As Christians...

Humble Orthodoxy

An exerpt from "Born After Midnight" by A.W. Tozer written in 1959

Chapter 18--Let's Be Humble About Our Orthodoxy

"Christianity is rarely found pure. Apart from Christ and His inspired apostles probably no believer or company of believers in the history of the world has ever held the truth in total purity.

One great saint believed that the truth is so vast and mighty that no one is capable of taking it all in, and that it requires the whole company of ransomed souls properly to reflect the whole body of revealed truth.

The light has shone upon men and nations, and (God be praised) it has shone with sufficient clarity to enable millions to travel home in its glow; but no believer, however pure his heart or however obedient his life, has ever been able to receive it as it shines from the Throne unmodified by his own mental stuff. As a lump of clay when grasped by the human hand remains clay but cannot escape the imprint of the hand, so the truth of God when grasped by the human mind remains truth but bears upon it the image of the mind that grasps it. Truth cannot enter a passive mind. It must be received into the mind by an active mental response, and the act of receiving it tends to alter it to a greater or less degree.

As the sun’s rays are bent when passing through a prism, so has the light of God been bent when passing through the hearts of men. Sin, temperament, prejudice, early education, cultural influences, prevailing vogues: all have worked to throw the eyes of the heart out of focus and distort the inward vision.

Of course I refer here to theological and religious truth. How pure this truth is in any place at any given time is revealed by the moral standards of those who hold the truth and by religious practices among the churches generally. Spiritual truth (by which I mean the disclosures of the Holy Spirit to the human spirit) is always the same. The Spirit always says the same thing to whomsoever He speaks and altogether without regard to passing doctrinal emphases or theological vogues. He flashes the beauty of Christ upon the wondering heart, and the awed spirit receives it with a minimum of interference. Wesley and Watts were worlds apart in their theology, but they could and did love and sing the same hymns of pure worship and adoration. The Spirit united them to worship even though their respective views of truth separated them doctrinally.

Preach Christ

Sorry for my lack of posting recently.  I've just gone back to work full-time and have been quite busy.  Lots to read here in the archives though.  So make yourselves at home.  These are the verses I have been mulling over for the past few days...

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard  and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.  The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.  But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice..."  Philippians 1:9-18{my own highlights in red}

I have been thinking a lot about and plan on writing more about what it means to "defend/contend for the faith".  Trying to find the balance between kingdom living and theocracy.  The balance between physically waging war and not fighting against flesh and blood.  The balance between relevancy and apathy. 

So I hope to continue with these thoughts as I have the time.  Like I said check out the archives on this blog.  There is quite a bit to see and read...

Live The Truth

Lord Save Us From Your Followers

Just rented this movie last night.  I defiantly recommend it.  Lots of great things to think about as a Christian.  Here is a sample of the movie and an interview with Dan Merchant who made the film.  Enjoy...

A Reminder of His LOVE

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."  Romans 1:20

{These are some photos I have taken over the last year or so.  I have been amazed to consistently find the "heart" of God in his creation...reminding me of His love and my call to love.}

"Love without Truth breeds deception, and Truth without Love breeds arrogance."  Tim Ohai

"To love as Christ loves is to let our love be a practical thing and not a sentimental thing."

                                                           Sir Charles Villiers Stanford

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness."   Jean Vanier

"The sword of the peaceful warrior is love."  Gary Amirault

 

"A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things." John of the Cross

"If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or informed, by love." 

 Fr. Richard P. McBrien

Light in the Darkness

Open Door

Cross Before The Crown

"Meanwhile the cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is a Monday morning. A cleft has opened in the pitiless walls of the world, and we are invited to follow our great Captain inside. The following Him is, of course, the essential point. That being so, it may be asked what practical use there is in the speculations which I have been indulging. I can think of at least one such use.

It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly temped to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations---these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit---immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously--no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner--no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ /vere latitat/---the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."   C. S. Lewis--The Weight of Glory

Coming Down The Mountain

I love worship!  I am a horrible singer, I don't play an instrument but I love worship!  I haven't always been that way.  In fact for a long time I couldn't figure out what all the hub-bub was about.  I had been raised in a climate of great worship and loved dancing to the music as a kid.  But as a teen you would find me sitting in the back of the service, mouth closed and arms crossed.  Then one day about twelve years ago I was in a worship service in Lausanne, Switzerland. {This was during a year of re-dedication for me. I did a 6 month discipleship school and a 3 month biblical studies course} It was during my first couple weeks there my attitude for worship changed.  During this one particular meeting they had moved all the chairs to the back of the room so that people could dance and really let loose; you know like King David.  However I found a chair in the back and sat in it...so not ready to "let loose", you know like Michal{2 Sam 6:14-16}.

