Saturday, October 29, 2016

Jesus... Times Seven— Part II.

Shouldn’t we have some idea of what Jesus is doing in the present, so we can join Him in His work, so we can labor alongside Him?  That was the question; ‘indeed’ is the answer.

So, for the purpose at hand, I want to narrow down the scope of Jesus’ present ministry, His reign at the Father’s right hand, to two areas and two ideas: the micro-level and the macro-level.  One of these is directed toward the Church, the Body of Christ in Time; the other is directed toward the world, the nations who reject His rule, His authority, and His Kingdom.  At the micro-level, the level of intimacy and relationship, from the care, protection, and provision of a Shepherd for His Sheep {Ps. 23} all the way up to the tenderness and faithfulness of a Husband for His Wife, a Bridegroom for His Beloved, Jesus is interceding on our behalf.  There are two passages dealing with this in the NT.

In the midst of his argument in Romans 8 that the Sons of God, those who are “chosen” in the Chosen One, elect in the Elect One, are “called, justified, glorified” and secure, Paul in v. 33 say’s, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies [‘It is God who declares us righteous, it is God who acquits us of our crimes and forgives us of our sins, it is God who declares a verdict of not guilty, it is God who vindicates us for all Eternity!’ {RRExp}.]Who is he that condemns [Now, or any time in the future.]?  Christ Jesus who died— more than this, who was raised to Life— is at the right hand of God and is also [In addition to the ministry of His Spirit, vv. 26-27.] interceding for us [Which is an ongoing statement of reality, genuine action on behalf of those who believe.],” v. 34.

Jesus is the One with whom we are, each and every one, identified by faith.  Therefore, it is vital for our faith to know not only what He has done, but what He is doing.  Here are four things about the Son of God.  [i] He is our Sacrifice for sin {Rom. 5:8 and 8:32}; [ii] He is the “new Life” we share through His Cross and Resurrection {6:4, 8 and 11}; [iii] He is our Defender, the “Righteous One” who argues our case before the High Courts of Heaven not based on anything we have done, but on the merit of His Work alone {1 Jn. 2:1}; and [iv] He is our Intercessor {Heb. 7:24-25}.  Once again, He labors in prayer on our behalf.  I don’t know about you but this is a reassuring bit of reality: to know the Sovereign God of this Universe, Lord of the Everlasting Armies, the True King of all Creation, is praying over my sometimes sketchy life, my sometimes shady, sinful self this very moment!

The author of Hebrews said in 7:24, “Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood [Like Melchizedek {5:10; 6:20; 7:3, 16-17 and 21}, the king and priest of Salem to whom Abraham paid homage with a tenth of his spoils {7:1-10}.].  Therefore He is able to save completely [‘thoroughly, utterly, eternally’] those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them,” v. 25.  The one thing which is crystal clear from Hebrews 7 is that Jesus is our High Priest.  And as our High Priest, and the “Great Shepherd of the Sheep” {13:20c}, He provides for our every need.  He makes provision for our physical, for our spiritual, even for our emotional and relational.  He shelters His Flock like a momma-bird does the chicks under her wings.  In the shadow of His wings mercy and grace abound.

Get this last idea down regarding divine providence.  The Lord’s ‘providence’ is His provision in the here and now, based on His foreknowledge of the future, from the Ages of Eternity.  Hang on to this one for awhile.  I’ve got a feeling we’re going to need it.

HJC
Ric Webb  |  Shepherd
Heart’s Journey Community
9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204
t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously


Saturday, October 22, 2016

Jesus... Times Seven— Part I.

The apostle John never records an unnecessary detail.  In Hebrew numerology seven is the number of ‘completion,’ the end of something, its fullness and finish in perfection.

In the Gospel of John, e.g., in addition to the seven ‘nevers’ there are seven signs, seven physical and miraculous manifestations of the power and authority of Jesus Christ as Ruler of the Universe {Kurios}.  The Greek noun semeion means- ‘the distinguishing mark by which something is known,’ like a military standard, or a warning from the Heavens {Lk. 11:29-30; 1 Cor. 14:22}; like the divine symbol of circumcision as admission to the Abrahamic Covenant {Gen. 17:9-11}; or a miracle of divine origin performed by God Himself.  Thayer in his Lexicon defines semeion as- ‘miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men sent by Him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God’s cause.’  Of the six New Testament words for ‘miracles’ semeion is the most frequently used to signify Abba was working in and through the Person of His Son to reveal His glory and the glory of His One and Only.

