FROM THE INSIDE OUT

INSIDE AND OUT

                “Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him. Zech. 12:1b

 In his one opening statement in chapter 12 Zechariah give 3 foundational statements in order to  give a fourth foundational statement.

1.       The first foundational statement is that in His creation of this physical universe that we dwell in, God stretched it out like a curtain, like a tent to dwell in, just as Isaiah describes it in Isa. 40:21-23 says.” It is He who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.” So Gods creation of the heavens and the earth is foundational to our Christian faith.

2.       He laid the foundations of the earth… even as He established truth and justice, so also He wrote His character into the first creation and it was good. So we still see the remnants of this goodness and beauty in the world even though it has fallen into a kingdom of darkness… so that we who hold to our faith in the Creator God can be lights in the darkness.

3.       The third foundational truth is that it was God who formed the spirit of man within Him. We are created in His image and that means we are first of all spiritual beings, for which God also formed a body of clay to dwell in. So when Adam and Eve chose Satan as their new god, the true Spirit of God departed from him and the spirit of this world entered in. Mankind became an empty suit at best, or worse yet, one who had been inhabited by the god of this world.

                It is when we become aware of the enormity of our problem that we then begin to realize what Jesus came here to do. He came to cast the devil out and to restore our spirit and to make it alive by His Holy Spirit, thus returning us to our original form and purpose. But after living for 4000 years as those sold into slavery to the gods of this world, we had a lot to learn. First God brought the law, to show us our problem and to keep the demons at bay until the true Lamb of God could come. In this the sacrificial animals could only point forward to what Jesus would do. Jesus is our everything.

                When we are born again God literally creates a new spirit in us, just as David said it in Psalms 51:10-17. And then, at Pentecost, He sent down His Holy Spirit to empower our new spirit so that we can carry on the work of Jesus Christ in the world. So it is obvious then that this Christian life is made up of learning how to live by that Spirit and to operate by that Spirit so that we can do what Jesus equipped us to do. We have a harvest to bring in and it can only be done by His Holy Spirit.

                Sadly we have, in many cases, turned Christianity into a religion off words much like the Scribes and Pharisees did in which we would much rather argue over words than to actually step out by faith to operate in His power.

                So Jesus said to those religious leaders who claimed to represent the God of heaven: “You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? Luke 11:40. Here Jesus is reiterating exactly what Zechariah said, that it is God who formed the Spirit of man in Him and only God can restore that spirit.  But the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day had turned truth into something God never intended it to be… a burden.

                Jesus came to bring us life and that life is in His Son and he who has the Son has the life and he who doesn’t’ have the Son does not have the life. It is by faith that we continually receive that life as we remain connected to the Vine which is Jesus and thus we continually live by His Holy Spirit.

                The Law could only show us our lost condition, but strangely enough we cannot reverse the situation by simply keeping the Law. If we could reverse the curse by simply keeping the Law, then Jesus would not have needed to come as Paul tells us in Galatians 2:21.

                Our problem is much deeper than not keeping the Ten Commandments. We fall short of the glory of God and no amount of law keeping can change that,( just as we saw in the example of the rich young ruler.) Falling short of the glory of God is an infinite problem which requires an infinite answer. We must receive Christ and learn to live by His Spirit and in doing so the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

                There are those who get this turned around. It is like, “If we keep the commandments then Jesus will reward us with His Spirit. But that is 100% wrong… for it is in receiving His Holy Spirit and walking in the power of that Holy Spirit that the law is fulfilled in us… not by turning to the Law, but by turning to Christ. So the Law points to a problem for which Jesus Christ is the only solution.

                The Scribes and Pharisees thought they had the Law under their control, especially as they had created all of their extra biblical laws in the Talmud to make sure the Law was kept in every particular. Instead they made the Law into a burden… a burden for which Jesus came into the world to rescue us.

                Those who live by the Spirit of God will not carry out the deeds of the flesh. The love of God will be shed abroad in our hearts and love then governs our actions in the world. As such the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to our flesh, but according to the Spirit and it is in that relationship that we are the sons of God. Romans 8:14.

                This is why Paul spoke to the Galatians with astonishment in his voice saying incredulously: “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

                Paul then goes on to say that the Law was a tutor to lead us to Christ so that we could be justified by faith and now that this faith has come we are no longer under a tutor.  We are now sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ and that faith and that life in Christ Jesus fulfills the Law in every particular.

                The writer of Hebrews in dealing with the Hebrew people, who had a hard time making this transition from Law to grace said: Therefore let us fear lest while a promise remains of entering His rest any one of us should come short of it. He then goes on to show them that when we enter into His Rest, we rest from our works even was God rested from His. This then is the rest to which the Sabbath of the Law pointed.

                But now for the 4th foundational point to which Zechariah 12 pointed and that is that in the last days, God would make the city of Jerusalem a cup of trembling and that the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. Israel today is at the center of earth’s last great battle and God had to literally gather the Jews from every nation in which they had been scattered and restore their nation and indeed their temple which is in its planning stages right now in order for this prophecy to be fulfilled.

                The stage is being set for earth’s final battle, for Jesus Christ is coming to rule the nations with a rod of iron, but before He arrives the Bible tells us than an imposter, an antichrist and a global beast system will be formed in the world that will literally have control of the finances of the world so that no one may buy or sell unless they comply with the beast system. This false system will fool many, even the very elect if possible and in fact we see many so called “Christians” going back to Rome to join with the harlot in her global religion. Should this not shock us? They are doing this right now, these ecumenical Christians that are abandoning the fundamental foundations of the Gospel in order to find peace and safety in numbers. Should we not be shocked and dismayed?

                These prophetic events could have happened at no other time in History, but now today it is all shaping up very quickly. The great falling is taking place even as we speak and the groundwork is being laid in Jerusalem for the arrival and reign of the antichrist.

1.       Israel is back in their land

2.       The global kingdom of the antichrist is being set up.

3.       The plans for the temple are underway

4.       Technology is now in place to control the buying and selling of each and every individual on this planet.

5.       Earths weather and its entire system is coming under tremendous strain in which God will soon shake not only the earth, but the heavens as well Hebrews 12:26-29

6.       And unfortunately, just as the Bible describes it, most even among believers have abandoned the study of Bible prophecy by which they could understand these events.  Like the Pharisees, their traditions have so distorted the truth that they have become blind to what is happening.

                These are indeed perilous times in which we must cling to God and to His word like never before. Jesus warned us that the religion of the Pharisees was not what Jesus came to bring.  The New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant. It is not a makeover of the Old Covenant. It is a completely new covenant that completely fulfills everything that the Old Covenant pointed forward to.

                 Our salvation is in Christ alone and it is the Holy Spirit of Christ that will both produce His love in our hearts as well as to govern our actions in this world. And it is in living by His Holy Spirit that we are being made into sons and daughters of God. He is making us His children from the inside out! Hallelujah!