IN THE SHADOW OF LOVE

This morning my lover embraced me and showered me with sweetness and fellowship.  My husband did too.

Ok, I knew that would get your attention.

In truth, my husband and my love becomes so much more beautiful, romantic and sweet the closer we grow to each other in grace, through fellowship with God's Valentine to us - Jesus Christ.  It's sharing on the deepest level.  I'm certain that is why in Genesis 4 and numerous OT passages, the inspired words were "Adam KNEW his wife....and conceived." It's so much more than just the sex...it's a far more intimate spiritual connection and union that expresses itself in the physical.  Adam knew Eve after their nakedness was revealed and covered by grace.  Their sexual union now became the concealed shadow of being rejoined spiritually, the foreshadow of Christ and his church. 

As I read from Exodus 29 and 30 this morning, the shadows of the Old Testament leapt out again.  The enormous detail God dictated regarding the sacrifice caused me to think, "there must be a reason - what am I missing?"  So I went back to my study, Seeing Christ in the Tabernacle by Ervin Hershberger, as a source, and peeled back yet another layer of onion skin.

This time, the layer revealed that Christ's resurrection took place the same month and day that the Bible TELLS us the Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat.  I emphasize TELLS because wouldn't this be the reason God would give us the date???  It blew me away that the OT Jews who studied God's word so meticulously missed the fact that Jesus resurrected on the exact same day the Ark rested.  If Jesus is our Ark, through him we enter that Sabbath rest (it's a state, which is another study altogether) and celebrate new beginnings.

It makes sense to me that as believers we have already entered into that rest and now Sunday is our day of fellowship, our "Pentecost" - new beginnings, the first day of the week.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread...  Acts 20:7.

We are not looking for that rest - it has begun (for my family out there, gives new meaning to our song, "We've Only Just Begun....").

In reading further, I thought it was beautiful how, before instituting the Passover, God demonstrated He was making all things new by taking the last half of the Hebrew civil calendar and making it the beginning:

This month [Abib] shall be unto you the beginning of months:  it shall be the first month of the year to you.   Ex. 12:2

I immediately thought, "no wonder Jesus said to the laborers in the garden in Matt. 20:16, "So the last shall be first, and the first last." Abib became the first month of the sacred calendar.  The same month the Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat.  The same month Jesus rose, victorious over the sin (and as mom pointed out that Aaron's rod, as a serpent, swallowed up Pharoah's magicians' serpents, synonymous with "death is swallowed up in victory! everything is a picture for those who have eyes to see!)

At this point, I decided to check out the Jewish Calendar section in my Bible.  Well, I couldn't find Abib.  Turns out Abib was changed to Nisan.  WHY?  WHEN?

I should have kept reading because the answers were ahead, but God was making my study personal, making me ask questions (and any teacher will know a student assimilates best their instruction when they can formulate questions).  I likely would have missed the point, like I did in so many previous readings.

Abib became re-termed Nisan during the Babylonian Captivity. The significance of that blew me away.  First off, God never told them to change the name to Nisan as far as I can tell.  It was adopted from the Babylonian's term for the month!  Imagine that!  Remember they went into captivity in Babylon for idolatry and failing to keep the Sabbath!  Talk about idolatry! Subsequently, God's first sacred month was disguised to future generations.  Henceforward, unless they had eyes to see when they searched the scriptures and understood that Nisan was in fact Abib, they would fail to connect the Sabbath rest with its fulfillment.  The repeated use of Nisan rather than Abib shows a disconnect. Another shadow or picture that we must be born again to see the kingdom of God....or enter the Sabbath rest. Their sin took them into captivity in Babylon where Satan was God's instrument in blinding their eyes to Christ's very fulfillment of the Sabbath rest.   

I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live.  Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Ezekiel 20:11-12

Sanctify My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. Ezekiel 20:20

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Matthew 12:8

Because they kept not the Sabbaths, they failed to see Christ was the Lord who sanctifies them.  Christ IS the Sabbath rest.  

