The purpose of this article is to discuss the subject of resurrection life as it applies to all who are believers in Christ. Contrary to accepted Christian thinking, believers do not have to physically die to obtain resurrection life. There is no Scriptural foundation for the belief that every man has to die. Hebrews 9:27 says � it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this comes judgment; but in Christ there is the opposite promise: � and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die. John 11:26. At some time we must enter into the experience known as resurrection�and resurrection is not reanimation only; it is a coming forth in another kind of body, one that is eternal and functions in a different manner. And this can occur while we remain on this earth, not necessarily after we die a physical death.
What is resurrection life? Christ was resurrected from the dead and entered into resurrection life, seated at the right hand of the Father. For centuries Christians have believed that we could only have this spiritual relationship with the Father after we died a physical death and then went to �heaven�. It may surprise some to know that this is not always the truth. As a matter of fact death does not mean automatic fulfillment.
Physical death is not a prerequisite for receiving resurrection life. Christ said so much when he gave us what has come to be called �The Lord�s Prayer�. Matthew 6:9-10 states: �Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. �Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven�. This means that God wants His eternal Kingdom to be a reality on earth, just as it is in the spiritual realm of God (heaven). The Kingdom on earth will be composed of not only those who have died who Christ will bring with Him at His coming. There will be those who are on the earth who have entered into the resurrection life of Christ without dying, who are waiting and have actually initiated Christ� second coming.
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In Hebrews 11:1-38 the writer records the names of the greatest men of faith that ever lived on the earth and their deeds (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, etc). Hebrews 11:37-38 states: �They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground�. Yet Hebrews 11:39-40 is very clear that none of these men and women received the full measure of what they were promised just by dying. �And all these, having gained approval through their faith, DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect�.
In other words those who have died in Christ will not receive the full promise of their resurrection life until we have received it first. This is borne out by Christ when He said: �But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.� (Mark 10:31; Matthew 19:30). Those who have died first in Christ will be the last to receive their reward because �they without us�, the last, will receive our fulfillment first before them.
Revelation 6:11 states much the same thing as the souls [martyrs] cry out from under the altar asking �How Long O Lord: �When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, �How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?� In other words dying and being martyrs did not automatically give them the complete fulfillment they were seeking. They are beneath the altar crying out for the day when they can be avenged. It is we, who remain on earth, who provide this final judgment so that they receive the fulfillment they cry for.
Paul described the mystery of resurrection succinctly. �Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; WE WILL NOT ALL SLEEP, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed� (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).
Paul makes two main points here. First he says �we will not all sleep but we will all be changed�. The Greek verb katheudo is used in the New Testament to mean natural sleep but also metaphorically as death (1 Corinthians 15:20; Matthew 27:52; Acts 13:36; John 11:11, Lazarus). As obvious from the reading of verse 51, Paul uses sleep as a metaphor for death (literal sleep does not fit within the context of what he is saying). Thus what he is pointing out is that not all will die (sleep) as a prerequisite for entering the �change� he speaks of i.e. the perishable putting on the imperishable (resurrection life). Many will put on this imperishable change while not tasting physical death.
Paul also draws a clear distinction between those who are changed while they are yet alive and those who are changed as they return with Christ. He says: �for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed� He identifies two groups who will be changed. 1. The dead will be raised [changed]; 2. And we (Paul is speaking of himself as alive, distinct from the dead) will be changed. It is well known that the early church expected Christ�s return to occur during their lifetimes. Many righteous men had died before him but he was pressing toward the mark of the resurrection he believed would occur during his lifetime.
To make the point even stronger, Christ is not returning to the earth (2nd Advent) until all his enemies are defeated on earth and the earth is made a footstool for His feet. ��but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time forward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet� (Hebrews 10:12-13; Psalm 110:1). When Christ was resurrected and sat down at the right hand of the Father he promised to return. This would be the Second Coming of Christ we all await. However, He will not return until all of His enemies on earth have been defeated.
�But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ�s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. THE LAST ENEMY THAT WILL BE ABOLISHED IS DEATH� (1 Corinthians 15:20-26).
How are Christ�s enemies on earth defeated? It is obvious they must be defeated before His return (see above). It is the Sons (plural) who remain on the earth and defeat the enemies of Christ, prior to His return. It is without dispute that Christ is bringing many Sons like Himself, to glory. Hebrews 2:10-11 states: �For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing MANY SONS TO GLORY, to perfect the author of their salvation [Christ] through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them [the Sons] brethren�.
It is these Sons who are perfected on earth prior to the coming of the Lord who defeat the enemies of Christ on earth. Who are these enemies? �For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places� (Ephesians 6:12). These forces of wickedness in heavenly places prevent His coming. He is coming to rule and reign in places occupied by wickedness. We are fighting the god of this world, Satan, the serpent of old to displace him from his wicked rule.
Satan is the god of this world. �But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the GOD OF THIS AGE [Satan] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them� (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). When Christ died and was resurrected He defeated Satan. It is up to us to enforce that victory.
Christ intends for us to do greater works than He did, including defeating all His enemies. �Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father� (John 14:12).
Paul explained resurrection life but mentions nothing about physical death. He does discuss the fact that we must die to our soul/flesh nature of corruption in order to attain to the heavenly. �that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 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. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly� (1 Corinthians 15:37-49).
That we are to be like Christ, even while we remain on earth, is without dispute in the scriptures. John said: �See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children [Sons] of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, WE WILL BE LIKE HIM, because we will see Him just as He is� (1 John 3:1-2). �For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known� (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Christ Himself said: �But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.� (Luke 9:27). Likewise we who live are able to be transformed while we are still living. It is true we will have died to the flesh nature and to the world. Paul said: �I die daily�. But there will come a point, and it is not far off, when those on the earth, believers in Christ, will experience resurrection life just as Christ did and just as those who have gone on before us will. Thus the scripture will be fulfilled: �Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven�. The veil between us and God will be done away with and we will see Him as He is as we will be like Him, a Son of God in every respect. .
Did you ever wonder exactly what we are up against as mature Christians who want to walk on with God in this life? This article is for those who long to move further into a knowledge and awareness of God; to move into a daily, hourly walk with Him. It is for those to whom simple salvation, accepting Jesus as our Savior, is only a beginning. By understanding what we must overcome as Christians, we can better maintain a deeper, personal walk with God and Jesus Christ, and an understanding and awareness of Him and His purposes.
The answers to knowing the deep attributes of God may seem, at times, to be shrouded in mystery. However, the secrets of the ages are hidden within the Word of God (Matthew 13:34-35; Psalm 78:2). Although the Lord commanded Daniel to seal up the words of the Book, after showing him many secrets regarding events that were to take place in the future (Daniel 12:9), Revelations Chapter 5 promises us that the time would come that the �seals of the Book� would be broken. (v.5-6). To the perceptive Christian, this unsealing of the Book is taking place today. It is the purpose and promise of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all the truth and show us all things (John 16:13). We need only the eyes to see and the ears to hear (Matthew 11:15; Revelation 2:11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
Isaiah chapter 14 reveals some of the answers to these mysteries. On the surface, this chapter seems to be, a discourse taken up against the King of Babylon who was reigning at the time of Isaiah�s prophecy and who ultimately attacked and destroyed Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah may very well have been referring to that king, on one level. However, many Old Testament writings and prophecies, although written long before the birth of Christ, were directed towards the future, to the time of Christ and beyond. (John 5:39, 46-47; Acts 2:16-21, 25-28, 34-36). With that in mind, a deeper and more mystical understanding of Isaiah 14 is indicated.
