A PERSONAL TESTIMONY TO HIS MAJESTY

A PERSONAL TESTIMONY TO HIS MAJESTY

                Now Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. HE existed before creation began, for it was through him that everything was made, whether spiritual or material, seen or unseen. Through him and for him also were created power and dominion, ownership and authority. In fact, every single thing was created through and for him. He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation. And now he is the head of the body which is the Church. Life from nothing began through him and life from the dead began through him and he is therefore justly called the Lord of all. It was in him that the full nature of God chose to live and through him god planned to reconcile in his own person, as it were, everything on earth and everything in Heaven by virtue of the sacrifice of the cross.” Colossians 1:15-20 (J.B. Phillips)

                In spite of the fact that I talk about obedience to God on many occasions, I want to testify concerning Jesus Christ My Savior. It is His righteousness alone that saves me. His righteousness both imputed and imparted to me is the basis of my justification and sanctification and there is nothing I can do to add to it and nothing that I can do to improve upon His infinite gift of salvation.

                As we can see from the above text, everything has been done by Him and for Him and through Him and until we fully understand this our Christian life will be something of a struggle to make up for whatever we perceive to be missing in Christ.  It is our lack of vision as to who Yeshua really is that we serve laws and rules and traditions instead of living in the vibrant and all-powerful flow of His Spirit.

                The fruit that I bear in my life is the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of my flesh. I am dead in my flesh for I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life, that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.

                As the Bible says, there is none righteous, no not one. So the only way into life for us is through death. We die to our weakness so that we may live by His strength.  If we have entered into that death by faith, then it is by faith in Jesus Christ that we now live.  If we serve as examples to anyone it is that we have put our full faith in Him and none in ourselves.

                When I was born again, I died to Adam’s fallen race and I was born again into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. By that new birth I have become an adopted child of God… and on that subject, it is interesting to note that according to Roman law in Paul’s day, a blood born son could be disowned by his family for whatever reason, but an adopted son could never be disowned for any reason. So when God adopts us through Jesus Christ, He adopts us for good, or for bad and He will do whatever is necessary to make us into honorable members of His royal family.

                This is the Gospel that I want to preach to the world and if I speak of obedience to God, I speak of it not as something we do to earn salvation, but because we ARE saved and as adopted sons we want to bring honor to our heavenly Father.

                While some people find the Old covenant and the New Covenants to be incompatible, I see them as very compatible when rightly understood. It is called rightly dividing the word of truth. The Old Covenant forms a physical foundation, for the spiritual truths of the New Covenant. The Old Covenant adds a depth of understanding to why God had to bring a New Covenant. The New covenant was not plan “B”. God has not been changing His mind about truth… Rather He has been building a case for the truth. In fact, He has been building foundation upon foundation in an ever growing revelation of His plans and purposes. To think otherwise is to think of God as less than He is.

                Law had to be laid first in order for us to understand grace, for Law is the basis of all judgment    and grace puts us out of reach of that judgment through death and resurrection with Jesus. Again I refer you to Colossians 1:15-20. Was this almighty all-knowing God conducting experiments on the human race, or was He laying groundwork that would render the Gospel irrefutable and historically irreplaceable?  (See Romans 11:11, 12) It is the Old Testament that proves who Yeshua really is and that is why on the road to Emmaus Yeshua taught them: “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:13. The Old Testament contains Yeshua’s credentials so to speak.

                We no longer live by the letter of the Law, but by the fruit of the Spirit. Law is written to the flesh, but we are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit just as Romans 8 teaches us. However, if we choose to live in the flesh then we are also under law.

                 Many claim to worship the Son of God, but when it comes right down to it, they cannot perceive God as being so all-powerful that He could have set the entire universe as a time clock in which He marks important times in history past, present and future, using the sun, moon and stars. In other words, God, in creating the heavens and the earth,  set the planetary mechanics in motion in such a way as to announce important events. The heavens declare His glory. Much of the church lies asleep while God performs His greatest miracles right before our eyes. Unfortunately we often worship the signs and symbols rather than the God who made them.

                I thank God for the wonderful salvation He has brought to us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. God has done all things through Christ, from creating the universe, to giving the Law on Sinai, to being born into the human race, to ascending to heaven to be our High Priest to His soon return as King of kings and Lord of lords.

                Everything about salvation is far above our ability to perform. Not even the angels could have had the power to save us. Only God in the Person of Jesus Christ could have done such an infinite thing. We must put our full faith and trust in Him. For by grace we have been saved through faith and that not of ourselves, lest anyone should boast. It is the gift of God.