Is it any coincidence that the Lord said in Matthew 16:4,

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

A sign so obvious, so, shall we say, "headline newsworthy" -

JONAH, THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF A WHALE, VOMITED ONTO SHORE.

but, do we see the sign?  Is it so obvious, we don't see it?

JESUS, THREE DAYS AFTER BURIAL, SWALLOWS DEATH UP IN VICTORY, THE FIRST FRUIT OF ALL WHO ENTER THE SABBATH REST.

I pray the Word of God would embrace you today, that you would discover the riches of his glory, the enormity of his grace, and fall in love.

FULLY REDEEMED

Mom and I have lately been listening on the "boob tube" to an old bible teacher, Les Feldick, out of Oklahoma.  Admittedly some points he brings out I disagree with, but, more often than not, his utter simplicity evokes complex thought and discussion between us.  Much like the gospel really.  "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple."  Ps. 19:7.  

Today's discussion prompted such examinations.  Les pointed to his diagram on the chalkboard (yes, a chalkboard - I told you he was old....82 to be exact and still preaching the word of God!)  He had drawn the familiar three concentric circles:  body, soul, spirit and through them presented the very simple gospel.  I stress simple because we Christians know that its simplicity confounds the wise, yet in truth, the gospel is more complex than any subject we might ever study: the very reason why the 10 commandments become the 200 gazillion do's and dont's of explaining them.  

Likewise complex is the spirit and the soul.  All of us know how very difficult it is to explain the difference between the two.  What are they?  Our emotions?  Our thoughts?  How do you explain a "spirit"?  We can see neither.  God tells us how intertwined the soul and spirit are, how dependent upon each other.  Hebrews 4:12 says "the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  The Mayo Clinic states that previously it was thought that bone marrow stem cells could only give rise to blood cells, but now they are thinking that bone marrow stem cells may be able to create at least muscle cells.  How intertwined the marrow is to the joint.  Yet God's word is so sharp it can divide the soul from the spirit as easily as it can the joint from the marrow.  

In this, I see a picture of one prompting the next.  The spirit moves me to think or feel something (soul), which moves me to do something (body).  I see it as the spirit directs, the soul processes, the body acts.  Proverbs 3:27 says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is,"  (an important variation to René Descartes, "I think, therefore I AM.")  But I would finish it with, "as a man is, so he does."  

I'll make brief here Les Feldicks' points as relates to the gospel as I understand them.  

Every aspect of our being was involved in the curse.  

The spirit.  Now we are confused.  We know both good and evil and both direct our thought processes.  The soul.  What we think and feel are now affected by what we give place to.  

The body.  What we act out is now directed by the former two. 

Romans 3:23  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (spirit, soul, body)

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:  for there is no difference

Ephesians 4:22 Ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

Romans 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.  

Romans 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

John 12:24 Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Romans 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness

If you do a careful reading of the verses above, you'll see that redemption comes full circle.  The spirit that gave Eve direction, caused her to contemplate, and resulted in her wrongful action is totally reversed in the work of Christ where he redeems our Spirit, renews our mind and resurrects our flesh.  Right now we consider ourselves dead to the flesh, but death in total is the last enemy to be conquered.  Since we as Christians have already died so to speak, we can in confidence, say "oh death, where is your sting!"  for we know to live is Christ, but to die is gain.  That's why we can say we are FULLY REDEEMED!  

In light of all this (and I hope that you've followed my convoluted thinking!), it caused me to consider how powerful all the symbols of the Bible are:  marriage, a symbol of Christ and the Church; truth, a shield and buckler; good Shepherd, Jesus; the Ark of the Covenant, Jesus' death, burial and resurrection; communion, Christ's death; baptism, our entrance into the gospel covenant, and on and on.  