Isaiah 14 speaks of Babylon and the king of Babylon. Scriptures written later speak of another Babylon, far beyond the scope of the Babylon of Isaiah�s time. Revelation chapters 17-18 describe in some detail the �mystery Babylon�, who was the �harlot� that did battle with the Lamb (the Lord), and deceived the nations. It is likely that even if in chapter 14 Isaiah was referring to the physical king of Babylon of his time, he was revealing a far stronger force behind the king. It is that �force� that we are concerned with here.
We have all heard of Satan, Lucifer or simply �the devil�, referred to as a �fallen angel�. What does that mean to us as Christians? We must first examine what the scriptures say about Satan. First, it was this serpent of old, the devil and Satan (Revelation 20:2), who first deceived man, resulting in man�s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It was he who first questioned the Word of God (see generally Genesis 2-3). Satan is described later as the ruler of this world (John 12:31). Satan tempted Jesus on the mountain saying rightfully that �All the power in this world� was handed over to him and that it was his to give to whom he wished�. (Luke 4:6). Satan has also been described as � he who blinds the minds of the unbelieving� (2 Corinthians 4:4). This �devil� is even described as the �Father of the unbelieving� (John 8:44). Apostle Peter instructs Christians that Satan is �our adversary� and that �we are not to be unaware of his schemes�(1 Peter 5:8).
If we are to become more aware of this �adversary�, what do we actually know about his origins, purposes and methods? We do know that at one time he held a very high place before God. Isaiah 14:12-14 begins with:
�How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn.
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!�
�Star of the morning� (or �morning star�) is defined in the Hebrew as �Lucifer� or �the shining one�. The King James Version literally reads �O Lucifer, son of the morning�. Spiritually, it appears that this �morning star�, the brightest object in the sky, was actually a place that God at one time gave Satan as his very own dominion (Job 38:7). It is also a place that will ultimately be occupied by Christ and His Sons (Revelation 22:16; 2 Peter 1:19).
Isaiah goes on (verse 13):
�But you said in your heart,
I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.�
And in verse 14:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.�
If we accept that Isaiah was not only referring to the king of Babylon of his day, but was also referring to a force much more formidable, we can begin to break down these verses and better understand our enemy Satan. We find that Lucifer (Satan) desired to �ascend above the clouds� and �make [himself] like� God.
How did Satan want to be like God? First, he wanted to �sit on the mount of assembly�. The mount of assembly, in the Hebrew, was the place of honor occupied by God at ordained feasts, worships, and other gatherings of the peoples. Satan further wanted to �sit� on that mount. The word �sit� is synonymous to the word �enthroned� in the Hebrew, which refers to the permanent �seat� of the Lord. Enthroned is used, for example in Psalm 9:11 (God, enthroned in Zion, the mountain of God) and Psalm 22:3 (God enthroned on the praises of his people). Therefore, according to Isaiah, Lucifer desired to inhabit a very high place, as God occupied. Satan did not want to serve God, but desired to sit or be enthroned, like God, in a place of honor, receiving the adoration and worship of the people.
However, it likely became obvious that there was room in �heaven� for only one such high place, and it was permanently occupied by the �Most High�. Not to be daunted, and rather than humble himself to the Most High God, Satan then sought a suitable place to set up his own kingdom. Isaiah says that place was located in the �recesses of the north� (verse 14:13). This reference to the �north� is a key for us in understanding our enemy today.
What are �the recesses of the north�? The obvious indication is that the Babylonian empire attacked Israel from the north. However, the operative word �north�, as used in Isaiah14, is �saphon�, pronounced �saw-fone�� and indicates generally the direction north. However, the word is likely derived from �sapan� (Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 4, page 451) which means a hidden or dark place, gloomy and unknown, to hide, hidden, secretly, secret place, lurk, prively, the hidden ones and laid up (Strongs, 6828, 6845) In other words, Isaiah tells us that Satan wanted to set up his own rule and kingdom, in order to receive adoration and worship, like God, and to call the shots, like God. But he wanted to (or had to) do it as far away from God as he could. The �recesses of the north� is the hidden, �dark�, gloomy and secret place, away from the �light� of God where everything is laid open and bare, and nothing is hidden from His sight (Hebrews 4:13).
We know that Satan ultimately set up his kingdom on this earth (Ephesians 6:12; John 8:44). By setting up his kingdom in a secret, dark place, here on Earth, away from the presence of God, we begin to get a glimpse of what Christ had to face in bringing our redemption and reconciliation to God, and what we have to face in bringing that redemption and reconciliation to full reality on the earth (�on earth as it is in heaven�, Matt 6:10).
Does it seem strange to you that it is the natural state of being for humanity to be unaware of the presence of God? If God is omnipotent and omnipresent, throughout the universe, why is man not continually, consciously aware of Him? It was not always so. In the Garden of Eden, man walked in the presence of the Lord continually. God brought animals to Adam, and he named them. God walked and talked with Adam in the Garden, in the cool of the night. The presence of God was so prevalent that Adam and Eve actually had to hide themselves from His presence after they were deceived (by the serpent) and ate the forbidden fruit (see generally Genesis 2-3).
From the day man was banished from the Garden of Eden, he had a struggle to obtain an awareness of God; he has had a struggle just living day to day (Genesis 3:14-24). Why? Because Satan had been allowed to set up his own kingdom on this earth, ruling the earth and all that is in it (Luke 4:6; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 6:12; John 8:44, 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). He set up his dominion here on earth, as Isaiah said, in a spiritual location as far away from the light of God as possible (the hidden place, the �recesses of the north�). While man struggles to get closer to God, he is continually hindered by the evil one, who has set up his rule in separation from God. Man, who lives in Satan�s kingdom, was made subject to that separation (2 Corinthians 4:4). Over time, it became completely natural for man to live separated from God. Satan has been so successful in his plan that a large percentage of humanity struggles to believe that God even exists at all. Contemplate the magnitude of this deception; that Satan has been able to convince an entire race of people that the creator of the universe either does not exist or has no power in our lives! Without Christ, and His victory over Satan, we would not even be aware of this deception, let alone be able to overcome it (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Satan is the lie and the Father of it. Jesus went so far as to call him the �Father of the unbeliever� (John 8:44). We were all unbelievers, until we accepted Christ. (Romans 5:19; John 3:16). We have had Satan�s nature inbred in us for thousands of years, so that over time we learned to absolutely accept separation from and unawareness of God as a natural state of being. Although Christ created the provision for us to overcome that deception, we believers still face the challenge of making that provision an absolute reality in out lives (see Romans 7:14-25).
We know that Satan�s end is clearly spelled out in the same chapter of Isaiah, verses 15-20. Satan will be thrown down to the pit and all of humanity will look on him, as he is unveiled before them and exclaim �is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the Kingdoms�and did not allow the prisoners to go home [to the Lord]?�� who will go down to the pit to be trodden under by foot�.