As I sat there I began to ask God why I was not able to worship like everyone else.  Everyone else was just going for it without a care about how they looked or sounded.  Total abandon.  Yet I so wanted to experience what they were experiencing.  Then God spoke very clear and very simple to me.  "I can only fill you to the capacity that you give Me.  I want all of you.  Are you ready to give all of you to get all of Me?"  I thought about that for a minute.  Thought about all the craziness I had been through in my teenage and young adult years.  I knew God was right{as usual}.  I knew I was holding back because of fear and that fear was the enemy keeping me from experiencing God they way I needed to.

So I stood up and began to worship.  First very quiet, hands at my side.  Then I closed my eyes and forgot about everyone around me.  The singing got louder, my arms stretched higher and tears began to flow.  I can't remember the song.  All I remember is that I got louder and louder and began to call out to God in total abandon and total desperation for Him to take ALL of me.  I remember my whole body feeling hot with the fire of God.  And then I dropped to the floor face down.  I couldn't move.  The Spirit of God was so heavy I couldn't even lift my head.  Oh and I was no longer speaking words that I could understand; my worship had turned to tongues.  That had never happened before!  I remember two of the leaders Darlene and Geeta coming over and beginning to pray for me.  Can't remember the actual prayers but I remember hearing "more" and "new" over and over again.

Love Is A Beautiful Thing

{This is part of a letter written in 1967, by my then 24 yr old dad, from the mission fields of the Pacific, home to his parents in the States.}

What Is Truth?

For more information on the documentary "Furious Love" click here.  This movie is a MUST SEE for every Christian!  I've only had my copy for 48 hours and I have watched twice.  So much good, solid, Christ-centered truth in this film.  It will change the way you view the world and hopefully the way you see yourself.

Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes Oh My! {Part Two}

Click here to read Part One...

"So he answered and said, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "  Luke 10:27


"If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar." 1John 4:20

So in the last post I gave a little mini history of the three religious groups that were around during the time of Jesus.  Now what I want to do is identify the negative spirits that some of them moved in so that we can avoid them in our own lives. First I want to start with the simple concept of loving God and loving neighbor.  Jesus said that there was no other commandment greater than these.  I see no where in Jesus' teaching that these commandments were separated.  They always went together.  In fact the above verse quit plainly tells us that if we do one without the other we are liars.  Lack of the second commandment negates the first...period.  But the religious groups during the time of Jesus had separated them.  Let me explain.

If you only love you neighbor{mankind} and don't love God you are a humanist.  This is what the Sadducees had done.  They had taken God out of the whole picture.  They didn't believe that God was involved in their lives at all, man could do what he pleased, man was his own god.  God had become an abstract, non personal God. They did not believe in the super-natural {angels & demons} at all.  They didn't believe in the afterlife or resurrection.  The Sadducees had swayed more to the philosophical side of things, being the most Hellenized{Greek thinking} of the three groups.  Remember they were the rich and elite and with that sought of began to worship themselves.  When you don't believe that there is a higher power other than yourself, you become your highest power. Their main concern was the material things of this world and how it affected their personal kingdom.  Materialistic Humanism.

Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes Oh My! {Part 1}

So I had a question the other day as to how I could possibly think that Jesus was tolerant during his time here on earth.  The statement was that Jesus used strong language and did things like knock over the tables of the money changers in the temple.  My response was that if you read through all four gospels you will notice that the only people Jesus ever had strong words for were the religious establishment of the day.  Interestingly enough he had strong reaction to them because they were NOT being tolerant of people. 

So who were the religious establishment of the time of Jesus?  We learn quite a bit about the Pharisees and Sadducees from reading the gospels.  There were also sub-groups such as the scribes, the elders and the zealots.  Finally a group called the Essenes, though not mentioned in the NT the historian Josephus tells that they were around during the time of Jesus.  What I want to look at is the attitude or the spirit in which these groups operated.  It wasn't just what they did legalistically or religiously it was the spirit in which they did it.  So I don't want this post to be against certain groups of people, but against the negative spirit that Jesus seemed to frequently encounter with these groups. These same negative spirits and attitudes are easily found in the Christian church today.  So we need to identify them so that we don't fall into the same mistakes.

