among Army and Air National Guard and Reserve troops have spiked this year, and the military is at a loss to explain why. … Suicides among military personnel and veterans are at an epidemic rate, and it’s getting worse,” said Tim Embree, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq and is now a legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.” – Don’t think for a moment that there isn’t a spiritual component behind this.

The intricacies of endtime events

Now let’s continue on with the study on the shuttering of the nations. The intricacies of endtime events go much further than this study can cover and certainly beyond my own limited understanding. But there are some things in the Scriptures that speak pretty conclusive to what we can expects as the days of redemption grow shorter.

Jesus was accosted by the Pharisees and Sadducees in their asking Him for a sign. He said,

“Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matt. 16:3)

The Lord was saying that while they claimed to understand the elements of nature, they were blind in regard to what was happening before their very eyes. The Messiah was present. Redemption had come and they did not recognize it.

Does this have any relevance to the church today? Most assuredly. The church is now in a very special phase of redemptive history. As a relevant sign in the count down God give us a fixed point. Both Jesus, the prophets of old, and the apostles all pointed to the rebirth of the nation of Israel as a prominent fixture that the times of the Gentiles was closing. That sign was fixed May 14, 1948.

The apostle Peter told the Jewish peoples that Jesus had been received into heaven and would remain there, but would send ‘refreshing(s)’ [special moves of the Holy Spirit] until the period of restoration of all things.

“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. “ (Act 3:19-21 NASB)

What did Peter mean by the term restoration? The Greek term ‘apokatastasis‘ means a restitution of a thing to its former condition. This expression denotes the times spoken of as ‘the fullness of the Gentiles,’ and would then include conversion of the Jews to Jesus.

This was a primary concern for the Lord’s Hebrew apostles. In Acts 1:6, they asked Him,

“Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus responded,

“It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.”

Thus while we cannot know the exact moments for the unfolding of events, we do have one fixed sign. This is why May 14, 1948 is so important to redemption history.

Israel who had lost her nationhood in the year 70 a.d., was brought forth again as a nation among other nations. Thus we have Isaiah 66:8 fulfilled;

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a LAND be born in one day? Can a NATION be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.” (Caps always for emphasis only.)

Then we have this from the Lord:

“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles [other nations] until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24 – Until the gospel has gone into all the world. Cf. Mat24:14)

Point at hand is that the nation of Israel today is not the nation she is going to be. Jews returning to the land is at the heart of Old Testament prophecy. Israel today is largely secular, with Talmudic Judaism in charge of her religious affairs. The fact that Israel is largely secular is not a bad thing in comparison to the Christ-hating Talmudic religion.

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The spirit of grace

Now let’s combine two Scriptures, one from the old and the other from the new. Both with the same objective.

First Zechariah 12:10:

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me [This is Yahweh speaking] whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him [Jesus the crucified One], and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him [Jesus] like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

Now Romans 11:25-27:

“For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel [the Christ-rejecting nation group] until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved [nation group looks to Jesus]; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.’”

The sins of the Christ-rejecting Israel can only be taken away when they come to faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ.

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The coming restoration

Let’s come back to what Peter said about the times of restoration:

“…that He [the Father] may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” (Acts 3:20,21)

The Greek term for ‘period’ is chronos. It speaks of a particular time or space or season of events. This takes in various things that belong to the season of restoration.

The Greek term for ‘restoration’ is a double compound. It is only used here. Interestingly enough it is also used by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, for the return of the Jews from captivity, and for the restoration of the year of Jubilee. That is the how the term was understood during the time of Christ.

Of course the Jewish people in the time of the apostles would understand this much better than the ‘Johnny-come-lately’ folk of today’s western Christianity, who think they have the answers for everything.

The period of restoration has a dual focus. I believe it includes the Church restored to her lost heritage in preparation for her departure. More and more Christians today are breaking free of sectarian separations and from religious yokes of bondages, and are rediscovering their true freedom in Christ.

The second focus is the land of Israel. (As I’ve already shared.)

What makes the period of restoration so unique is the overlap of focus in the kingdom of God. At the same time the Church is being prepared for her departure, the Jewish peoples are being gathered to the land of Israel to fulfill her prophesied purposes. In this sense God is working with the Jews and with the Christians. The Jews are being prepared for their Messiah.

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A time of special insight

The prophet Daniel was told that there would be a time of special insight given God’s people in the latter days. This would certainly apply in part to the Christian church, but it would especially apply to Jewish peoples during the tribulation. (That insight was to be locked up until the time came. I see it as belonging to the book of Revelation.)

As for the Christian portion, Paul elaborates on this in 1 Thess. 5:1-3,9-10 and 2 Thess. 2:1,5-13. (You may wish to view these Scriptures.)

For the Jew there is a period of tribulation they must endure before the Savior comes out of Zion. The Bible also gives place for a pseudo-Church during the final hours of this age. (Pseudo refers to something that appears to be true but is not. A false pretender.)

The true church refers to those who are inborn of the Spirit of truth and will not follow anyone other than Jesus, in spite of signs & wonders. However, the pseudo Church will follow after lying wonders.

Let’s listen to some of the final words that Jesus spoke over Jerusalem.

“When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

And again,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me UNTIL you say, ‘Blessed is He [Jesus] who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Matt23:37,38)

So, will the kingdom of God be restored to Israel? Will Israel really turn to the Lord Jesus and become part with His people? Can it be proved by the Scriptures? I believe it can. For your extra study consider these Scriptures: (Isa1:26; Jer23:3-6; Hos3:4,5; 5:15; 6:1-3.)

Yes, it is all there. But the point remains as I said at the beginning of the study, Christians are not to let their hearts become troubled over all these things. Our eyes are to remain focused on Jesus alone.

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Can nature be speaking.

Have you considered the oil situation in the Gulf of Mexico. China is fighting the same thing.  In addition to the anti-Christ armies making their way towards Jerusalem, you have hurricanes, tsunamis, earth quakes in various places, along with weather doing strange things.

Consider these Scriptures:

“…and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.” (Rev 8:9 NASB)

“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” (Mar 13:7-8 NASB)

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” (Rom 8:19-22 NASB)

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The shuttering and shaking.

Are the nations beginning to shutter? What do you think? Is the time of giving birth close at hand?

Consider once again this warning from the book of Hebrews concerning a shaking to come:

“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.’

“This expression, ‘Yet once more,’ denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12:25-29 NASB)

OK children of the Lamb. Here is your song…

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Much love in Jesus,

Buddy