However, until that day the important challenge we face in walking on with God into maturity is overcoming this unawareness of God, which is such an integral part of Satan�s kingdom. It is Satan who, through his disobedience and refusal to serve God, lives, with us, in separation from God, in the dark place, in the �recesses of the north�. It is readily apparent why an awareness of his strategy is so important to us at this time in the history of the restoration of all things. If we remain separated from God, we will not inherit the full extent of His promises, since His goal is total restoration and oneness of the human race to Him.
What is Christ�s ultimate purpose and how does He mean to accomplish it? One primary purpose is to bring many Sons to maturity (Ephesians 4:11-13; Romans 8:19, 23, 29; Hebrews 2:11), thereby releasing all of creation from divinely imposed futility (Romans 8:20-22). He intends to do this by creating His very nature within us, even within our mortal bodies (Galatians 4:6-7; Romans 8:29-30; Romans 8:11). Only the nature of Christ can inherit the Kingdom of God; those who walk according to the flesh (in a state of unawareness) will not (Romans 8:5-8, 12-14; 1 Corinthians 14:50).
Thus, in order to inherit the Kingdom, our natures must change. We who were born according to the flesh, according to the ways of Satan, in separation from God, must put on the nature of Christ our Lord, who lives not in unawareness but in glory. (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). But how do we change? Can a leopard change his own spots? (Jeremiah 13:23). Can we change through our own efforts?
The way we change is by beholding Him, seeing Him, becoming aware of Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). When we fully see Him, we become like him (1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 13:12). It is a matter of awareness. Satan knew this. He knew he had to set up his kingdom in separation from God, because if we were allowed to see Christ, high and lifted up, at the right hand of the Father, we would become like Christ. When we become like Christ, Satan�s defeat is fully manifested; Christ�s victory becomes a reality.
The prophet Daniel saw this more than a thousand years before Christ�s birth. He saw that the evil force �would speak out against the Saints of the most high�and "wear down the saints�. He saw that the evil one would �attempt to make alterations in times and in law� and that he would actually succeed for �a time, times and half a time� (Daniel 7:25). One such alteration in law was to block the awareness of the Saints, to blind them to the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 2:11), to make it natural for man to be unaware. However, Daniel saw the end result (verse 26-27). He saw that ��his [Satan�s] dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One��
We as �the people of the saints of the Most High� must strive to become aware of our Lord; to have a greater personal relationship with Him. By seeing Him, we will change, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). We can have this awareness of Him in this lifetime; we don�t have to wait until we die a physical death. We who are here alive on earth at this time can defeat the fallen angel, like Christ did, and foil his plans to maintain his own kingdom, in the recesses of the north, far from the presence (awareness) of God. We can and must manifest, here on earth, the victory won for us by The Lord Jesus Christ. By seeking and cultivating, on a daily basis, a continual awareness of His presence, we make that victory certain.
Jesus told us to abide in Him. Abide or abiding means, in various languages, the following: enduring, abiding; pertaining to continuing to exist and so remain in a (sure) state. It can also mean a resumption of a prior state. (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages : Aramaic (Old Testament). In Greek the word is μένω (menō): to stay, remain, abide; to wait for, remain in a place or state, and expect something in future; continue to exist, remain in existence; keep on, continue in an activity or state, as an aspect of an action (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) With Semantic Domains).
Jesus said: �I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser� �Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. �I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. �If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. �If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. �My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. �Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. �If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father�s commandments and abide in His love� (John 15:1-10).
Too often we as Christians live an up and down existence. We are swayed this way and that by the circumstances of our daily lives. Paul said: ��As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;� (Ephesians 4:14).
Jesus said: �Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on [does] them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. �And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. �Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on [do] them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. �The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell�and great was its fall� (Matthew 7:24-27).
If we are not constantly abiding in the Father, a stormy situation or a great test of our faith, can cause us to turn away from the Lord; whereas had we been abiding with Him we would not have been moved. Conversely, when we are hit by something unexpected we try to use our religious mechanics to get us out of a situation created by our lack of abiding. The age old saying that �there are no atheists in foxholes� generally applies to wavering Christians who reserve their contact with the Lord until something they think of as �bad� happens. According to Heb. 12:5�11, there are several ways Christians may respond to the chastening of God: we may despise it, and refuse to confess; we may faint and give up; or we may endure God�s chastening, confess our sins, and trust Him to work everything out for our good and His glory. This is a form of abiding in Him because when we abide we know that no matter what comes He turns it to good, and we are not moved by adverse circumstances or God�s chastening.
With whom do we abide? The Lord Jesus or the Father? Christ said: �Jesus said [to Thomas] �I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. �If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.�Philip said to Him, �Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.�Jesus said to him, �Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, �Show us the Father�? �Do you not believe that I am in [abiding in] the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. �Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. �Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father� (John 14:5-16).
Jesus relationship was with the Father. He reiterates over and over that it is not Him doing the great works but the Father doing them through Him. He repeats that it is the Father who is the original recipient of the glory. Christ and His Sons, disciples, are glorified together with the Father. There comes a time when everything, all of creation, is turned over to the Father the Creator. ��then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power� (1 Corinthians 15:24).
We must accept the fact that it is God�s intention that we become Sons like Jesus Christ. �For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,� (Hebrews 2:10-11).
John says: �Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is� (John 3:2). This does not say we see Him when we die but we see Him �when He appears�. If we are to become like Christ then to see us should be like seeing the Father, just as Christ said to the disciples about Himself.
Christ said at the last supper: �The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may continually know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. �Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. �O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them� (John 17:22-26).
Jesus abode in the Father. So we are to abide in the Father as He did and does. Since eventually all things created are turned over to the Father, we likewise abide in the Father who is the ultimate recipient of everything. Why be limited to have to continually going to the Son for our spiritual life and sustenance? Jesus went straight to the Father and abode only with Him. Nothing from Satan came through to Him to divert Him from His ultimate course. He said: �I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here� (John 14:30-31). Christ was abiding in the Father and did nothing except what the Father commanded. Therefore Satan had no hold on Him, no button to push, as he pushes out buttons continually.
As we have seen earlier abiding is a continual lifestyle. You don�t abide for a while then take a break. We are to be abiding continually; that means all the time. Then we are like Christ who abided only with the Father, not in this world of futility. He said that we, like Him, are in the world but not of it. We are lifted into the abiding place of Christ at the right hand of the Father. The communion is a form of abiding. �He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. �As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me� (John 6:56-57). �As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father� (1 John 2:24).
God�s name in Hebrew is �I am�. We reach the state where we just ARE. Great works? Abide in the Father and they come naturally. We don�t have to pray all day in some religious exercise to get what we need. When we abide the thing is just done. We abide in His rest. �Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it [by disobedience]� (Hebrews 4:1-5). When we abide continually we are in complete obedience.
Jesus sat on a bluff overlooking Jerusalem and lamented with tears: �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!� (Matthew 23:37-38). God is drawing us to himself just as He was constantly drawing Old Testament Israel. However Israel was unwilling to come. God wanted to gather them like a mother hen draws her chicks by spreading her wings for the chicks to gain refuge against anything that would otherwise befall them.
Also in Psalm 91 He says: �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!� For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark� (vs. 1-4). The entire Psalm speaks of the protection of the Lord to the one who draws near. �A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent� (vs. 7-10).
God said the house of Israel was left desolate. Throughout their history God would send armies to defeat them because they were unwilling to seek His protection by doing righteousness i.e. Assyria, Babylon, Scythians (Syria) and then Rome. They were always at war with the Canaanite tribes who would seize on their weaknesses when they were sinning and harass them.
In all cases God sent prophets to warn them of the evil to come but, as the Lord said, the people not only didn�t listen but they stoned and killed the men of God like Jeremiah and Isaiah (see Hebrews 11). They refused to be drawn close to the Lord when that is all He was trying to accomplish.
We also have a human nature that is unwilling to be drawn to the Lord. We are actually repelled by God when we should be drawn. It is a perversity in our old nature that refuses the Lord with his wings spread out ready to take us under His wing into His Kingdom.
One major perversity in out nature that prevents us from coming to Him is self condemnation. Romans 8:1-2 identifies this weakness and identifies its destruction. �Therefore there is now no condemnation 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 of death�. Condemnation makes us unwilling to be drawn to the Father. Feeling unworthy, we pull back rather that press in. Condemnation is the ultimate flinch. We say �Oh I did something wrong so God doesn�t love me anymore. How could he love such a wretched creature?� Religion is a great culprit in this area. They would have you toe the line and try to obey God in your flesh when that is not the point. The legalistic walk with God ended when Christ fulfilled the law for us on the cross. He brought the new covenant of grace. �For the righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again� (Proverbs 24:16). One version reads �and the Lord lifts him up�.
Christ said: �If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.� Philip said to Him, �Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.� Jesus said to him, �Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, �Show us the Father�? �Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. �Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves� (John 14:7-11).
Religion has the wrong idea about Christ. Christ was a representation or representative of the Father. All the works done by Christ were done by the Father through His earthly ambassador Jesus. �Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation� (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).
It was and has always been the Father who is represented as God in the scriptures. Christ is the Father�s gift to us so that we can have the opportunity to be cleansed and thus acceptable to the Father. The Father is and always has been seeking a family, like the hen and chick family that abided together and were protected from all evil, especially condemnation. God the Father is tired of being separated from us. We likewise should be tired of living separate from him. He, the Father, will pursue us throughout all eternity until He gets what He wants-His very own family of Sons.
Everything is going to end up with the Father anyway. Paul said: ��then comes the end, when He [Christ] hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power� (1 Corinthians 15:24). Christ�s purpose as well as ours is to abolish all false powers and turn the Kingdom over to God the Father.
Christ has been our mediator between us and the Father. The time has come that we relate directly to the Father, as Christ the Son does. If we are to be Sons like Christ our intercession is directly to the Father, as is His. The time comes when the Sons reach maturity and it is no longer necessary to have an intermediary. As the writer of Hebrews said in 8:10-11: �FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD [FATHER], AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. �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 TO THE GREATEST OF THEM�. They will all call God Father.
Did you ever wonder exactly what we are up against as mature Christians who want to walk on with God in this life? This article is for those who long to move further into a knowledge and awareness of God; to move into a daily, hourly walk with Him. It is for those to whom simple salvation, accepting Jesus as our Savior, is only a beginning. By understanding what we must overcome as Christians, we can better maintain a deeper, personal walk with God and Jesus Christ, and an understanding and awareness of Him and His purposes.
The answers to knowing the deep attributes of God may seem, at times, to be shrouded in mystery. However, the secrets of the ages are hidden within the Word of God (Matthew 13:34-35; Psalm 78:2). Although the Lord commanded Daniel to seal up the words of the Book, after showing him many secrets regarding events that were to take place in the future (Daniel 12:9), Revelations Chapter 5 promises us that the time would come that the �seals of the Book� would be broken. (v.5-6). To the perceptive Christian, this unsealing of the Book is taking place today. It is the purpose and promise of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all the truth and show us all things (John 16:13). We need only the eyes to see and the ears to hear (Matthew 11:15; Revelation 2:11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
Isaiah chapter 14 reveals some of the answers to these mysteries. On the surface, this chapter seems to be, a discourse taken up against the King of Babylon who was reigning at the time of Isaiah�s prophecy and who ultimately attacked and destroyed Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah may very well have been referring to that king, on one level. However, many Old Testament writings and prophecies, although written long before the birth of Christ, were directed towards the future, to the time of Christ and beyond. (John 5:39, 46-47; Acts 2:16-21, 25-28, 34-36). With that in mind, a deeper and more mystical understanding of Isaiah 14 is indicated.
Isaiah 14 speaks of Babylon and the king of Babylon. Scriptures written later speak of another Babylon, far beyond the scope of the Babylon of Isaiah�s time. Revelation chapters 17-18 describe in some detail the �mystery Babylon�, who was the �harlot� that did battle with the Lamb (the Lord), and deceived the nations. It is likely that even if in chapter 14 Isaiah was referring to the physical king of Babylon of his time, he was revealing a far stronger force behind the king. It is that �force� that we are concerned with here.
We have all heard of Satan, Lucifer or simply �the devil�, referred to as a �fallen angel�. What does that mean to us as Christians? We must first examine what the scriptures say about Satan. First, it was this serpent of old, the devil and Satan (Revelation 20:2), who first deceived man, resulting in man�s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It was he who first questioned the Word of God (see generally Genesis 2-3). Satan is described later as the ruler of this world (John 12:31). Satan tempted Jesus on the mountain saying rightfully that �All the power in this world� was handed over to him and that it was his to give to whom he wished�. (Luke 4:6). Satan has also been described as � he who blinds the minds of the unbelieving� (2 Corinthians 4:4). This �devil� is even described as the �Father of the unbelieving� (John 8:44). Apostle Peter instructs Christians that Satan is �our adversary� and that �we are not to be unaware of his schemes�(1 Peter 5:8).
If we are to become more aware of this �adversary�, what do we actually know about his origins, purposes and methods? We do know that at one time he held a very high place before God. Isaiah 14:12-14 begins with:
�How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn.
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!�
�Star of the morning� (or �morning star�) is defined in the Hebrew as �Lucifer� or �the shining one�. The King James Version literally reads �O Lucifer, son of the morning�. Spiritually, it appears that this �morning star�, the brightest object in the sky, was actually a place that God at one time gave Satan as his very own dominion (Job 38:7). It is also a place that will ultimately be occupied by Christ and His Sons (Revelation 22:16; 2 Peter 1:19).
Isaiah goes on (verse 13):
�But you said in your heart,
I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.�
And in verse 14:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.�
If we accept that Isaiah was not only referring to the king of Babylon of his day, but was also referring to a force much more formidable, we can begin to break down these verses and better understand our enemy Satan. We find that Lucifer (Satan) desired to �ascend above the clouds� and �make [himself] like� God.