Our Job To LOVE

The Voice of God

A dear friend sent me an email yesterday with a video by this man, Graham Cooke.  I had never even heard of him...lol.  I started watching some other videos by him and came across this one.  It was hard for me to hold back the tears while watching.  This video is such a confirmation about what I feel the Lord is speaking right now.  This video is such a confirmation as to what I know personally of the character of God and how He speaks to me.  This is THE MESSAGE the church needs to hear!  This is a message I needed to hear and just at the right time!  Enjoy...

The Real Jesus

One more fantastic post from Dr. Gregory Boyd...

Religion vs Relationship

I don't usually promote specific teachers but this is really good.  I put clip #3 of 5 just to give a little teaser.  The rest of the sermon is on YouTube---Evil of Religion by Greg Boyd.

Suffering Sucks!

So I want to just quickly touch on two more points about suffering. We have talk about the idea of tolerance being an endurance and that endurance being a form of suffrage. {Click here and here to read those posts.} We live in a world that we are no longer citizens of is always going to be strange and uncomfortable. We learned that to suffer means to be affected by people. How do we respond to the people that affects us? Are we part of the remedy or part of the disease? Are we Christ like--always loving, always forgiving, always tolerating? So I would say tolerance is an indirect suffering . Basically it goes with the territory of being a Christian. We are commanded to tolerate and love one another.

The other more direct suffering we are commanded to do is "suffer the flesh". Now this is a phrase that I personally believe has been grossly misinterpreted. We must get one thing straight when it comes to suffering and that is...God does NOT cause suffering. If you want to believe in a God that is the author of suffering there are a bunch of other religions out there that have malevolent gods. God does not cause death, disease and misery just so He may be glorified. He doesn't cause death, disease and misery to test us. He doesn't cause death, disease and misery to purify us. I've never heard anything more twisted in my life! God's plan for you always has been and always will be fullness and life. Anything that happens in your life that is not life and fullness is NOT from God. God has NOT called you to a life of pain!

"The Lord said, "Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress." Jer 15:11

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness{prosper,welfare} and not for evil{harm,calamity}, to give you a future and a hope." Jer 29:11

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10

What God does do is work existing suffering as a result of being now strangers on this fallen planet, for his good and glory{Rom 8:28}. There is a huge difference. Sin, evil and the devil are the author of suffering, God is the facilitator for working a good result from the suffering. In that way he is glorified because the plan of the enemy to destroy has been defeated. Warfare! That is why we are called to rejoice in suffering because in doing so we are thwarting the devils plan. He has no hold over us.

When we read in the famous suffering book of 1 Peter he is talking about three different types of suffering. {read the whole book for an interesting take} One is the tolerance that we have already discussed. Two and three is to suffer the flesh. There are two types of suffering flesh...1}we do to ourselves 2} others do to us. So lets start with the first; another command in suffering.

Furious Love-The Movie

DVD Release scheduled for May 4, 2010.  Click for website link and purchase.

Not Of This World

"If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, also we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world." CS Lewis

“Paradise is our native country, and we in this world be as exiles and strangers”  Richard Greenham

"Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight...You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:36-37


So I started into another word study yesterday after doing my post on "tolerance".  I started thinking about how tolerance can be a little uncomfortable sometimes.  I think that is exactly for the quotes above.  Once we as Christians experience Jesus we have a totally different worldview.  In a way we do become strangers on this finite planet because we now live with an understanding of the infinite and eternal.  We have an understanding of absolute truth in a world where truth is always changing.  For this very reason how can we hold someone who has not had this experience accountable to our worldview?  We can bear witness and testify the truth, but not all will hear the voice of truth.  Jesus was OK with this, as should we be.  Remember not fighting, only making known.