I reread the scripture about the kernel of wheat falling to the ground and unless it dies....  and it bothered me.  I know that it is speaking of the spiritual, yet I couldn't help but think that it also was symbolic of hope, and I suddenly thought perhaps cremation is not acceptable to me as a Christian.  I know, I know.  My kids all say, "yes, but doesn't it say, 'dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.'?"  It does.  Yet, as Les Feldick said [paraphrased], "you can leave a seed on a shelf or keep it in a bag, but unless you bury it in the soil, it will not bring forth fruit!"  As I mulled over this, I thought, "yes! and that burial represents my hope that my body shall be resurrected in Christ at some future time." To not bury it, is to state to those mourning my departure that I don't have that hope.  

It's easy in this death-denying world to "outsource" our deaths, but, honestly, being with my father at his death was one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever witnessed.  Without considering it the least bit morbid, I easily could have wrapped his body in linen and anointed him with oil and precious herbs for burial just as easily as it would be as a mother to clean and anoint my newly born child for life.  His burial was so important...and respectful...for the children to see: a visible connection to the cycle of birth and death.  Something so few children see today, even in a garden or lack thereof!  Clearly it makes one examine their own life and mortality.  Contrary to somber, my father's death was a celebration - a time to talk of the hope of resurrection, the hope of being reunited, the hope of Christ's victory over death and our being FULLY REDEEMED.

What do you think?

1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Look to Me and Live!

Why are there so many hypocritical Christians? (oh, and I'm not one of them! ha!)

How can anyone believe in a God that condemns? 

How can some just believe in a God that loves?

How can I have faith in a faithless world?

I don't know pat answers to these questions, but I do know a God who speaks through His word over and over again.  Same stories, different "I get it!" moments.  Different not because He is, but because I am ever changing, ever coming to a knowledge of the truth.  

One such moment happened today as I grappled with those questions thrown at me.  I didn't have answers, but I did get a clearer picture of one biblical event with apparent answers to every question - the one where Moses is told to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.  (Numbers 21:8)  

First off, the Israelites were the hypocritical followers.  They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul hates this light bread;" or, "now that I'm following you, I can't have anything that satisfies my old appetite!"  Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people and many died.  It was commented that, "yeah, see, that's the God I'm talkin' about:  the one that punishes all the time!" and I thought, "yeah, and that's just the problem with punishment, it infers that I can do the time, pay the crime, but in reality, I can't!  Death is at my doorstep - not punishment.  There is nothing, no nothing, I can do to save my life -  once bitten, I die; it's not punishment, folks, it's death.  

But God had a remedy:  make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole - look at it, and LIVE!  

Didn't Christ in John 3:14 compare His death to this very act??? 
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."

 I thought, "isn't it strange that He didn't say, 'as Moses lifted up the staff with the serpent on it, I must be lifted up?'"  No!  He compared himself to the serpent!  Because the first step of the cross is to look upon our sin! Which by the way is drawing us to look....  We can't run away; we can't hide.  We must face it!  We must understand that SIN IS DEATH.  I can't paint a pretty picture that, "oh, God is love...."  No, He demands we look upon our sin and.....LIVE!  The opposite of what we'd think:  if I hadn't faced my sin, I'd DIE!  

Now I can philosophize this and become your psychotherapist and say, "you must face your weaknesses," much like the first step of AA is "My name is >>>> and I am an alcoholic," but that is not enough.  And that is why so many people are stuck on feeling condemned, run away from God because they feel condemned, or never have victory over their sin...all they've recognized is sin,  not the Savior who became sin for us.  Thus, when we first come to that place of seeing sin for what it is, many shrink and feel condemned like so many do, and die. ... or we can recognize that he took my sin upon Himself - becoming sin for me. 

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor. 5:21 That is where belief comes in.  Faith.  He has become sin.  He has freed me from death.  He is a God who loves.  I am not condemned. 

"Look to me and live!"

Faith in a faithless world. Life amongst the dead. Will you be deathly satisfied with the sin.....or safely delivered with the Savior?