How did Satan want to be like God? First, he wanted to �sit on the mount of assembly�. The mount of assembly, in the Hebrew, was the place of honor occupied by God at ordained feasts, worships, and other gatherings of the peoples. Satan further wanted to �sit� on that mount. The word �sit� is synonymous to the word �enthroned� in the Hebrew, which refers to the permanent �seat� of the Lord. Enthroned is used, for example in Psalm 9:11 (God, enthroned in Zion, the mountain of God) and Psalm 22:3 (God enthroned on the praises of his people). Therefore, according to Isaiah, Lucifer desired to inhabit a very high place, as God occupied. Satan did not want to serve God, but desired to sit or be enthroned, like God, in a place of honor, receiving the adoration and worship of the people.
However, it likely became obvious that there was room in �heaven� for only one such high place, and it was permanently occupied by the �Most High�. Not to be daunted, and rather than humble himself to the Most High God, Satan then sought a suitable place to set up his own kingdom. Isaiah says that place was located in the �recesses of the north� (verse 14:13). This reference to the �north� is a key for us in understanding our enemy today.
What are �the recesses of the north�? The obvious indication is that the Babylonian empire attacked Israel from the north. However, the operative word �north�, as used in Isaiah14, is �saphon�, pronounced �saw-fone�� and indicates generally the direction north. However, the word is likely derived from �sapan� (Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 4, page 451) which means a hidden or dark place, gloomy and unknown, to hide, hidden, secretly, secret place, lurk, prively, the hidden ones and laid up (Strongs, 6828, 6845) In other words, Isaiah tells us that Satan wanted to set up his own rule and kingdom, in order to receive adoration and worship, like God, and to call the shots, like God. But he wanted to (or had to) do it as far away from God as he could. The �recesses of the north� is the hidden, �dark�, gloomy and secret place, away from the �light� of God where everything is laid open and bare, and nothing is hidden from His sight (Hebrews 4:13).
We know that Satan ultimately set up his kingdom on this earth (Ephesians 6:12; John 8:44). By setting up his kingdom in a secret, dark place, here on Earth, away from the presence of God, we begin to get a glimpse of what Christ had to face in bringing our redemption and reconciliation to God, and what we have to face in bringing that redemption and reconciliation to full reality on the earth (�on earth as it is in heaven�, Matt 6:10).
Does it seem strange to you that it is the natural state of being for humanity to be unaware of the presence of God? If God is omnipotent and omnipresent, throughout the universe, why is man not continually, consciously aware of Him? It was not always so. In the Garden of Eden, man walked in the presence of the Lord continually. God brought animals to Adam, and he named them. God walked and talked with Adam in the Garden, in the cool of the night. The presence of God was so prevalent that Adam and Eve actually had to hide themselves from His presence after they were deceived (by the serpent) and ate the forbidden fruit (see generally Genesis 2-3).
From the day man was banished from the Garden of Eden, he had a struggle to obtain an awareness of God; he has had a struggle just living day to day (Genesis 3:14-24). Why? Because Satan had been allowed to set up his own kingdom on this earth, ruling the earth and all that is in it (Luke 4:6; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 6:12; John 8:44, 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). He set up his dominion here on earth, as Isaiah said, in a spiritual location as far away from the light of God as possible (the hidden place, the �recesses of the north�). While man struggles to get closer to God, he is continually hindered by the evil one, who has set up his rule in separation from God. Man, who lives in Satan�s kingdom, was made subject to that separation (2 Corinthians 4:4). Over time, it became completely natural for man to live separated from God. Satan has been so successful in his plan that a large percentage of humanity struggles to believe that God even exists at all. Contemplate the magnitude of this deception; that Satan has been able to convince an entire race of people that the creator of the universe either does not exist or has no power in our lives! Without Christ, and His victory over Satan, we would not even be aware of this deception, let alone be able to overcome it (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Satan is the lie and the Father of it. Jesus went so far as to call him the �Father of the unbeliever� (John 8:44). We were all unbelievers, until we accepted Christ. (Romans 5:19; John 3:16). We have had Satan�s nature inbred in us for thousands of years, so that over time we learned to absolutely accept separation from and unawareness of God as a natural state of being. Although Christ created the provision for us to overcome that deception, we believers still face the challenge of making that provision an absolute reality in out lives (see Romans 7:14-25).
We know that Satan�s end is clearly spelled out in the same chapter of Isaiah, verses 15-20. Satan will be thrown down to the pit and all of humanity will look on him, as he is unveiled before them and exclaim �is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the Kingdoms�and did not allow the prisoners to go home [to the Lord]?�� who will go down to the pit to be trodden under by foot�.
However, until that day the important challenge we face in walking on with God into maturity is overcoming this unawareness of God, which is such an integral part of Satan�s kingdom. It is Satan who, through his disobedience and refusal to serve God, lives, with us, in separation from God, in the dark place, in the �recesses of the north�. It is readily apparent why an awareness of his strategy is so important to us at this time in the history of the restoration of all things. If we remain separated from God, we will not inherit the full extent of His promises, since His goal is total restoration and oneness of the human race to Him.
What is Christ�s ultimate purpose and how does He mean to accomplish it? One primary purpose is to bring many Sons to maturity (Ephesians 4:11-13; Romans 8:19, 23, 29; Hebrews 2:11), thereby releasing all of creation from divinely imposed futility (Romans 8:20-22). He intends to do this by creating His very nature within us, even within our mortal bodies (Galatians 4:6-7; Romans 8:29-30; Romans 8:11). Only the nature of Christ can inherit the Kingdom of God; those who walk according to the flesh (in a state of unawareness) will not (Romans 8:5-8, 12-14; 1 Corinthians 14:50).
Thus, in order to inherit the Kingdom, our natures must change. We who were born according to the flesh, according to the ways of Satan, in separation from God, must put on the nature of Christ our Lord, who lives not in unawareness but in glory. (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). But how do we change? Can a leopard change his own spots? (Jeremiah 13:23). Can we change through our own efforts?
The way we change is by beholding Him, seeing Him, becoming aware of Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). When we fully see Him, we become like him (1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 13:12). It is a matter of awareness. Satan knew this. He knew he had to set up his kingdom in separation from God, because if we were allowed to see Christ, high and lifted up, at the right hand of the Father, we would become like Christ. When we become like Christ, Satan�s defeat is fully manifested; Christ�s victory becomes a reality.
The prophet Daniel saw this more than a thousand years before Christ�s birth. He saw that the evil force �would speak out against the Saints of the most high�and "wear down the saints�. He saw that the evil one would �attempt to make alterations in times and in law� and that he would actually succeed for �a time, times and half a time� (Daniel 7:25). One such alteration in law was to block the awareness of the Saints, to blind them to the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 2:11), to make it natural for man to be unaware. However, Daniel saw the end result (verse 26-27). He saw that ��his [Satan�s] dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One��
We as �the people of the saints of the Most High� must strive to become aware of our Lord; to have a greater personal relationship with Him. By seeing Him, we will change, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). We can have this awareness of Him in this lifetime; we don�t have to wait until we die a physical death. We who are here alive on earth at this time can defeat the fallen angel, like Christ did, and foil his plans to maintain his own kingdom, in the recesses of the north, far from the presence (awareness) of God. We can and must manifest, here on earth, the victory won for us by The Lord Jesus Christ. By seeking and cultivating, on a daily basis, a continual awareness of His presence, we make that victory certain.