The concept that we looked at yesterday is that of endurance.  To tolerate people that are different from us is sometimes a test of love and endurance.  We discussed how Jesus was extremely tolerant as he walked among us here on earth.  The almighty God in the flesh most holy and pure made it a point to interface with the most sinful and lost.  At no time condemning or judging{he saved that for the religious leaders that should have known better...why?...because their experience of God should have changed their worldview}.  To the lost and unclean Jesus always had compassion and ministered to them regardless whether they followed him or not.  The Greek word for minister is diakoneo meaning "to attend to anything that may serve anothers interests"

In a World of Tolerance

"Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."  Voltaire

We hear so much of the word "tolerance" these days.  The 60s and 70s were all about "love".  The 80s were all about "me".  The 90s were "whatever" and now in 2010..."Tolerance".  Is it possible for Christians to be tolerant without compromising the truth?  I say yes.  I also say that we are  commanded by God in His word to be tolerant of one another; not only of fellow brothers in Christ but for non-Christians as well.  We as Christians should at least know the golden rule and that is to love one another.  Jesus even went so far to say that we should love our enemies.  But Christians seem to be the worse at this because they think that it will compromise their faith.  I did a post not to long ago on what I personally believe God meant by commanding us to love our enemy...click here to read that post.

I want to take this post a little further and look at the word "endure".  If you read the definition above you will see that much of it centers around the idea of endurance.  I chose to use the definition of "tolerance" from Webster's Dictionary of 1913 {see above}since it lacks the "political correctness" of the present day definition which says..."sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own."  See the difference?  We need not indulge sin, but we must tolerate it and endure it in others.

Now in everything we should look at the life of Christ to be our guide as to how we should conduct ourselves while still here on the earth.  What I want to focus on is how we are to interact with non-believers.  How are we to tolerate them?   How did Jesus tolerate them?  It is well noted in the gospels that Jesus did not come to condemn or judge the world he came to save it.  Jesus allowed everyone to approach him.  His door was always open and he went through every open door.  Though he never sinned he was a friend to sinners, broke bread with them and ministered to them.  Some followed and some walked away.  Did Jesus stand there and yell "How dare you deny the truth of the living God!"? No, he let them walk away.  There was much wisdom in this because even though not all accepted him, the door always remained open.  He didn't burn any bridges with anyone.  Instead he let his love and righteousness plant the seed.  Sometimes it bore fruit and sometimes it didn't, but at all times He was tolerant as to the choice of the person.

Eye On the Ball

My Heart In Photos {1}

Justice vs Righteousness

So after reading George MacDonald's {unspoken} sermon on Justice in spurned me to do a little research of my own. His view that mercy and justice are one in the same has spoken volumes to me personally.

I found it interesting that the more modern bible translations seemed to have lost the righteousness and mercy of God. Meaning that those two words aren't used as often in the text. On the other hand in the KJV the word "justice" is used only 28 times in the whole bible; all of those times being in the Old Testament. {The picture on the left is the breakdown of each word and how many times it is used in each version respectfully.} What I am wondering is that if we start to leave out righteousness and instead use justice it can give the wrong connotation of who God is in His character. Not that He isn't just, He is. But His justice is in the midst of several other attributes.

When I think of the word justice I always think in terms of judicial or criminal; earthly law. But when I think of the word righteousness I think in terms of Divine virtue. I don't think of the righteousness of God to be one of His characteristics; I think it to be the umbrella that defines who He is in all His characteristics and attributes. I have always believed one of the most powerful verses in the bible to be when Moses asks God who he should say is sending him, God responds "I AM who I AM" {Ex 3:14} Meaning God is who He says He is all the time and in all fullness.

What makes the Godhead righteous is that HE IS "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..." {Ex 34:6-7} That HE IS "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." {Gal 5:22-23} These are His righteousness, this is what makes Him who HE IS. So anytime anyone of the Godhead has told us who HE IS, it should tell us He has always been that way and will always be that way. God is infinitely and eternally righteous.

Justice

"George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S. Lewis that wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald

"I firmly believe people have hitherto been a great deal too much taken up about doctrine and far too little about practice. The word doctrine, as used in the Bible, means teaching of duty, not theory. I preached a sermon about this. We are far too anxious to be definite and to have finished, well-polished, sharp-edged systems - forgetting that the more perfect a theory about the infinite, the surer it is to be wrong, the more impossible it is to be right." from a letter George wrote to his father

The following are some exerps from George MacDonald's {unspoken} sermon on Justice. {link for entire sermon at the bottom of post}.I just read it yesterday for the first time and was totally blown away. I keep reading it over and over and am still blown away. MacDonald was known in his time for thinking outside the theological box of his day. Instead he focused more on what the scripture said to him personally and how it spoke of his relationship with Jesus. Sounds like my kind of guy.