So, we have seven “miraculous signs,” seven semeia, in the Gospel of John.

[i] Turning well water into fine wine— 2:1-11; it represents the joy of Eternal Life, the celebration which awaits us in the Kingdom of God, and the undeniable abundance of Jesus’ grace to each and every one.

[ii] The healing of the royal official’s son {possibly one of Herod’s appointees}— 4:46-54; it pictures the simplicity of receiving the Gift of Life.  The man begged Jesus to “come down” to Capernaum before my child dies.”  And “Jesus replied, ‘You may go.  Your son will live.’”  Then it says, “The man took Jesus at His Word and departed.  While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living” {Jn. 4:49-51}.  Here’s the lesson: Faith is the willingness to take God at His Word.

[iii] Healing the “invalid” at the “Pool of Bethesda”5:1-9; it represents the power of living in communion with Christ.  Remember this.  In our Apprenticeship to Jesus, our ‘learner’ and ‘follower’ to His Teacher and Trailblazer, we need to know how to lead our lives as He would if He were walking our Path in our place— cf. John 5:16-30 for the larger context.

Now, let’s come back to something Jesus said in John 5:17: “My Father is always at His work— to this very day— and I, too, am working.”  If Jesus’ Abba is “always at His work,” always about His business of redemption for a fallen race and restoration for a fallen world, if Jesus too is “working” along these exact same lines “because whatever the Father does the Son does also,” if the Son loves His Abba and desires that we as fellow members of the Father’s Royal Family, Sons and Daughters through faith in the “Firstborn over all Creation” {Col. 1:15b}, should love His Abba as He does and seek to follow in His footsteps, then shouldn’t we be doing what Jesus is doing?  Shouldn’t we be laboring alongside Him for the redemption of a fallen race and the restoration of a fallen world?  And shouldn’t we at least have some idea of what Jesus is doing in the present?

If we don’t know what He’s doing, that’s one thing; but if we don’t care what He’s doing, that’s entirely another.  So, which one is it?



HJC
Ric Webb  |  Shepherd
Heart’s Journey Community
9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204
t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Friday, October 14, 2016

Life and Life Eternal.

Eternal Life.  I often phrase it in my teaching as Life Eternal, which is how it mostly reads in the Greek, zoen aionion.  Let me ask you a question.  What’s the nature of this Life in that phrase, it’s what?  Eternal.  And how long is Eternal Life?  It’s not a trick question.  Without beginning or end, existing indefinitely, continuing on forever ...sound about right?

So, if this Life we’ve been given is the Life of God— which neither increases nor diminishes, but is {always and forever}— if this Life we’ve received is eternal in duration, how exactly are we going to lose it?  We didn’t do anything to get it.  It’s a Life which has no beginning point and no ending date.  It cannot come to an end because it never had a beginning!  God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has always been; in fact, the idea behind the divine name revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14 when the Lord told him, This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you,’” is one of limitless self-existence.  This limitless Life goes on, according to the nature of the word ‘eternal,’ “existing forever” and ever and ever, “without end.”  You could say, ‘eternally.’

Consider the following statements of our Lord.  If it were in any way possible to lose your Life Eternal, the salvation secured by His sacrifice on the Cross and conquest of the Grave, would it be honest, admirable, kind or even realistic, to make these absolute offers?  In the phrasing of the original, these statements read as double negatives meaning “absolutely never— not ever!”  To transfer it to our post-modern idiom, ‘That’s not even remotely possible, it is beyond the bounds of possibility.’  Double negatives in English, ‘not never,’ are neither grammatically correct nor logically sound.  They don’t strengthen the affirmation; they reinforce its opposite!  If someone say’s, “This is never not going to happen,” what they’re actually saying is, “This is going to happen, and it won’t ever stop happening!”  Not so with the Koine of the New Testament.  Double negatives are the strongest statements of utter and absolute impossibility in the language of 1st century Greek.

Jesus answered the woman at the well in Samaria saying, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him....”  What do we call something given?  A gift, right?  And what do we do with a gift?  We can receive it or we can reject it, but what we cannot do is earn it.  So, receiving the Water of Life from Jesus is as simple as receiving a gift from a friend.  Romans 6:23 tells us, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [Charisma is the term, it’s a gift of grace.] is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  John 4:14 finishes by noting the water Jesus freely offers to all, “will become in him [or her who believes] a spring of water welling up to Eternal Life.”