Its all a matter of perception. 12 spies were sent out and 10 came back with a bad report. Joshua and Caleb saw the same land and said it could be conquered.
The 10 spies who brought back a bad report saw the nephilim in the land and reported them to be giants. They were not seeing with spiritual eyes.
Joshua and Caleb saw that : "Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.� Nu 14:9. in other words their aura of invincibility was gone. They no longer had their demonic protection, even through they appeared invincible.
It is similar to a situation on 2 Kings 6:15-18 involving Elisha and his servant: "Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, �Alas, my master! What shall we do?�
So he 1answered, �Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.�
Then Elisha prayed and said, �O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.� And the Lord opened the servant�s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, �Strike this people with blindness, I pray.� So He astruck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
Like the 10 spies the servant of Elisha did not have the perception to see that the enemy army was already surrounded by the forces of God.
As we know, Genesis Chapter 4 sets forth the story of Cain and Abel, first born sons of Adam and Eve after they had been banned by God from the Garden of Eden. Abel and Cain were to bring offerings to the Lord, the first-fruits of their labors. Abel was a herder of sheep and brought his first born lamb as an offering. Cain was a "tiller of the ground" and brought his offering from what he had harvested. The Lord accepted Abel's offering but rejected Cain's.
Why this occurred involves some conjecture. Probably both had been educated by Adam as to what was and was not acceptable to God. Abel�s offering was a thing of great value � his first born, unblemished lamb. Cain�s gift was from the land that God had cursed when He ejected Adam and Eve from the Garden (Genesis 1:17-19). In any event, God must have assumed Cain knew better, otherwise, the God of justice could not have punished Cain as He did for something done from ignorance. Also, Abel�s offering was a first-born lamb without blemish, as Christ was referred to as the Lamb of God. Abel�s revelation may have been deeper than Cain�s and thus presented a sacrifice which was symbolic of the restoration to follow from the cursed ground.
In that context, Cain's offering was an act of independence or rebellion. Since God does not look on outward appearance, but judges by the heart, Cain's heart was wrong before the Lord. However, in His mercy, the Lord gently counseled Cain, and gave him a way out, saying that "...if you don't do well, sin is crouching at your door; and its desire is for you but you must master it" (Gen 4:7). God was saying essentially that, since he was now aware of sin (sin means in Hebrew "missing the mark") that he could find a happy countenance by mastering that sin.
Cain did not take the Lord's advice. Cain was jealous of his brother and rose up and killed him. Since Cain was the firstborn son of Adam, he probably felt Abel was going to usurp his place of honor, normally going to the first born of a family. His anger was actually directed against God for not accepting his offering and accepting Abel's. God found out about the murder and asked Cain where his brother was. Cain replied with the now infamous answer "am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). So God banished Cain from the presence of the Lord, cursing the ground even more for him, saying it would not yield its strength to him. Responding to Cain's plea to God that he would be a wanderer and a vagrant on the earth, and be killed, God put a mark (sign) on Cain essentially saying: �Don't kill Cain or I will get you". These events clearly reveal the true state of Cain's heart-violent in nature, rebellious and a liar before God.
God banished Cain completely from his presence. No true family can be properly constructed with the presence of evil within it. This can be compared with Satan who was thrown out of heaven because his rebellious, evil, accusing presence was a distraction to God and the heavenly beings to purely do the will of God in fulfilling His plan.
Cain went out from the Lord to the Land of "Nod". The word Nod has been variously associated with: wanderer, vagrant (New American Bible Version), nomad, aimless, unrest, commotion, a terror round about, a dreadful sound round about, and a land of exile (Matthew Henry's Commentary). So the land of Nod was spiritually separated from God in a terrible land where there was "no rest for the wicked". Compare this with Job 1:7 where Satan tells God he had been "roaming about on the earth and walking around on it", an evil wanderer.
Nod is a sort of "Hell on Earth". The meanings and descriptions of hell in the Old Testament are Sheol, Hinnom, Gehenna (Hebrew); and Hades and Gehenna (Greek). In the Old Testament hell is described as insatiableness (Prov. 30:15, 16), a"grave" thirty-one times (Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; 1 Sam. 2:6, etc.), a place of the damned, (Hebrew Gehenna), and the abode of the wicked (Num. 16:33; Job 24:19; Ps. 9:17; 31:17, etc.). In the New Testament Hades and Gehenna are said to be a place of consciousness (Luke 16:23, 24), a place of torment (Luke 16:23, 24, 28), a place of darkness (Matthew 8:12), eternal separation from God and loved ones (Luke 13:28), no hope of release (Matthew 25:46, Hebrews 6:2) and torment of memory of things done on the earth.(Luke 16:27, 28) (from Eastman's Bible Dictionary and Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains, Greek).
Therefore the land of Nod, where Cain settled and built the earth's first city (Gen 4:17), seems to be a literal "hell on earth". As Adam was banished from Paradise onto the earth, so Cain was banished from God's presence on earth, whereafter he immediately went east of Eden and settled in the land of Nod, the place of the wanderer, the exiled and the wicked.
However in this land Cain became the builder of the first large city on the earth. He set the stage for the later evil that would eventually cause God to send the flood destroying all humanity. Even after the flood cities became centers of evil. The land of Canaan which became Israel was comprised of various city states. Throughout history cities and countries became breeding grounds for abject evil (Babylon, Ur, Nineveh, Greece, Rome and other warring and conquering tribes of evil. This simple act of Cain�s disobedience made all this possible.
Christmas is celebrated today in the Western world as the day of the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows when Christ was born but scholars estimate in to be in the fall perhaps during the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. All agree that it was unlikely that He was born on December 25th since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. Actually December 25 celebrations have their origin in pagan celebrations centered on their Gods at the time.
To many ancient civilizations the winter solstice had spiritual meaning. The ruins at Stonehenge are believed to be the site of winter solstice celebrations. The Mayans are also said to have placed great importance on the time when the tile of the earth produced the shortest day of the year. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is said that many Roman laws were suspended at this time so the partying could go on night and day. Even slaves were allowed to participate. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means �wheel,� the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees. To the Norse the tree was a symbol of life.
In the 4th century Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of Rome, denouncing the pagan gods formerly worshipped, In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ�s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them. This is true of many Catholic symbols and celebrations today. Holy water, images of Christ on a cross, the cross itself were all pagan symbols introduced into the Catholic church to make the religion palatable to the pagans.
Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: �Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.�
Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on 25 Pashons. This corresponds to May 20. Tertullian does not mention Christmas as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa. However, in Chronographai, a reference work published in 221, Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the spring equinox, popularizing the idea that Christ was born on December 25.The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December. De Pascha Computus, a calendar of feasts produced in 243, gives March 28 as the date of the nativity. In 245, the theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays. In 303, Christian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods. However, since Christmas does not celebrate Christ's birth "as God" but "as man", this is not evidence against Christmas being a feast at this time. Moreover, the fact that the innovation rejecting Donatist Church of North Africa celebrated Christmas suggests that the feast had been established before the living memory of those who began that Church in 311.
The earliest known reference to the date of the nativity as December 25 is found in the Chorography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome. In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival emphasized celebration of the baptism of Jesus. Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valensat the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to Constantinople in 379, and to Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.