"'Mercy may be against justice.' Never--if you mean by justice what I mean by justice. If anything be against justice, it cannot be called mercy, for it is cruelty. 'To thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy, for thou renderest to every man according to his work.' There is no opposition, no strife whatever, between mercy and justice. Those who say justice means the punishing of sin, and mercy the not punishing of sin, and attribute both to God, would make a schism in the very idea of God. And this brings me to the question, What is meant by divine justice? "
***
"God is one; and the depth of foolishness is reached by that theology which talks of God as if he held different offices, and differed in each. It sets a contradiction in the very nature of God himself. It represents him, for instance, as having to do that as a magistrate which as a father he would not do! The love of the father makes him desire to be unjust as a magistrate! Oh the folly of any mind that would explain God before obeying him! that would map out the character of God, instead of crying, Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do? God is no magistrate; but, if he were, it would be a position to which his fatherhood alone gave him the right; his rights as a father cover every right he can be analytically supposed to possess. The justice of God is this, that--to use a boyish phrase, the best the language will now afford me because of misuse--he gives every man, woman, child, and beast, everything that has being, fair play; he renders to every man according to his work; and therein lies his perfect mercy; for nothing else could be merciful to the man, and nothing but mercy could be fair to him."

***
"'Mercy is a good and right thing,' I answer, 'and but for sin there could be no mercy. We are enjoined to forgive, to be merciful, to be as our father in heaven. Two rights cannot possibly be opposed to each other. If God punish sin, it must be merciful to punish sin; and if God forgive sin, it must be just to forgive sin. We are required to forgive, with the argument that our father forgives. It must, I say, be right to forgive. Every attribute of God must be infinite as himself. He cannot be sometimes merciful, and not always merciful. He cannot be just, and not always just. Mercy belongs to him, and needs no contrivance of theologic chicanery to justify it.' "***

Why the Blood? {Part Two}

Here I am thinking out loud again. Not paying attention to what theology or orthodoxy says but only to what the word of God is saying to me personally through the knowledge of His son Jesus.

"Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:12

So in the last post we talked a little about why there was a need for blood sacrifice. We talked a bit about what happened on the Day of Atonement each year. The Day of Atonement was a day of corporate repentance and atonement of the Israelites. It was also the only day of the year the the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. Once the appropriate sacrifices had taken place the High Priest could boldly approach the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat there of to make reconciliation for the nation in the presence of God. He also sprinkled blood on the ark to symbolically bind for another year the relationship of the people to God. Remember the ark contained a gold bowl of manna{symbol of God's provision for his people}, the law{symbol of God's justice and call to righteousness} and Aaron's budded rod{a symbol of God's authority through the priesthood}.

Now fast forward to the time of Jesus in New Testament and the great temple in Jerusalem. The day of Atonement was still the most holy of days to the Jewish people. But one very important thing was missing. The holy of holies was empty. There was no ark of the covenant, there was no bowl of manna, there was no ten commandments, there was no rod of Aaron. When the priests entered to sprinkle blood on the Day of Atonement it was sprinkled onto a stone. I can't image that it had the same meaning as when the ark and the mercy seat were there. So what does God do? He sends his Son to make atonement by the shedding of blood and a new covenant by the sprinkling of blood.

"And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9:15

Now this portion of Hebrews also gives a great analogy of why Jesus had to die to mediate this new covenant. The author uses the concept of a last will and testament. A will is defined as "A legal declaration of how a person wishes his or her possessions to be disposed of after death." Therefore a will is not exercised until the the person making the declaration has died. Think of the covenant in the ark...provision, justice, righteousness, authority. BTW justice and righteousness are the same word in both the Hebrew & Greek. These are the things that God came in the flesh to mediate to us. He had to die so that we may receive our inheritance. Our only access to this inheritance is through the atonement of the blood shed on the cross and the sprinkling of blood on the new covenant.

"For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood." Hebrews 9:16-18

Why the Blood? {Part One}

Here I am thinking out loud again. Not paying attention to what theology or orthodoxy says but only to what the word of God is saying to me personally through the knowledge of His son Jesus.