                If we are saved, it is because God delivered us according to His sovereign will. If we have a hunger to understand His truth, it is because God placed that hunger in us. If we come to the foot of the cross, it is because He drew us there. If we repented of our sins, it was the love of God that brought us to repentance. “It is the grace of God that leads us to repentance.” How can we think ourselves better than someone else, given the fact that God snatched us out of a dark alley and made us His children?

                When I talk about God’s Moedim (Feast Days) or even the fact that God’s Remnant people are identified as those who keep the Commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus, it is with the understanding, not that we are saved by observing any of these things, but rather that the Holy Spirit produces His fruit in us unto salvation. These Feast Days only serve to provide understanding into God’s prophetic plans. God wants us on board with Him.

                Likewise the Ten Commandments are fulfilled in us by the fruit of the Holy Spirit and even the Sabbath finds its reality and true rest in Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” God gave us the day to rest… not as just one more rule to be kept.  If we don’t understand this then we are saying that the Holy Spirit is inadequate in our lives to guide us into all truth. If the fruit of the Spirit is not enough, then we are in trouble. But His Holy Spirit is more than adequate and it is His fruit that fulfills the law and it is His rest that fulfills the Sabbath, not the keeping of the day. These things are at best symbols of a greater truth which we can only enter into by faith. The Holy Spirit is the very life and essence of Christ implanted in us.

                It is human nature to think that the more we do for God, the more qualified we are to be saved. “If I just keep these rules and observe these days and study and pray enough; then God will accept me into His kingdom. But the truth is quite the opposite of our natural human thinking. We are saved by Yeshua’s great plan and purpose. We are saved by what He did… not by what we do.

                Just like the serpent that Moses held up on a pole before Israel… He didn’t ask the people to do three hail Marys, or to get their lives together. He only asked them to look and live. Why?   It is because Jesus took our sins upon Himself. He became the serpent. He literally became guilty. He became Satan so to speak. Think of the worst, most disgusting crime… say someone raping a seven year old little girl and then discarding her broken body in the woods never to be found again. Can we begin to get a picture of the guilt that was piled upon Yeshua’s head and how He must have detested it? Can we not see why He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” He knew why. It was the crushing load of our guilt that was literally forcing this impossible separation. For the first and only time in His life, Yeshua was terrified.

                So it is that as we enter by faith into Christ’s death that we find rest for our souls.  There is nothing we can do to add to that death. Like the children of Israel all we can do is to look and live. It is in His great sacrifice and death that we too, enter into His rest.

                As Hebrews 4 teaches us, Israel kept the Sabbaths, but they never entered His rest, for as verse 10 tells us: “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from His.” Many therefore have turned the Sabbath into a work of the Law, rather than rest in Christ. Our rest is not found in the observance of a Sabbath day. It is found in Christ.

                We will not have rest as long as we think that we can add something to the salvation that Jesus Christ brought to us through the shedding of His blood. Through the cross we are set free from the Law, to serve another, that is Christ. Study Romans chapters 7 and 8 very carefully. Study the book of Galatians very carefully, for to the extent that we find ourselves in conflict with Romans 7 and 8 and in conflict with the book of Galatians, to that extent we do not yet understand the Gospel.

                Remember: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14.

                Like I said, it is our human nature to think that by observing New Moons and Sabbaths and appointed feasts of the Lord that we become more qualified to be saved. But this is not true. It is only by Christ’s work for us and in us that we are saved.

                And now we know why Paul followed up His statement in Col. 1: 15-20 by saying in Col. 2:16, 17: “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; BUT THE SUBSTANCE BELONGS TO CHRIST.”

                It is not that we ignore New Moons or Sabbaths or festivals which the Lord has given us: After all, they were set into creation by the very Creator Himself. Even the sun, moon and stars testify of God’s mighty acts, but we don’t worship the sun, moon, or stars; we worship the God who made them. Likewise this principle applies to all that God has given us as symbols of His creation and His salvation… that we might worship Him and Him alone.

                So both for those who ignore God’s appointed times and those who observe them, the case may be the same. Their God is too small… and so they feel that they must do something to further qualify for His great salvation and so He speaks thusly:

                “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and  whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Romans 8:29-31.

                We should drop to our knees every day and gush with thanksgiving that God looked down through time and He chose us even before He created the world. Think about it.

                You had nothing to do with it. He predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son and to reign with Him in His coming kingdom. Don’t strive for it. Instead, rest in it and trust that what He has begun in you He will finish. Keep your eyes upon Him and He will bring it to pass.

                Let the Spirit of Christ grow much bigger in you today, so that you can see the majesty of His greatness at work in your life.  Stop picking on His Word as if you could add a single scintilla of truth to it. Let His finished work rule and reign over your life today. Keep your eyes on Him. What He has started in you… He will finish.