In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the magi. But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as Advent. In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent. Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 � January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days. The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.
By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten. The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form. "Misrule"�drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling�was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.
Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens. Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord. The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques and pageants. In 1607, King James I insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games. It was during the Reformation in 16th�17th century Europe, that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.
Following the Protestant Reformation, groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery" or the "rags of the Beast." The Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old style Christmas generosity. Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War,
England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647. Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans. The book, The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", and carol singing. The Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland also discouraged observance of Christmas. James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, however attendance at church was scant.
In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region. At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazarethand Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas.
Thus from these humble pagan beginnings is born the mega commercial holiday we have today, still celebrated as Christ�s birthday but with hearts far from the Lord in most cases.
The double portion is Biblical fact. It part of God�s promise to give beyond the normal amount to a select few. In Luke 6:38 He says: �Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure�pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return� (Luke 6:38). The double portion was given to certain men in the scriptures according to God�s promise to His people.
�Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs� (Isaiah 61:7). This is God�s portion to His people in this day. They won�t just have a portion but will have a double of a portion; twice as much, This seems impossible since most Christians have not even received a portion of what God has for them. But He plans to give double even of what He has promised.
The premiere example of a double portion occurred between Elijah and his servant Elisha. Elijah was going to be taken to heaven without dying and all the prophets knew it. Yet when He was at the place where the translation would occur, only Elisha was there with him, all the other prophets content to observe from a distance. The translation of Elijah occurred as follows:
And it came about when the LORD was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, �Stay here please, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.� But Elisha said, �As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.� Elijah was trying to discourage Elisha from following him just as God tries to hide from us.
�So they went down to Bethel. Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, �Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?� And he said, �Yes, I know; be still.� Elijah said to him, �Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.� Again he tried to prevent Elisha from following him.
�But he said, �As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.� So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, �Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?� And he answered, �Yes, I know; be still.� Again Elijah tried to make Elisha stay at Jericho but Elisha wouldn�t.
Then Elijah said to him, �Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.� And he said, �As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.� So the two of them went on. Now fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, �Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.� And Elisha said, �Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.�
He said, �You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.� As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, �My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!� And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, �Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?� And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over (2 Kings 2:1-14).
All the prophets knew Elijah was going to be translated to heaven that day but only Elisha followed Elijah to the Jordon and watched it happen. 50 prophets watched from a safe distance and two even ventured to the edge of the Jordon River. But Elijah went all the way and received from Elijah a double portion of his ministry. All of the other prophets of God knew that Elijah was going to be translated but they did not follow to the end so did not receive the double portion. Notice that Elisha let no time lapse until he exercised the double portion but immediately tool Elijah�s mantle and parted the Jordon.
` Elisha went on to walk in the double portion as we see further in 2 Kings. He purified bad waters, killed some young lads mocking him, deceived the Moabites into thinking water in trenches was blood, gave a woman an unlimited supply of oil to pay her debts, resurrected a boy, purified a poison pot of stew, cured Naaman of leprosy, floated an axe head that had fallen into the water, deceived the entire Aramean army, leading them into a fatal trap, stopped a cannibalistic famine in Israel and many other act too numerous to mention. It is said that after Elisha died and was buried a man who was killed fell on Elisha�s grave and was resurrected. This was all because of the double portion given him by his spiritual Father Elijah.
Hannah was also given a double portion. When the day came that Elkanah, her husband, sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters;
but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had closed her womb. Hannah was barren and cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard her cry and she gave birth. However the Lord heard her cries and she gave birth to Samuel who was to be a great prophet in the land of Israel (1 Samuel 1:4-5).
Job, after his long ordeal with the Lord was given a double portion. In Job 42:10 it says: �And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before�
The first born of the children of Israel also received a double portion of their Father�s inheritance. Deuteronomy 21:17 Says: �But he [the Father] shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn�.
The children of Israel I the wilderness also received a double portion of manna on the day before the Sabbath so they did not have to gather it on the Sabbath. Normally the manna did not last until the nest day but on the day before the Sabbath the manna lasted 2 days including the Sabbath.
The enemies of the Lord also receive a double portion of His wrath and judgment. �After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, �Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. �For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.� I heard another voice from heaven, saying, �Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.�Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her� (Revelation 18:1-6). .
Babylon of course was the religious system that dominated the world before Christ and through the middle ages mixing pagan idol worship with religious worship of Christ. God likened the church as a LADY OF ILL REPUTE riding on the back of the beast nations and condemned Babylon as the Mother of harlots.
Today we too can have a double portion of God�s blessings. The opportunity has never been so great to obtain the double portion and it has never been as necessary as it is in this time of the changing of ages. We must cry for this double portion and more to get accomplished what we must as this age draws to a close. We are those preparing the way for the coming of the Lord and, although the harvest is plentiful, the harvesters are few.
The subject of this article is the powerful spiritual reality that occurs when there is a return by humanity to the Lord God our Creator. The reason the word �return� is used is that in Biblical history it denotes a time when a people, who had become apostate, returned anew to the Lord. That event, the �return�, not only placed the people back to the place where they had been before the apostasy but the return itself generated a spiritual power that had not been known before. Likewise, in our day, a return to our creator could put the entire world on a course unequaled at any previous time in world history. No one can argue that world events have become beyond human control and that there needs to be drastic changes in all realms of human endeavor. Neglecting this change or �return� could hasten a destruction of life as we have known it. Returning to the Lord is the one act that can generate this change for the better.
By necessity, this article will follow the course of the ancient nation of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament. Israel�s history was one of continual apostasy and return, eventually resulting in their destruction as a nation. Many other kingdoms and empires rose and fell throughout history, nations and empires that far exceeded any we see today including the Sumerians, Egypt, Greece, Babylon, Persia and the Roman Empire. These civilizations collapsed on their own, never having a real God, other than the gods of nature they followed. Israel, on the other hand, was the first monotheistic nation and thus had to deal with the One True God who they ultimately were unable to please on a consistent basis. But when they did please God they, being one of the smallest nations of the world, achieved success beyond that of their larger neighbor nations.
The Biblical Book of the prophet Hosea illustrates this principle of return. He wrote vividly about the conditions which existed in the Northern tribes of Israel in about 800 B.C. He likens conditions in his homeland to that of a bride forsaking her husband and depicted Israel as an unfaithful lover, much like that of a prostitute. As the relationship with their God diminished so did the conditions in the country.
He writes: �Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness [truth] or kindness [loyalty] Or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, And also the fish of the sea disappear� (Hosea 4:1-3).
This description could just as easily apply to conditions in our country today. Politics practice mass deception in order to garner votes. Crime is rampant, not only within the crimes of violence but the crimes of greed on Wall St. and by the rich. Animals on land, in the air and in the seas are becoming extinct at a level not previously known, as environmental conditions deteriorate. The lands (people) mourn as they see life pulled from under them. There is no joy only bloodshed, both literally and spiritually. Where is the faithfulness and truth that founded this nation?
Hosea goes on: �Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the [heart of] understanding. My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner�s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from [under] their God� (Hosea 4:11-12). If there has even been a nation in which idols have replaced God it is the United States. What every man calls his toys are his idols. The car a man drives defines his character not his heart. Where and how he lives becomes his god as he strives to outdo his neighbor. Technology and communication has flooded the world with useless information and man revels in his knowledge of masses of irrelevant facts spread by those who do not know truth. Religion itself leads the masses astray by their adherence to legalistic moral codes they try to force on one another and attempt to incorporate into legislation, legislating morality on a scale as effective as the Catholic Inquisitions of days gone by. Sexual license to do as you please in that area has become the accepted norm of society. Faithfulness is rare and real commitment is unknown.
People today hide their eyes from these realities as civilization descends down the slippery slope to destruction. On the other hand, people who are aware of these conditions become discouraged when they realize there are no human solutions to the problems. Hope flourishes for a moment and fails just as quickly in the face of the reality that the fervent hope was not realized. What real solutions exist for such massive problems as the current national indebtedness, the rise of terrorist nations set on destruction of all who oppose them, the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the hands of the irresponsible and the raging of plagues, famine, natural disasters and unchecked nationalism leading to the ethnic cleansing of entire races of humans.
It becomes readily apparent that there can never be any real solutions to these ills by human action. The same humans who can send man into space, who can accomplish medical miracles, develop drugs for every ill and other acts of so called modernization cannot solve basic problems of providing a successful human social existence. But despite the magnitude of man�s problems there does remain a solution that is capable of turning the tide faster than the proverbial bullet. A returning to the Lord, the Creator, has more power inherent in it than the power of the big bang that created the entire physical universe.
Hosea�s answer for ancient Israel is the same answer available today�the power of returning to the Lord. He says:
�Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. �He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.
�So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth� (Hosea 6:1-3).
It would appear that if anything America has lost its vision, the vision it had at the time of the founding Fathers. At the time, when we declared independence and fought and won an impossible war against the greatest power of the then known world, there was a vision of a form of government never seen in the world. Men of great diversity and difference of opinion came together and managed to agree on how this new nation would conduct its affairs. All differences and divides were put aside for the greater vision. That same vision carried us through other wars, a civil war, and two great world wars and brought us to the place it seemed anything was possible.
Although not necessarily formed as a Christian nation, we were founded on spiritual principles as real as its secular counterparts. As wise man once said �without a vision the people perish� (Proverbs of Solomon 29:18). And for good measure �If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. �If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. �If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! (Mark 3:24-26). America today has lost its bearings, its vision, and its internal division has divided the country seemingly irreparably.
Today a new vision is set before us, for all those who choose to accept it. Whether we accept it or not it is coming and to those who see it will experience a complete newness of life on a scale not heretofore known. To those who do not, it could represent unprecedented destruction. The vision has been set to writing and is there for all to see.
�Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, �Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.�
And He who sits on the throne said, �Behold, I am making all things new.� And He said, �Write, for these words are faithful and true� (Revelation 21:1-5).
Can you imagine a new world where there are no tears, no grief, no mourning, no crying, no pain and no death? Most of us cannot because this world of strife and death is so familiar to us. We think, as Solomon wrote,
�Vanity of vanities,� [literally futility] says the Preacher, �Vanity of vanities! [futilities of futilities] All is futility.�
What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever�.
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say, �See this, it is new�?
Already it has existed for ages Which were before us.
There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still�
(Ecclesiastes 1:1-11).
However there is the promise of the better world which is more than a promise�it is the coming reality for those who will receive it.
Our current ills began back near the beginning of time when God expelled man from Paradise. However that expulsion was not meant to be permanent.
The great Apostle Paul explained as follows: �For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly [of its own will], but because of Him [God] 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� (Romans 8:20-22). In other words creation, earth, plants, animals, the cosmos, was subjected to a state of futility as expressed by Solomon above. However, God placed creation in that state with the hope (let�s call it certainty) that at some point it would be released from this divinely imposed state and returned to His original purpose, perfection.
When God made creation He called everything good, including man (Genesis chapter 1). He was pleased with His work. But within this perfect creation God added one element that He desired above all else. That is He wanted man to chose Him, by His own will, over all else. God made man able to choose to remain in the perfected state or able to choose something else. Man, being man, chose another path to his ultimate detriment. It is in the consequence of that choice that we live today.
However, that choice was not permanent. The freedom to choose did not go away with the subjecting of creation to futility. We still have it today. It is the one quality that separates man from all of creation and is the greatest gift God gave man when he learns to choose correctly.
Yes man can choose freely, whatever he wants. Unfortunately choices involve consequences. Man chose incorrectly in the Garden of den and all of creation suffered from that wrong choice. Today, people can choose whatever they want, can live how they want, can believe or not, can curse or bless, but each choice carries a consequence. The choice with the greater eternal benefit is the subject of this article. Man can choose to return to His creator and, despite all the bad blood that has gone on before, the Creator is there to respond to that choice with the better consequences.
It has always been a choice to return, to turn or not to turn. John the Baptist, who came before Christ to announce his coming, preached that man should �repent� for the Kingdom of God (Christ) was at hand. The Hebrew verb for repent is �sub� which means to �return, to turn, to go/come back�. The Greek verb �metanoeo�, which is the word used in the New Testament as it was written in Greek, means, among other things �a radical, moral turn of the whole person to God� and means more than just changing one�s mind. It means a literal �turning� or �turning away� and actions that correspond to a leaving of the old and embracing the new (for a complete description see Mounce�s Complete Expository Dictionary, William D. Mounce, Zondervan Press, 2006; page 580-581).
Since John the Baptist knew that Christ was coming with a new law and a new way of living in the coming Kingdom of God, he told the people to repent, that is be prepared to turn from the old and embrace the new. �Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching [proclaiming, heralding] in the wilderness of Judea, saying, �Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [has come near].�� �Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; (Matthew 3:2,8).
Repentance means more than just feeling sorry for yourself and your sin. It is a positive action in response to a provision made available by God to man who was given the power to choose. Man has the ability to choose God or to reject Him. One would do well to recall the words of Moses as he led the nation Israel from the wilderness to the Promised Land. �See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today,� (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).
We, who find ourselves in the midst of the curse, have the power to choose the blessing. How do we do this? For one we cease thinking of god as a myth or a distant second cousin and realize He is right here among us willing to reverse the course of humanity and out lives. He is ready to forgive and forget all. He is ready to mete out the blessing which is our heritage. He stands ready to make �all things new�.
Don�t think for a minute that He is unaware of your personal situation. He knows your fears and your shattered dreams. He is aware of the hardships of losing your house, your job, your frustration over government and your feeling of being absolutely alone with nowhere to turn. He is aware of the terrors generated by unhindered evil rendered against those who do not believe as they do, the terrorists. His eyes peer deeper into your heart than you could ever do. As Jesus said: �not one sparrow falls from the sky that He is not aware of�. His understanding is inscrutable; His wisdom without measure. He knows all things. Yet he leaves the door open for us, His people, to choose Him. To return to Him. The power of returning to God exceeds all other power. It is the power to transform and defeat all His enemies. It is a power we can execute if we just ask Him. Our prayer should be �God I return to you, I can�t do this on my own, help me�. And He will, beyond your own expectations.