I was spending some more time on why the cross was needed to save us. To a non Christian it seems silly that God would in a sense need to kill himself to satisfy his own wrath. I came across this comment on a YouTube video...

"I'm not going to worship a god who had to sacrifice himself to himself in order to appease himself."

This is an honest concern. So I started doing a little research into the Levitical law about sacrifice and what the Jewish community thought. It was interesting that on almost every Jewish website or blog they seemed to have the same concern. But from a more biblical perspective. I think just about every site had disagreement the Jesus was the Messiah and that He is the only forgiveness of sins based on this verse.

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9:22

I was happy to see that so many of our Jewish brothers were reading the New Testament and thinking about a book that really was addressed to them. But it also challenged me to look a little further into how to explain WHY we need the blood of Christ to be forgiven. Because we most certainly do. Now the problem that the Jewish community is that this verse in Hebrews does not gel with what their Torah says, namely the book of Leviticus. Leviticus is the book on sacrifice and the goings on of the Old Testament tabernacle. Here is the verse they use to nullify {in their minds that blood is needed for forgiveness}. From the book of Leviticus specifically talking about the "sin-offering".

"If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering." Lev 5:11

So according to the Old Testament law people could have remission of sin without blood sacrifice. To top that off there are several verses in the Old Testament that God himself says he does not want blood sacrifice.

What The Hell?

Some interesting thoughts on Hell...

"I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside." C S Lewis

"The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul." John Calvin

"How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man." Johnny Cash

"The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions." A. W. Tozer

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." C.T. Studd

"Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. The difference is how we choose to live, which story we choose to live in, which version of reality we trust. Ours or God's." Rob Bell

"Denial of hell is one hell of a mistake." Mark Driscoll

"God’s justice and mercy unite in condemning the wicked to extinction. He justly punishes their sin and forbids them a place within the Kingdom. And he eventually mercifully annihilates them precisely so they will not endlessly endure what the traditional view says they endure." Gregory Boyd

"We can set no limits to the agency of the Redeemer to redeem, to rescue, to discipline in his work, and so will he continue to operate after this life." Clement of Alexandria

"Why were a few, or a single one, made at all, if only to exist in order to be made eternally miserable, which is infinitely worse than non-existence?" Immanuel Kant

"Hell is empty, And all the devils are here." William Shakespeare

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell chose it." C. S Lewis

Wrath of Man

This is a comment from a reader on facebook that I would like to share with you. Here was my post...

"It's interesting to me that the people that are so hell bent on preaching the wrath and vengeance of God do so out of a spirit of wrath and vengeance. Let's not forget..."For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:20"

And here was his response...

"Insisting that when the NT says "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from GOD'S WRATH through him!" the authors of the NT meant it, isn't the equivalent of doing so "in a spirit of wrath and judgment." Paul wouldn't be enthused about people revising what he taught about Jesus' death; the one that was "cursed" by God for us (Gal. 3:10-14). Consider it a good thing to be corrected for teaching unbiblical concepts; you make it out to be a character flaw in the person correcting you.

The verse you quote in James isn't about condemning getting angry; it's about condemning getting angry at something without listening and doing so in arrogance, elitism, "filthiness" and "wickedness." James' book was VERY angry. Being angry is a good thing. It means you're awake.

When people taught a different message of the cross, Paul called them "dogs," "swine" and "fools" as well as telling them to "emasculate themselves" and "be accursed." Point being, strong rebuke is necessary in light of strong resolve to deviate from NT teaching. Denying that Jesus quenched the wrath of God or saved us from the wrath of God is unbiblical and in need of correction.

It may be worth reading the whole book of James in one sitting instead of misapplying 1:20 outside the context of James' sharp shooting of compromise in the church. The recipients of James' book got much more of an earful than you have I'm sure. He was a heavy hitter.

Cherie, your blogs are serious deviations from the NT teaching on wrath, God's nature and character and the cross."

Well...I have never claimed this blog to be orthodoxy or theology. In have never been to seminary or taken any formal theology. I have done a 6 month discipleship training, a 3 month biblical studies course and a 3 month worship, intercession and spiritual warfare course. That's it. That is why this is a personal blog of my thoughts and questions that I feel I am being humble and open in sharing with you. I have never claimed to have all the answers and don't believe a person has ever walked the earth that has. With exception to my personal Lord and Savior Jesus.

Christus Victor

God's Wrath is Not For You {Part Two}

To read part one click here.

Here I am thinking out loud again. I want to begin this post with a few verses to keep in mind...

“Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand." Dan 12:10

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail."
Lam 3:22

"In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the tent of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness." Is 16:5

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty."Mal 3:5

So my personal view is that Jesus was sent to die for the world out of God's frustration or wrath against the enemy, the Destroyer. He was sick of seeing his little ones perish and so He sent Jesus as sacrifice to cover us in His protective blood. Remember the blood of the passover was to protect from the Destroyer, not from the destruction of God. God is not a destroyer! The devil is the Destroyer. And so the blood of Jesus protects us from the destruction of the enemy. If we don't accept the blood we are handed to the enemy for destruction. God's judgment is righteous because we have chosen our own destruction. So the judgment from God is separation from His protection by our choice not His.

"By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them." Heb 11:28

"...nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer." 1Cor 10:10

"To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 1Cor 5:5

Now lets look a little closer at the concept of wrath and judgment in the New Testament. The word judgment in the Greek is krisis meaning to separate, to approve. So again the cross and the blood are the point of separation. Those who choose the blood are protected, those that don't are "approved" of their choice and "separated" given to the destruction of the enemy. Then both are separated.

God's Wrath is Not For You

I was reading in the book of Jeremiah the other day when I found myself glancing to the opposite page. This is the verse that caught my eye...

"Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?" Jer. 9:7

One of the things I have been thinking about lately is the concept of sin, punishment and judgment. I talked a little about this a few days ago {click here}. What also seems to always play a role in that is the concept of the wrath of God. So these are some of my thoughts on the whole thing. I haven't totally worked it all through, so consider this post as me thinking out loud.

I have always been of the mind that sin is and of itself the punishment. That God is not the one punishing but instead is allowing the sin to punish on its own. Sin in the Hebrew mean "to wander from the way" the way being God's way. So when we sin we go our own way contrary to God's way and that just so happens to be the Devil's way. There in lies the punisher, the one who seeks to kill, steal and destroy. The other side effect from sin is separation from God. So the destruction and separation the sin causes is the punishment. But that destruction and separation isn't caused by God it is caused by the person teaming with the enemy.

"Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with Death, and with Sheol we are in agreement." Isaiah 28:15

I still don't understand how people get in their minds that our God is a God of destruction and death. That God seeks destruction or separation for any man. A God of war yes, a God of justice yes. But the war has always been and will always be against sin and the Devil, NOT THE PERSON! That is his justice and that was the cross!  He took the wrath of the enemy that was intended for us. He stood in for us so that we wouldn't have to be separated from God.  He was separated from God for us.  He took the death that was intended for us. But he conquered death! He took the control over death from the enemy so that all my have the choice of redemption and everlasting life. That we never have to be separated from God.  What I still am trying to figure out and have questions about is this...Did Jesus have to die to appease God's wrath for us or or was his wrath for the sin that separated us from him? Yes, God is totally indifferent to sin and hates it.  But Jesus who was God in the flesh had indifference to sin but never the sinner.  I guess that is why there is a few different views of atonement {penal substitution view, ransom view and Christus Victor}.  Still trying to work those out...lol.  Ok...getting off track...back to the Old Testament.

Refiner's Fire {my photography}

Some of my photography...

To see more of my photography click the "my photography" label below.

I'm a Sheep Too.

Sheep,Goats and Wolves

So I have been looking at the things that Jesus said after his victorious resurrection to prepare his disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In the last post we talked about Jesus being clear that he died for ALL mankind. That he forgave ALL mankind. That every man has a contract signed with the blood of Jesus that now awaits the agreeing signature. We discussed how Jesus told his disciples to do the same...FORGIVE!{John 20:21-23} That especially now given the power of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to both bind and loose. We should be binding no man that has already been forgiven. What we should be doing is feeding and tending. Feeding and tending who?

"He said to him, "Feed My lambs."...He said to him, "Tend My sheep."...Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep." John 21:15,16,17

This is a famous set of verses spoken to Peter by Jesus after the resurrection. John 21 tells us that one day the some of the disciples were all back doing what they had done before they met Jesus. They were fishing, but not catching any fish. So a man{Jesus} yells from shore to cast on the other side. They caught a huge net full of fish and the net didn't even break. {Remember when they first met Jesus did the same thing but the net broke}. Anyways the men come to shore with their catch and there is Jesus with a fire going, bread and fish already cooking. See Jesus didn't need their fish to eat, but he needed them to catch for themselves. He told them to bring the fish that they had caught to the table as well. Then the famous conversation between Jesus and Peter. Three times he asks Peter if he loved him. Just as the three times that Peter had denied. So Jesus said if you love me then this is what you are to do...feed and tend my lambs and sheep.

Now I think it is hilarious that there are Christians out there who think that these verses only pertain to the church. That anytime it talks about sheep that means Christians. First of all when they were spoken to Peter there was no church and there were no Christians. For all intents and purposes all mankind was on an even playing field. All mankind had just been bought by the blood of Jesus. So now the job for the disciples was to tend and feed all mankind to bring them into relationship with the Shepherd and teach them to follow his voice. To act as shepherds on behalf of the Shepherd.

"As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10:15-16

"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd." Matt. 9:36

Forgiven

"Truly I say to you, that all the sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and evil speakings with which they might speak evil, but whoever may speak evil in regard to the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness..." Mark 3:28-29

These were the words of Jesus prior to what he accomplished on the cross. "It is finished" or "completed" or "accomplished" or "fulfilled" were the words that he spoke on the cross just before he gave up his spirit. I believe that Christ's death on the cross was for all mankind. I believe that he stood in as sacrifice for all mankind. Jesus was sent to die not to satisfy the justice of God, but to satisfy the death wish the enemy has for all mankind. He took our place so we wouldn't have to suffer and die as he did. Therefore the justice of God is grace. That by His blood any man may have forgiveness of sin and everlasting life. For Jesus even said that he came not to judge the world but to save it!{Jn 12:47} The only judgement ever given by God{in the OT} was exile and separation. Death and disease etc was the judgement of the enemy{the devil}. On the cross Jesus opened the door so that no one had to be separated, both during our time on earth and for eternity. He paid the price for every mans freedom once and for all. That door remains open so that anyone who chooses to walk through may do so. Final judgement is only up to God and will not come until we enter eternity. I have a feeling he will be far more gracious than any human on the planet!

{After the Resurrection} Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." John 20:21-23

Now, we know for sure that this verse does not mean that any man can absolve any other man of sin; only the blood of Jesus can do that. So what does it mean? Well I think in light of the verse above it means FORGIVE! In light of the verse above we know that Jesus forgave all mankind their sin on the cross. The atonement for all mankind's sin lays waiting for them, but each man must choose to accept it. Each man must agree for himself that the only way to the Father is through Jesus. But that doesn't mean that those who haven't accepted it aren't forgiven. That is to say, a contract has been drawn up for every man and has been signed with the blood of Jesus. Now every contract awaits the agreeing signature of each man.

Defeated!

Victory Over Death

"And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades." Revelation 1:17-18

{keys κλείς kleis} {of death θάνατος thanatos} {and of Hades ᾅδης hadēs}

What are the keys of Death and Hades? How would the people of the Greco-Roman world understood what this verse said? I believe they would have taken this very literally and assumed that Jesus did in fact descend to the underworld as they knew it. I believe they would have had understanding of what this meant from a spiritual warfare point of view. I believe they would have assumed this verse meant that Jesus actually fought and won the keys in the underworld. The Greco-Roman world had an acute understanding of "who" held power in the underworld. I want to share with you a few of the principle characters, namely Thanatos, Hecate, Hades and Persephone.

I believe the people of that time would have been keenly aware of what Jesus had accomplished by stating that he had "the keys of Death and Hades". What a wonderful testimony of the power of the cross, resurrection and life everlasting. What hope for people to know then and now that Jesus holds their lives in the justice of the cross and no longer in the curse and injustice of these gods{the Devil}. That no man will enter the realm of Hades without going through Jesus first. He now decides in grace and perfect justice.

Thanatos is the Greek word for death. But in Greek mythology Thanatos was an actual god that was the personification of death. He was usually depicted with wings and a sacrificial sword{see picture above} and was the priest of Hades. Looks a little familiar doesn't he? The angel of Death, that is the Devil. The picture is from a relief that was in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.