John 6:35, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I Am the Bread of Life.  He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.’”  The Greek ou me is used twice.  To come to Jesus in faith is to satisfy the hunger of the human heart ...permanently; to believe in Him as God, and in His Mission as Messiah, is to quench the thirst of the soul forevermore.

In John 6:37 Jesus say’s, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away [‘I will never cast out,’ NAS.].”  The immediate context of this section of Scripture begins in v. 25 and extends to at least v. 40.  I want you to notice something, and I want you to remember this.  According to our Lord’s own words in John 6:39 it is His Father’s perfect will that He lose not a single soul Abba has given Him, but that “He raise them up at the Last Day”— which is Jewish language for the final Judgment, the transition between Time and Eternity.  Again, according to Jesus’ own words in v. 40 it is impossible for one who “believes in Him” to not have Eternal Life; and it is impossible for one who has— as a present possession— Eternal Life to not be raised up on the Last Day!  Are you seeing this?  Good.  Because this is absolutely critical to the securing of your soul in the Security of the Saints.


HJC
Ric Webb  |  Shepherd
Heart’s Journey Community
9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204
t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Friday, October 7, 2016

The Gracious Gift of a Gracious God.

In the first half of John 10:28 Jesus say’s of His Sheep, of those who “listen” to His voice and “follow” in His footsteps, without exception “I give them Eternal Life [That’s the beauty of the ‘gift’ which can never be ungiven!], and they shall never perish.”  Then comes eis ton aiona, a final phrase in the Greek text which goes untranslated in every English version I’ve consulted.  You have a preposition {meaning ‘into’}, a definite article, and the masculine noun aion {meaning ‘Eternity’}.  Here’s how it should read.  “I give them Eternal Life, and they will never perish ...even into Eternity!  I give them Eternal Life, and they will never perish ...unto forever.  I give them Eternal Life, and they will never perish ...into the Eternal Age” {RRExp}.  Boom!  There it is.

And “no one can snatch them out of My hand,” future tense, “from this moment forward!”  “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand!” {v. 29}, present tense.  Let me interpret this for you, “No enemy attempting to seize even the feeblest lamb from My Abba’s Flock will ever be able to penetrate His power!”  Period.  Your Life is as secure as the Son of God Himself!

So, when Jesus say’s, “I and the Father are one in v. 30, He’s not saying we are ‘one in person’ but that we are ‘one in nature.’  “We are two separate Persons, identical in essence.”  Every Jew within the sound of his voice would recognize, immediately, the level of equality with God He was claiming.  And you can see from the rest of the text, they “pick up stones” in order to kill him.  His response?  “For which of My many miracles, which of My eye-opening wonders, do you stone Me?”  Their reply is, not for any of these, but for blasphemy, because You, a mere man, claim to be God!,” vv. 31-33 {RRExp}.  He claimed it because He is it.  Jesus’ Deity is a crucial component of His Messiahship.  In order to ‘mediate’ between the two opposing sides, to reconcile fallen Man to a holy God, He must be equal to both parties.

The apostle Paul, after expressing Abba’s deep desire for “all men to be saved” and “come to a knowledge of the Truth,” say’s, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men— the Testimony given in its proper time” {1 Tim. 2:4-6}.  The word “mediator” comes from the root noun mesos meaning- ‘in the middle.’  Reminds us of what Job said in 9:33, “If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay His hand upon us both [See this?  A Mediator to ‘stand in the middle,’ someone equal to both parties.], someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that His terror would frighten me no more,” v. 34.  A mesites is one who arbitrates between two parties to remove a disagreement— what we call ‘reconciliation’— and to reach a common goal— which we call ‘redemption.’

This, my friends, is the basis of all our belief, for if we won’t accept Jesus is the Son of God or can’t accept His complete equality with the Father and the Spirit, we have no grounds for standing on His sacrifice as the Savior.  Any good man could die on a cross.  But a ‘good man’s’ death won’t help you and I, a good man’s death can’t save your soul.  Only that of a perfect Man, equal to both parties— God and man.

John, near the end of his 1st Epistle, said: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have Eternal Life” {5:13}.  Know... not wonder, not worry, not fear and fret and constantly question, but “know that you have— now as a present possession, now as a constant reality in a chaotic world— Eternal Life,” the gracious gift of a gracious God.  Amen and amen!

HJC
Ric Webb  |  Shepherd
Heart’s Journey Community
9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204
t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously