Category: throne room thoughts

Wise home builders — Eve

The wisest of women builds her house, (she saves her household with her wisdom) but folly (lack of good sense or judgment) tears it down with her own hands”     ~ Proverbs 14:1

Yesterday I began a blog post series on “A Woman’s Purpose”  entitled Wonder Woman.  God created us as women in His image and likeness.  I didn’t grow up with that understanding.  I didn’t grow up in church, so everything I knew about a woman’s purpose came either from TV or from observing my parents relationship.

My dad was a good man.  A good provider and protector of his family.  He was however extremely chauvinistic and domineering.  My mom, while she was a strong woman, she was very submissive.  That was what the expected roles in marriage. They grew up in an era where women didn’t have many career options, and in marriage, the man was the supreme head of the house… there was no equality.   I, on the other hand, grew up in the era of Mary Tyler Moore, Charlie’s Angels, and Laverne & Shirley… all independent women who had freedom, careers and no husband to submit to.

So, not surprisingly, I wanted a life different from my mom’s.  I moved out on my own at 19 because all of those women in the tv shows lived on their own. I wanted a career, and I didn’t want to get married until I was 30… after becoming self-sufficient, living a life that I wanted…. having freedom and not being told what to do by a domineering husband.  

I believed that women kind of got the short end of the stick.  That our purpose was to live a life of submission… never questioning our husband’s absolute authority or decisions.  I realize now that God created us in His image and likeness…. that we are as Proverbs 31 calls us “virtuous women” or “women of excellence”.  

Proverbs 31 became very special to me in my late 20’s.  Steve (my husband) read it to me before we started “officially” dating and told me that it described me.  In his eyes, I was the Proverbs 31 woman.  Of course, after marriage and babies, I began to have a love/hate relationship with the Proverbs 31 woman.  It seemed so far out of reach…. this woman appeared to be a type of wonder woman!  Unattainable for someone like me!! It seemed like I was always falling so short and that God had set the bar too high for me.  It looked like a domestic checklist, and I wasn’t exactly Martha Stewart!

But then God began to give me the revelation that it is a picture of who I was created to be and it’s how He sees me “now”…… not someday when I get it all together.

Phil 1:6:  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you (me….Robin) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

There are 150 words in Hebrew in this poem (Proverbs 31).  The word “female” in Hebrew is nekeiva (nun-kuf-beit-hei).  This number, when represented by Hebrew letters, is nun kuf (the first two letters o the word female in Hebrew).  The last two letters in the Hebrew word female is beit hei which is a spelling for the Hebrew word “bah” which means “within her”..  literally 150 in her.

So, the word for female, nekeiva, can be read as “150 within her.”   All the words, all the meaning, all the potential and all the beauty of the 150 words is within us as women.  I don’t have to strive to become this woman, it’s already in me waiting for me to walk in the revelation of it.  We are right now fully equipped by God to be what our husbands need to excel and to prosper as men of God. 

In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, there is a scene where the two older women are talking to the younger woman about their power/strength as a woman.  They tell her that “the woman, she is the neck and she turns the head whichever direction she chooses.”  While it’s funny, there is truth to it.   We as women are the neck… either to manipulate it by turning it the direction “we” choose or to be the support system that allows the “head” (our husbands) to function in full mobility.

The term “woman of valor” is only used in the Old Testament to describe Ruth. There are, however, other women in the Bible who were beautiful women of excellence in their families.  They were wise builders of their homes… protecting the seed.. securing their future generations.  Hating evil and loving righteousness.  Respectfully opposing their husbands when the need arose to protect the direction of God in their lives.

One of those women is Eve.  I know, I know we tend to only remember that she sinned and caused the fall of man in the Garden.  She chose to believe the enemy instead of God.  But after leaving the Garden, Eve held on to what God said in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This was her promise!  A seed would come forth from her…. a seed that would hate evil and love righteousness.  A deliverer would come from her!

  • She held onto the promise of God and spoke it forth…

Genesis 4:1 reveals to us that when she gave birth to Cain, she had the promise of God before her….. she knew she had acquired this child from the Lord.  She sounds like she fully expected that the promise was fulfilled when she had her first child.  Here was the offspring that would crush the enemies head!

Hebrews 10:23 tells us to “hold fast to the hope set before us”…. Eve was doing just that by naming the son Cain.  The name Cain basically meant “I’ve got him” or “here he is.” Most likely Eve thought that Cain was the seed that God promised, the deliverer who would come from Eve.

Obviously, this didn’t prove to be true.  But Eve continued to believe……

  • She persevered with what God had said even after she was wrong the first time

When Cain killed Abel her expectations of the “promised seed” came to naught. Later, when she bore Seth she exclaimed, “For God has appointed another seed.”  She held fast to hope of the promise.

With Cain, she was expressing her faith in God’s promise.  In Hebrew, it reads kaniti ish et-Adonai, “I have gotten a man – namely, the Lord“.  This expressed her hope that this child would be the promised Deliverer in the flesh form of a man.  At some point, she noticed the differences between her sons.  She would’ve noticed that Abel, not Cain, was a lover of righteousness.  Perhaps he was the seed.  After he is murdered her hope is restored through the birth of Seth.

She said of Seth, “God has appointed me another seed, instead of Abel”  She seemed to have an understanding when she gave birth to Seth that God had assigned another seed for her.  The promised Deliverer would not be brought forth from her but rather she would give birth to an appointed seed.   And that seed that would produce a lineage that would one day give birth to the Deliverer.

The next couple of verses in chapter 4 tell us that through Seth’s descendant’s men began calling on the Name of the Lord.  They had faith in God as the Faithful One…. keeping His covenant promise with them.   And they began proclaiming who He was in their lives.

Eve was a wise builder of her home… of her future generations.  She is a beautiful example to us of a woman with steadfast faith. A woman of excellence…. directing her family in the promises of God.  She looked ahead to Christ and His redemption of mankind.

Are you holding on to the promises of God… holding fast to hope?  Speaking out His promises over your families lives?  Even when you miss it….. continuing steadfast until you see the manifestation of it?  

Next blog post we’ll look at Sarah 

~ Robin

Wonder Woman

This is the first in a series of blog posts about “A Woman’s Purpose.”  It’s important that as women we see ourselves as God sees us… as He created us to be.  A couple of weeks ago my daughters (both young women now) told me that I was a combo of Wonder Woman and Belle (on Beauty and the Beast).  Great compliment from my girls.  They see me as strong and powerful and yet at the same time compassionate and kind.  I love that!

We are Daddy’s girls.  We belong to Him.  He took special care in creating us… each of us uniquely reflecting Him.

When we can begin to see ourselves through our Daddy’s eyes we will fulfill our destiny as women of God… Kingdom women.  And as a result, our marriages, families, churches, cities, and nation will all be stronger because of it.

true beauty

 

Because there is nothing more beautiful than a woman who knows who she is IN CHRIST.

We are beautiful, powerful and created on purpose as women!

 

We were created with a purpose..….

  • to reflect the image of God… His glory!
  • to have dominion… dominion is when a person uses their influence to cause those under them to flourish.
  • to be a life giver… Adam called his wife Eve which means “the life-giving one.”  We are to release life….
    • One of the ways we release life is through our words
      • Prov 18:21 “death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
      • Romans 4:17 “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

God loves His daughters.  He created us differently than He created men.  He took great care with us!  We are the grand finale of His creation… His masterpiece…. His pièces de résistance!!

In Genesis 2:20-22 God creates a suitable helpmeet for Adam.  Woman was “built” not formed like Adam was.  Formed means to press and form into shape as a potter does with clay.  Built is to be “skillfully formed”.…it’s an architectural plan or pattern, including all the details of arrangement and decoration.

According to Jewish tradition, “The woman came out of a man’s rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.”

Our Daddy has a special love for His girls. He wrote an entire Proverb about us women to show us what we look like in His eyes.   I used to not like Proverbs 31 because it seemed like such an unattainable goal!!  How could I possibly be all those things that this woman is??   But God didn’t give us a picture of a woman that we couldn’t be!  He didn’t even give us a picture of a woman we should strive to become.  What He did give us in this picture of the Proverbs 31 woman is a picture of a woman we already are…. what He sees when He looks at us.  

We don’t have to strive to become this woman… she is not an ideal that we are trying to achieve.  All her qualities are already in us waiting for us to walk in it.  The Proverbs 31 woman in the Hebrew is described like this…. “who can find powerful, mighty, vailiant woman?”….  Synonyms for these 3 words include wielding power, superhuman, influential, strong, unafraid and brave.  Wow!

proverbs 31

This woman in its simplest translation is a warrior.  God is saying with this Proverb… this is who you are woman of God!!  Powerful, mighty, brave, strong, and influential.  The reason we don’t walk in these characteristics or see ourselves like this is because we’ve allowed others to tell us who we are.. we’ve allowed they’re negative words to shape us and to define us.

It’s time we start allowing the Word to mold us into the women He has called us to be.  A great place to find out who we were created to be is to go back to Genesis.

Adam was incomplete without her.  The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. NIV Gen 2:18…  we were created as a “good” thing… as something good for men.  Someone to help him and someone suitable for him.

ezer kenegdo

 

Helper in this verse is a weak translation… it’s more powerful in the original Hebrew.. it means to be a life saver.  In Hebrew suitable helper is ezer kenegdo.  The word “ezer” is a combination of two words meaning to rescue or to save and also meaning to be strong.  Literally an aid, a help, a guard, and a protector.  One who offers assistance…. a kind of ”wall builder” or “gate keeper”.

Helper, or “ezer”, is not an inferior role to a man.  God Himself is called our Helper (or our Ezer).  Ezer describes aspects of God’s character – He is our strength, our rescuer, our protector, and our help!   And this was His word choice to describe us as women.  We were made to be a vessel of the “ezer” strength of God.  It is a remarkable thing to co-labor with Him as women….. as a helper even as God is our Helper.

The word suitable is “kenegdo” in Hebrew and means “what is in front of” and also “according to” and translates as equal and adequate to himself or similar.  God made a ‘power’ or ‘strength’ [ an ezer] for the man who would in every way ‘correspond to him’ who would ‘be his equal’.  Who would be a  source of strength to him on the same level, face-to-face

“Ezer” is used to describe a warrior who continually fights for the right and who is never intimidated by evil or by darkness…..a warrior on behalf of God’s kingdom, joining the man in battling the darkness, advancing God’s kingdom, and watching his back.  She was never designed to just be “man’s assistant.”  Ezer is a military image… a shield, a defense.  She is the man’s intercessor, she is his shield and defense in battle.  She is to guard his relationship with God, support him when he embraces God’s direction and respectfully oppose him when he does not.

But what about women who aren’t married?  What does it mean to be a helpmate if you are single?  An Ezer is not a wife.. “ezer” is a helper… a shield, a defense.  An ezer is one who comes alongside another and brings strength to others.

Proverbs 14:1  The wisest of women builds her house, (she saves her household with her wisdom) but folly (lack of good sense or judgment) tears it down with her own hands”.  

How does a wise woman build her house?  Remember she’s a kind of wall builder or gate keeper…She guards and protects her family… including her future generations.  She “builds” in them the Kingdom of God….she builds in them a love for righteousness and a hatred of evil.

Romans 13:12 says, we must wake up, rise up, remember who we are, and confront the evil in this world with light.  It’s time as women to wake up and rise up.  To know who we are IN CHRIST.  To walk in the Light declaring that evil has no access to our homes or our future generations.

Let’s go back again to Genesis.  Why did Satan approach Eve instead of Adam?  Remember as an ezer, Eve was Adam’s protector… his help and rescuer.  She was the gatekeeper.  Adam was right there with her… the Hebrew implies he was close enough to touch her.   Satan knew if he could deceive Eve, he could get to Adam

After the fall… God curses the serpent in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Enmity means to be an enemy; to hate as one of an opposite tribe; to be hostile.  God, in essence, said to the serpent.  “Women will be your enemy.  They will hate you and be hostile toward you from this day forward.  Furthermore, the hostility women have toward you will be reproduced in everyone they give birth to and one day a woman will give birth to the Savior of the world who will stomp on your head so hard it will bruise His heel.”

God put hostility or hatred between the serpent and the woman.  Between in the Hebrew comes from a word meaning discernment.  It’s going to take discernment on our part as women to recognize when the enemy is in our midst and trying to wreak havoc in our homes.  Discernment is keen perception or judgment.  It is to understand the plans, intent, thought or motive. Discernment goes beyond the obvious to hear the spirit

Discernment is keen perception or judgment.  It is to understand the plans, intents, thoughts or motives of another. Discernment goes beyond the obvious and hears the spirit behind things that are said or done.

rooted in christ

To grow in discernment, we need to be renewing our minds in the Word of God… getting the mind of Christ functioning in our minds.. to be guided by His thoughts, purposes, and intents;

 

There are some women in the Bible that were wise builders of their homes… protecting the seed.. their future generations.  Hating evil and loving righteousness and making sure their families walked securely.

In my next few blog posts, we’ll look at some of those women.

~ Robin

Which Law did God write​ on our hearts?

“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”  ~ Hebrews 10:16

In a Bible study, I recently started attending it seemed like you had only 2 options…. antinomian (against the Law – basically hyper-grace) or a mix of law and grace (saved by grace but relying on the Law to keep us holy – specifically 10 commandments).  I guess if those are my two options, then I must be antinomian.  Though personally, I prefer the term “IN CHRIST” because in Christ we are no longer under the Law (Galatians 3:24).  I am definitely against the idea of following the Old Covenant Mosaic Law as a moral compass.  I tackled that issue in yesterday’s blog post 10 Commandments.    

law hearts 1

I do know quite a few people who believe that the law God has written on our new hearts as believers is the Old Covenant Law, making it easier to walk out.  Why would God write the Mosaic Law on our hearts?  All that the Law did was arouse sinful passions (Romans 7:5).  Also, Romans 7:4 says that we died to the Law through Christ and we are now married to Him.  So, if it’s not the Mosaic Law on our hearts.  Which law did He write?  According to Hebrews 10:16 He wrote laws (plural) on our hearts and our minds.  I’ve found 4 different laws mentioned in the New Testament.

The Law of Love

Under the Mosaic Law, love was commanded in order to receive the blessings of long life, many children and for life to go well for you.  Failure to obey this command of love would obviously result in not attaining those things.  Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”  This is impossible to fulfill in ourselves!  No one can love God with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We try… we give it our best shot… but that is an impossibility in and of ourselves.  But of course that was the purpose of the Old Covenant laws… they were meant to point us to Christ.  To awaken in us the revelation that we in our selves… in our flesh… we cannot walk out or obey these laws… we need a Savior. 

Under the new covenant of grace, Love is given to you.  Out of Christ’s measureless love, we are now able to love others.  It’s out of the overflow of His Love in us.  It’s not something we have to work up in ourselves towards others or even towards God.  Romans 5:5 tells us God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. God abundantly poured His love into our hearts by giving us the Holy Spirit, … the Spirit of Grace.  Jesus said, “As I have loved you” – it’s out of His love that is in us that we are able to love.   Do you see the difference between the old and new?  Under the old, you loved others because you feared punishment…. you feared not receiving His blessings, His promises.   But under the new, you love because the Lover lives in you and His nature is Love.  He can’t be anything else.  It’s not just an adjective that describes Him, it is who He is (1 Jn 4:8)

The law of the Spirit of life

The Old Covenant was a written code no one could keep (except Jesus) and the New Covenant is Christ Himself living in you.  Paul told us in Romans 7:24 that trying to keep the Old Law makes you frustrated and miserable… “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”  Notice he didn’t say what will rescue me but rather Who… Who will rescue me?  And the answer was….Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 7:24-25a).  The old law is a what but the new law is a Who.  The old law ministers condemnation and death (2 Cor 3:7-9), but the new law of the Spirit gives life (Rom 8:2).  The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6)  So Who gives life… Who rescued from the frustration of trying to keep the Law?  The Spirit of Christ within you. 

The perfect law of liberty

James wrote that “the perfect law gives freedom” (James 1:25).  In contrast, Romans 7:6 tells us that the law of Moses binds.  What is the perfect law that gives freedom?

It’s Jesus, the living Word who set us free.  The perfect law of liberty describes what Jesus has done (perfectly fulfilled or completed the law) and the fruit He will bear in our lives (liberty) if we trust him.

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:25)

Look into the mirror of Moses’ law and you will be miserable, for it exposes all your faults… your weaknesses in serving God in the flesh.  It is like putting a veil over your eyes and you are unable to see that Jesus fulfilled it all not just for you… but as you!  Looking into the perfect law, which is Jesus, blesses you because it reveals his righteousness.

But it also says “Don’t just listen but do what it (the perfect law of liberty) says” (James 1:22). In other words, allow the Spirit of Christ to convince you that in Him you are righteous and holy. Don’t walk away from the perfect law and forget who you are in Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Look intently with an unveiled face and be transformed into his likeness.

Law of faith

Romans 3:27 says Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.  God is a faith God.  Without faith, it’s impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6), so our relationship with the Lord is dependent on it. Faith is what brings the things God has provided for us from the spiritual realm into the physical realm (Heb. 11:1). Our faith is the victory that enables us to overcome the world (1 John 5:4). Everything the Lord does for us is accessed through faith.

And He has given to us His faith…. Galatians 2:20 says “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  We live our lives by His faith.  Paul did not say that he lived by faith IN the Son of God but by the faith OF the Son of God. The measure of faith that Paul had was the same measure that Jesus had. It was Jesus’ faith. If there is only one measure of faith (Rom. 12:3), then we also have the faith of Jesus.

We don’t have to wonder if we have enough faith for something… or try to work up our faith.  He gives us His faith to live by.  How do we access this faith? Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We access God’s faith through His Word.  When we hear God’s Word, the Holy Spirit empowers it, and if we receive the truth, God’s supernatural faith enters us.

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that faith is a fruit of the Spirit.  Faith becomes a permanent part of our born-again spirits.  There is no lack of faith within any true Christian. There is just a lack of knowing and using what God has already given us.  Philemon 1:6 says, “hat the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Notice that Paul isn’t praying that Philemon will get something more from the Lord. He was praying that his faith would begin to work as he acknowledged what he already had. The word “acknowledge” means, “to admit, recognize, or report the receipt of.” You can only acknowledge something that you already have. We already have the faith of God, and it will begin to work when we acknowledge this.

Why would we want the Old Covenant Law written on our hearts?  It is a ministry of death and condemnation.  The New Covenant of grace and it’s laws that are written on our hearts is a ministry of life.  The Spirit of Life abides in us and teaches us all things.  He transforms us into the image of the Son.  The Old Mosaic Law was made obsolete…. Hebrews 8:13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete.  Colossians 2:14 tells us that it was nailed to the Cross.  Ephesians 2:15 tells us that in His incarnation, He rendered the entire Jewish system of laws and regulations useless as a measure to justify human life and conduct.  Hebrews 8:7 says that if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant there would’ve been no need for a second covenant to replace it.  

We don’t need the Old Covenant Law to show us how to live holy lives.  First of all, we have already been made holy — 1 Corinthians 1:30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.  In Christ, we are righteous, holy and free from sin!  That’s good news!  Second of all, Titus 2:11-12 says that grace, not Law is what we need to teach us how to live holy — For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Now that Jesus has come, we no longer need the supervision of the law.  So begin today to live a grace-filled life… standing fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, not becoming entangled again with a yoke of bondage to the Law and it’s commandments. (Galatians 5:1).  

~ Robin

SaveSave

10 Commandments – a ministry of death and condemnation

But if the ministration of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!  ~ 2 Cor 3:7-9

what-are-ten-commandments_833_460_80_c1

A couple of months ago I joined a Bible study at our church and the study is on the book of Romans.  As much as I love teaching, I also really enjoy being a student and learning from someone else…. and I LOVE studying the book of Romans!!  Although I have to admit, this Bible study hasn’t been my favorite.  I love the women in it and especially their hungry hearts to know the Word BUT I’m not a big fan of the type of study we’re doing.  It’s a Bible study curriculum from a well known Bible teacher… but it’s just that a mainstream curriculum is not my favorite way to study the Word.

The past couple of months we have been studying chapters 6, 7 & 8 and because those chapters deal a lot with the subject of the Mosaic Law, our study has mostly centered around the Law and specifically, what place it has in our lives after we’re saved.  I was surprised that although most Christians consider themselves living under grace, they still love having the Law as a guideline for living righteously.  In fact in this Bible study, I attend, the teacher called the Law (specifically the 10 commandments) our moral compass.  And YET Paul said you cannot mix the two…. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works (law); if it were, grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:6)

As believers, we would all agree that following the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law is not necessary because we are not under Law but under grace (Romans 6:14).  Yet we consider the 10 commandments (which are a part of the Mosaic Law) God’s standard for right living as a Christian and a good thing for us to adhere to.  Our concept of victorious Christian living is to avoid wrong actions and do right ones.

But Paul referred to the 10 commandments as a ministry of death and condemnation in 2 Corinthians 3:7-9.  In this verse, he is specifically contrasting the 10 commandments (tablets of stone) and grace….. “the letter kills”, “the ministry of death” and “the ministry of condemnation” versus “the Spirit gives life”, the ministry of the Spirit … more glorious” and “the ministry of righteousness exceeds more in glory”.  He called it a ministry of condemnation because all who looked upon the holy demands were condemned as law-breakers.

He is not denying the power of the commandments, as evidenced by Romans 7:12, “Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”  He does, however, deny that the believer has anything to benefit by knowing those commandments.  To Timothy, Paul states, “But we know that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…” (1 Timothy 1:8, 9). Notice that the law is not for the righteous man, and you and I are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God gave the 10 commandments along with the other 613 commandments known as the Mosaic Law to the Israelites (the Jewish people) not the Gentiles.  We (the church) were Gentiles who were grafted in as believers.  We were never meant to live under any part of the Law but only under grace.  Galatians 3:24 tells us that the Law was a tutor to bring us unto Christ so that we might be justified by faith.  And after faith came we would no longer be under the tutor of Law.  Galatians 3:19 says that the law was given to “shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”  

But it wasn’t God’s original plan for the Israelites to live under the Law either…. they were always meant to live under a covenant of grace based on faith.  In Exodus 19:5-6 God spoke through Moses to the people and said “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’”  The people responded together, “We will do everything the LORD has commanded.”  

Notice God said, “keep My covenant.” What covenant?  In Exodus 2:24 it says God heard their groaning and He remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  It was His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So God gave the 10 commandments along with the rest of the Law to the children of Israel in Exodus chapters 20-23.  And the covenant…. the promise that was given to Abraham was postponed. The children of Israel now entered a new covenant called the covenant of Moses.  A covenant which required man’s participation in the area of obedience… it rested completely on man’s ability to keep/obey the conditions of the covenant. 

The covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the covenant that rested totally on what God would do. It was a covenant of pure belief.  It was God plus nothing…. God made the covenant with Himself and Abraham was simply the beneficiary of that covenant.   It was purely a grace covenant… not a mixture of law and grace.  God’s blessings to Abraham’s family was based on His promises alone, not their obedience.  When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God treated them with grace instead of as they deserved.  They were constantly murmuring and complaining but at every place they encamped in the wilderness, grace was available to them.  In fact, the word encampment in the Hebrew means “grace”…. but that’s for another blog post!

At Mt Sinai everything changed, the people now wanted to participate by doing instead of just “being”.  They said to God “whatever You say we will do.” It sounds like a good response, a right response to a Holy God.  But it wasn’t.  It was a presumptuous response rooted in self-effort, not in faith.  They replaced the covenant of rest with the covenant of laboring.  They opted for a law-based covenant where God’s blessings now hinged on their faithfulness instead of His.  They didn’t want an intimate face to face relationship with God.  They wanted a mediator to speak for them and for God.  They fell from grace!

When Moses came down the mountain with the 10 commandments written on stone, 3000 people died that day!  The Law demanded death for sin… Romans 6:23: the wages of sin is death.  But there was another mountain, Mt Zion, that resulted in 3000 people being saved (Acts 2:41).  It really comes down to 2 mountains.  Which mountain are you on?

When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments it was at Mount Sinai, during Shavuot (Pentecost) 50 days after they had celebrated their first Passover and come out of slavery in Egypt.  When God gave the outpouring of Holy Spirit… the Spirit of Grace…. it was during Shavuot (Pentecost) 50 days after they had celebrated the last Passover with Jesus before He went to the Cross and ended 1500 years of slavery to the Law.

Hebrews 12:18-24 highlights the different natures of the two covenants by comparing these mountains — Mt Sinai and Mt Zion. The old covenant given at Mt Sinai emphasized law and the distance between man and God.  The law reminded people of their sinfulness and God’s holiness and of the need for a sacrifice to make one able to stand before God (Hebrews 10:3). Mt Zion, on the other hand, represents the place where God, the King, dwells with His people.  The Spirit of God now abides in us and continually reminds us that we are sons of God (Galatians 4:6).

So, if the Law isn’t our moral compass, what is?  Grace is our moral compass!  Titus 2:11-12 says For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age.  

There is no such thing as grace-based Law.  It’s one or the other.  It’s law or grace.  Which will you choose?

~ Robin

 

 

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God’s great mercy………

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.  ~  Genesis 1:27

made in his image

That has become one of my favorite verses lately.  It’s our blueprint… our original design.  No matter what mankind may look like on the outside, no matter what sins we may commit, this is truly who we were created to be and how God sees us – because He always sees us according to our potential in Him not as we are at the moment.

The very first man walked in that design, and all mankind afterward were supposed to walk in the same pattern.  But although Adam was created in that design and walked in it for at least a few days, he sinned and introduced sin and consequently death into ALL the world.

SIN DIDN’T MAKE US SINNERS

All men born after him forgot they were born in God’s likeness and image. Adam gave birth to Seth and in the verse the order is reversed… instead of image and likeness it says likeness and image. I believe that reveals man’s distorted view of who they were.  Genesis 5:3 “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”  Sin had been introduced into the world through Adam’s disobedience. 

Sin in the Greek is hamartia and means to miss the mark.  To sin is to behave out of tune with God’s original harmony.  It is to believe a lie about ourselves.  It is to miss out on sonship.  Sonship is our blueprint… our true, original, chosen design.  Ephesians 1:5 “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…”

God’s timing was absolutely perfect.

He always had a plan to redeem us.  He had found us in Christ before He lost us in Adam!  Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”  He always loved us too much to leave us in such a wretched state…. God never abandoned His creation!  Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  God’s great mercy is FAR reaching and ALL encompassing.  Just as it took Adam’s one act of sin to condemn ALL of mankind, it only took Jesus’ one act of righteousness to completely declare ALL mankind innocent.  Romans 5:18  “So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life.”  Freely acquitted in the sight of God.

Through Adam, we were ALL were condemned and death reigned in BUT through Jesus, we are ALL declared righteous and life reigns in us.

Jesus’ death and resurrection reconciled us back to God (2 Cor 5:19) and to our original design of sonship.  The sin nature has been completely removed and we received a new heart.. a new spirit… His Spirit.  Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.”   

Jesus defeated sin and death ONCE and for ALL.

God did not love us more once we were reconciled.  Reconciliation simply made us free to realize how much He has always loved us and free to enjoy our redeemed original identity — made in His image and in His likeness.  To see ourselves as He sees us — IN CHRIST.  Free to enjoy sonship and all of it’s joys and privileges.  And not just to see ourselves in this new light, but our old ways of seeing others is over as well (2 Cor 5:16).  We are now to see everyone through the eyes of our Redeemer.

He has made us ambassadors or ministers of His reconciliation with the world.  Our lives are now to exhibit the urgency of God to persuade everyone to be reconciled to God — because Jesus took their life to the Cross in exchange for His resurrected life in them.  He did a finished, completed work on the Cross for ALL mankind.

The language of the Old Covenant… of the old written code was “Do in order to become”.  The language of the New Covenant is “Be, because of what has been done.”  It’s simply a matter of saying yes to God through faith in the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus.  It’s simply a matter of the lost awakening to their righteousness… of seeing themselves as God already sees them…. IN CHRIST.  So that then they will be able to say “I once was blind, but now I see.”

God’s great mercy for mankind is seen in the riches of His goodness toward us and His absolute passionate refusal to let us go.  His Covenant love for us is because He continues to hear the echo of His image and His likeness in us.

I love the Mirror Translation of Romans 3:23-26:

Humanity is in the same boat; their distorted behavior is proof of a lost blueprint. (24) Jesus Christ is proof of God’s grace gift;  He redeemed the glory of God in human life; mankind condemned is now mankind justified!  (25) Jesus exhibits God’s mercy.  In His blood conciliation, God’s faith persuades mankind of His righteousness and the fact that He has brought closure to the historic record of their sins (not by demanding a sacrifice but providing the sacrifice of Himself).  Jesus is the unveiling of the Father’s heart toward us.  (26) All along God refused to let go of mankind.  At this very moment, God’s act of righteousness is pointing them to the evidence of their innocence, with Jesus as the source of their faith.

It is the revelation of God’s goodness that leads men to repentance, not our repentance that leads to God’s goodness.

~ Robin

Counting the Omer……….

 Last night began the season of “counting the Omer” and goes through May 30th this year.  It marks the beginning of the barley harvest when, in ancient times, Jews would bring the first sheaves to the Temple as a means of thanking God for the harvest.
 omer 1
Omer means to utter speech – to verbally count the days.  It is a 49 day transition period between the second night of Passover (Pesach) and the holiday of Pentecost (Shavuot).… a transition from deliverance into an outpouring from Heaven….an outpouring of His Spirit.
In this transition period, it is important to “verbally count the days” with declarations…. declarations of His promises over our lives, of who we are In Christ and of all that Christ purchased for us through His death and resurrection.
angels-wings
Angels are activated as we declare His Word (Psalm 103:20).  Daniel 10:2 “I have come for your words.”  His angels are poised and ready to work on our behalf… to obey God’s Word that we have been declaring.
What will you declare in this 49 day season?
It’s not a time to plead with God for healing, prosperity, favor, etc…. but rather a time to boldly declare what is already ours in Christ. For instance, rather than praying “Oh God please heal me or my family” instead declare “Jesus, you are my healer and by Your stripes, my body is healed… not going to be healed but healed already.”   Instead of “God please save my family” begin to boldly declare “Jesus, You died for my family.  Your death on the Cross provided salvation for them.  I just command right now that the blinders fall off their eyes and they will experience Your delivering power in their lives.  I call them saved and set free NOW today!”
I encourage you to think about what you want to declare in this season and write it out. Get into the Word and find out what God has to say.   Faith begins where the will of God is known.  Find the Scriptures that say He is your Healer, Provider, Deliverer, etc and then boldly declare Him as such in your life.  If the Word says He is your Healer, then healing is always the will of God.  Once you are settled on what His will is for your life, it’s easy to boldly declare His promises as yes and amen in Christ Jesus.
Paul’s prayers are another great thing to declare out during this season of counting the Omer.  Ephesians 1:17-23, Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 1:9-11, and Colossians 1:9-14.  Make them personal, for example:

Col 1:9-14….

Abba (Father, Daddy, Papa or whatever your name for your Heavenly Father is) thank you for filling me with the knowledge of Your will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, (10) so that I may live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing Him in every way: I bear fruit in every good work, I continually grow in the knowledge of God, (11) and I am always strengthened with ALL power according to His glorious might which results in me having great endurance and patience, (12) and I give joyful thanks to You Abba, because You have made me qualified in Christ to receive my share of the saint’s inheritance. (13) You have rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of the Son You love, (14) in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Make it your own.  Spend time reading Paul’s prayers and boldly declaring them as your own.  I particularly like a translation by Francoise Du Toit called the Mirror Translation.  He writes it in such a way, that it is as if you are looking into the Mirror of the Word and seeing who you truly are.  It also includes Greek definitions of the words.  So, for reference,  I’ll put Paul’s prayers from the Mirror at the bottom of this blog post.

I also like the Passion Translation and use it quite often in my studies and prayer time.  I’ve also included it at the bottom of this post.

Even taking only these prayers for the next 49 days and declaring them over yourself will make such a difference in how you see yourself in Christ.  By the time Shavuot (Pentecost) comes, you will be dancing and shouting!

 

~ Robin

In the Mirror Translations, the Greek Word definitions italicized… also don’t forget to personalize it and make it yours.

Eph 1:17-23 (Mirror Translation):

I desire that you will draw directly from the source; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory ignites the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in you in the unveiling of his Master Plan (His intent, doxa, glory.). I desire that you know by revelation what he has known about you all along! (18)  I pray that your thoughts will be flooded with light and inspired insight; that you will clearly picture his intent in identifying you in him so that you may know how precious you are to him. The saints are his treasure and the glorious trophy of his portion! (We are God’s assets and the measure of his wealth!) (19)  I pray that you will understand beyond all comparison the magnitude of his mighty power at work 1in us who believe. Faith reveals how enormously advantaged we are in Christ. (The preposition eis, speaks of a point reached in conclusion) (20) It is the same dynamic energy that he unleashed in Christ when he raised him from the dead and forever established him in the power of his own right hand in the realm of the heavens. (21) Infinitely above all the combined forces of rule, authority, dominion or governments; he is ranked superior to any name that could ever be given to anyone of this age or any age still to come in the eternal future. (22) I want you to see this: he subjected all these powers under his feet. He towers head and shoulders above everything. He is the head; (23)  the church (The word, 1ekklesia, comes from ek, a preposition always denoting origin, and klesia from kaleo, to identify by name, to surname; thus the “church” is his redeemed image and likeness in human form.) is his body. The completeness of his being that fills all in all resides in us! God cannot make himself more visible or exhibit himself more accurately.

Eph 1:17-23 (Passion Translation):

that the Father of Glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would unveil in you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation (discovery)  through the fullness of being one with Christ. (18) I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination (innermost) flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of our great hope of glory. We know that is the reason he called you to himself. And I pray that you explore and experience for yourselves all the riches of this wealth that has been freely given to all his holy ones, for you are his true inheritance! (19) My prayer for you is that every moment you will experience the measureless power of God made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! (20) This is the explosive and mighty resurrection power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority (at His right hand)  in the heavenly realm! (21) And now he is exalted higher than all the thrones and principalities, above every ruler and authority, and above every realm of power there is. He is gloriously enthroned over every name that is ever praised, not only in this age (Aramaic says universe),  but in the age that is coming! (22) And everything now finds its essence in Him, and He alone is the Leader and Source of everything needed in the church. God has put everything beneath the authority of Jesus Christ (under His feet)  and has given him the highest rank above all others. (23) And now we, His church, are His body on the earth and the completion of Him that fills all things with his presence flowing through us!

 

Eph 3:14-21 (Mirror):  

Overwhelmed by what grace communicates, I bow my knees in awe before the Father. (15) Every family in heaven and on earth originates in Him; His is mankind’s family name and he remains the authentic identity of every nation. (16) I desire for you to realize what the Father has always envisaged for you, so that you may know the magnitude of his intent (The word, 1doxa, opinion or intent.) and be dynamically reinforced in your inner being by the Spirit of God.  (17) This will ignite your faith to fully grasp the reality of the indwelling Christ. You are rooted and founded in love. Love is your invisible inner source, just like the root system of a tree and the foundation of a building. (The dimensions of your inner person exceed any other capacity that could possibly define you.) (18) Love is your reservoir of super human strength (The word, exischuo means to be entirely competent, to be empowered to 2comprehend). which causes  (the word 2katalambano, kata, strengthened form; with lambano, to grasp, thus to entirely grasp, means to come to terms with, to make one’s own Rom 12:13 Purpose with resolve to treat strangers as saints; pursue and embrace them with fondness as friends on equal terms of fellowship. Rom 12:16 Esteem everyone with the same respect; no one is more important than the other. Associate yourself rather with the lowly than with the lofty. Do not distance yourself from others in your own mind. [“Take a real interest in ordinary people.”— JB Phillips]. Rom 12:13 Purpose with resolve to treat strangers as saints; pursue and embrace them with fondness as friends on equal terms of fellowship. Rom 12:16 Esteem everyone with the same respect; no one is more important than the other. Associate yourself rather with the lowly than with the lofty. Do not distance yourself from others in your own mind. [“Take a real interest in ordinary people.”— JB Phillips] In the breadth and length we see the horizontal extent of the love of Christ: the complete inclusion of the human race. 2 Cor 5:14,16. The depth of his love reveals how his love rescued us from the deepest pits of hellish despair and led us as trophies in his triumphant procession on high. Eph 2:5,6, Eph 4:8-10, Col 3:1-4) you to see everyone equally sanctified in the context of the limitless extent of Love’s breadth and length and the extremities of its dimensions in depth and height. (19) I desire for you to become intimately acquainted with the love of Christ on the deepest possible level; far beyond the reach of a mere academic, intellectual grasp. Within the scope of this equation God finds the ultimate expression of Himself in you. (So that you may be filled with all the fullness of God! Awaken to the consciousness of his closeness! Separation is an illusion! Oneness was God’s idea all along! He desires to express himself through your touch, your voice, your presence; he is so happy to dwell in you! There is no place in the universe where he would rather be!)  (20) We celebrate Him who supercharges us powerfully from within. Our biggest request or most amazing dream cannot match the extravagant proportion of His thoughts towards us. (Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…KJV)  (21) He is both the Author and Conclusion of the glory on display in the ekklesia (The word, 1ekklesia, often translated church, comes from ek, a preposition always denoting origin, and klesia from kaleo, to identify by name, to surname; the ekklesia is the expression of his image and likeness redeemed in human life.) ,mirrored in Christ Jesus. The encore continues throughout every generation, not only in this age but also in the countless ages to come. Amen!

Eph 3:14-21 (Passion): 

So when I think of the wisdom of His plan I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, (15) the perfect Father of every father and child (Translated from the Aramaic. It could also be translated “the perfect Father of every people group.” The Greek word for “father” and the word for “family” are quite similar, which indicates that every family finds its source in the Father.) in heaven and on the earth. (16) And I pray that He would pour out over you the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. (17) Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life, providing you with a secure foundation that grows and grows. (18-19) Then, as your spiritual strength increases, you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences— the great magnitude (excellence) of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge— this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! (20) Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energizes you. (21) Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ— and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen!

 

Phil 1:9-11 (Mirror):  

It is my desire for each one of you, that the realization of love’s  (The word 1agape is a compound word from ago, which means to lead as a shepherd leads his sheep, and pao, which means rest! His love leads me into his rest; into the full realization of his finished work! Agape is Psalm 23 in one word. “By the waters of reflection my soul remembers who I am.”) completeness in you will increasingly burst through all boundaries, and that every sphere of  your relationship with others will be greatly impacted by your intimate acquaintance with love. (10) I urge you to examine this agape-love with the utmost scrutiny, just like when a diamond is viewed in the full sunlight to prove its flawless perfection. I dare you to take Love to its ultimate conclusion! There is no offence in love, as evidenced in Jesus Christ who is the light of day. (If the diamond is flawless to begin with, every possible test will prove its perfection; how someone might respond to love’s initiative is not the point, love’s ultimate test was concluded on the cross. Truth does not become true by popular vote; someone’s ignorance or indifference cannot change the truth.) (11) You have been fully furnished with the harvest of your redeemed innocence and righteousness which Jesus Christ labored for! This is what the glorious intent of God is all about! Celebrate him!

Phil 1:9-11 (Passion):  

I continue to pray for your love to grow and increase more and more until it overflows, bringing you into the rich revelation of spiritual insight in all things. And with this revelation you will come to know God fully as He imparts to you the deepest understanding of his ways. (10) This will enable you to choose the most excellent way of all (The Aramaic literally means “choose those things that bring contentment.”) — becoming pure and without offense until the unveiling of Christ. (11) And you will be filled completely with the fruits of righteousness that are found in Jesus, the Anointed One— bringing great praise and glory to God!

Col 1:9b -14 (Mirror):

…..Our constant desire for you is that you might be overwhelmed with the knowledge of God’s dream for your lives. We pray that the pattern of his wisdom and thoughts will fall into place for you in all spiritual understanding (“sunieimi“, means a joining together as of two streams; a fusion of thought.) (10) Go on a walkabout tour (“peripateo“, means to walk about everywhere).to explore the extent of the land that is yours under his Lordship. Now you can conduct yourselves appropriately towards him, pleasing him in every harvest of good works that you bear. Meanwhile, you continue to increase in your intimate acquaintance with that which God knows to be true about you (The knowledge of God is not our perception of him, but his knowledge of us; to know even as we have always been known. [Jer 1:5, 1 Cor 13:12]). This results in the most attractive and fulfilled life possible.

** I like that “walk about tour”….. walking through the Word and exploring what belongs to me through Christ Jesus!

(11)You are empowered in the dynamic of God’s strength;  His mind His glorious power, or doxa, comes from dokeo, to recognize for what it really is, true opinion; God’s intention—his mind made up.) is made up about you! He enables you to be strong in endurance and steadfastness with joy. (12) We are grateful to the Father who qualified us to participate in the complete portion of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (The light of the Gospel reveals what God accomplished to transform the sinner into a saint; from hagos, an awful thing to 1hagios, a consecrated object: “call no-one unholy or unclean (Acts 10:28) (13) He rescued us from the dominion of darkness (the sense-ruled world, dominated by the law of performance) and relocated us into the kingdom where the love of his son rules. (Darkness is not a force, it is the absence of light. [See Eph 4:18] A darkened understanding veiled the truth of our redeemed design from us. 2 Cor 4:4. What “empowered” darkness was the lie that we believed about ourselves! The word, 1exousia, sometimes translated authority, is from ek, origin or source, and eimi, I am. Thus, I was confused about who I am until the day that I heard and understood the grace of God in truth, as in a mirror. See 2 Corinthians 3:18, John 1:12.) (14) In God’s mind mankind is associated in Christ; in His blood sacrifice we were ransomed; our redemption was secured; our sins were completely done away with. (The word sin, is the word hamartia, from ha, negative or without and meros, portion or form, thus to be without your allotted portion or without form, pointing to a disorientated, distorted, bankrupt identity; the word meros, is the stem of morphe, as in 2 Corinthians 3:18 the word metamorphe, with form, which is the opposite of hamartia – without form. Sin is to live out of context with the blueprint of one’s design; to behave out of tune with God’s original harmony. See Deuteronomy 32:18, “You have forgotten the Rock that begot you and have gotten out of step with the God who danced with you!” Hebrew, khul or kheel, to dance. Sin distorts the life of our design. Jesus reveals and redeemed our true form.)

Col 1:9b -14 (Passion):  

….that you would be filled to overflowing with the revelation of God’s pleasure over your lives. This will make you reservoirs of all wisdom and spiritual understanding. (10) We pray that you would walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God in every good thing you do. Then you’ll become fruit-bearing branches, yielding to his life, and maturing in the rich experience of knowing God in his fullness! (11) And we pray that you would be energized with all his explosive power from the realm of his magnificent glory, filling you with great hope (As translated from the Aramaic. The Greek text means “patient endurance.”) and joy in the Holy Spirit!

 

New Covenant lens….

hebrews

I’ve been studying and teaching from the book of Hebrews for the past 4 months. We are on the last chapter … and I have learned so much.  It was not an easy book to study or teach and has stretched me and challenged me outside of my comfort zone.  But it is definitely a book that has helped me better understand the benefits of the New Covenant more than anything else I’ve read.

Hebrews is such a fitting name for this epistle.  Not because it was written to Jews, but because of what Hebrews means.  The word comes from the Hebrew verb ivri meaning “to cross over”

The very first Hebrew was Abraham and there were 2 ways in which he “crossed over”… first, he crossed over from Mesopotamia into Canaan and secondly, he crossed over from the world of idol worship that was familiar to him and his family to a new realm, one in which the One True God was worshipped instead. In both senses, Abraham became forever an “ivri” – a Hebrew, one who crossed over.

That fits this epistle so well — crossing over.  These Jews had crossed over from the familiar realm of the Old Covenant to life in the unfamiliar but liberating grace-filled New Covenant.  They were under intense persecution and were being pressured into returning to the Old and this letter was to encourage them to remain in Christ.  This letter presented to them a contrast of the old and new covenants — and the supremacy of Jesus and the New Covenant… a far better, superior covenant.

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness;  ~ Hebrews 13:4-5

Our study of this book was verse by verse, always keeping it in the context of who it was written to and why.  When I came to chapter 13, specifically verses 4 and 5, it just seemed so out of context to command them to keep the marriage honorable and the marriage bed undefiled with the warning that God will judge the immoral and those who commit adultery.  And then in the next verse, he’s telling them to live free from the love of money and be content with what they have.  Sex and money…. were those the two biggest concerns the writer of Hebrews has for these believers?

Of course, we are to live holy, pure, godly lives.  Of course, we are to be faithful in our marriages and sex is wrong outside of the marriage relationship.  Of course, we are to not be covetous, greedy, or lovers of money.  And of course, we are to be content with what God has given us.

But is that all this verse is saying?

Remember, the book of Hebrews is about the contrast of Old Covenant and New Covenant.  The writer has explained theses contrasts to us for the last 12 chapters and has warned us several times throughout this letter to not fall from grace, to not turn away from Christ (apostasy), to steer clear of idolatry and going back to Judaism, and to enter into the rest of the finished work of the cross.

So, with all of that in mind, we don’t want to look at these 2 verses through the lens of the Old Covenant pattern which is…. if I am not faithful in my marriage or if I sleep around — if I mess up!  If I sin in this area!  If I do those things, then God is going to judge me.  The problem with that “Old Covenant” lens is that He already poured out all of His judgment for my sins on Jesus.  He is no longer imputing my sins against me.

  • Isaiah 53:5: The punishment that brought our peace was upon Him
  • 2 Cor 5:21:  He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
  • Romans 5:8-9:  But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

This letter was written to believers (believing Jews) not unbelievers/unsaved.  Looking at it in that light.  You have to ask yourself how does God deal with believers who have committed the sin of adultery?  Even if I did do those things after I’m saved, God NEVER calls me an adulterer or a whoremonger.  He calls me righteous!  He sees me as I am… not by what I do or have done.  

So who does God call the adulterer and the whoremonger?  Who does He refer to as covetous?

  • several verses in the other epistles mention sexual immorality as a false teaching — Eph 5:3-7; Jude 1:4; 1 Tim 4:1-5; 2 Peter 2:14; 1 Tim 1:3-10; 
  • Jeremiah 23:10 also talking about false prophets and calls them adulterers.
  • Sexually immoral in Heb 13:4 is the same Greek word used in Heb 12:16 to describe Esau as a fornicator.. an idolator.  — The root word is porne which means an idolatrous community.
  • Adulterers in Heb 13:4 is “moichos” which figuratively means an apostate
  • In the Old Testament, whenever Israel went into idolatry, God called it “adultery.”
  • Idolatry is spiritual adultery
  • Col 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever is worldly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry
  • 2 Peter 2:3  By covetousness they [the false teachers] will exploit you with deceptive words;

Historically, at the time this was written (and the other epistles), there were false teachers that had infiltrated the churches and were attempting to turn the believers away from the grace of the New Covenant…. away from it’s teachings… away from Jesus alone being enough to make you righteous and holy.  

What were some of the strange, false, demonic doctrines that these false teachers were teaching?

  • There were those who were forbidding marriage, believing celibacy was purity and pleasing to God (1 Tim 4:3)
  • There were those who were perverting the grace of God into a license for immorality (Jude 1:4)
  • Of course, there were the Judaizers who were encouraging them to go back to the Law (which is adultery/idolatry – Romans 7:1-4)
  • All of these false teachers were motivated by greed (covetousness – love of money)

….and be content with such things as ye have:

Be content in the original language is “with the things that are present.”  Present = right now.  So, what was “present” for these Believing Jews the writer was talking to?

  • They had put their faith in Jesus alone for salvation.
  • And because of it, they were suffering intense persecution and the reality of having to flee Jerusalem and everything they had previously known
  • From all that was familiar… the temple, the priests, the sacrifices.. their family and friends.

Remember they were feeling the pressure to return to Judaism and they were being influenced by false teachers.  This is an encouragement to them not to fall back into idolatry (the Law/Old Covenant) but to continue walking free of that because Jesus is enough!

For hasn’t He promised you that “I will never leave you; never will I forsake you”  

1 Kings 8:57 — Part of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple was that the Lord would never leave them nor forsake them.  He was declaring that God had kept His promises and not one word had failed which He promised through Moses.

What a fitting thing for the writer of Hebrews to remind the people of…. he’s already told them that the New Covenant is far superior to the Mosaic covenant.   Now, he’s encouraging them that if God kept His promises and not one word failed which He promised Moses, they can trust Him to be with them and never leave or forsake them because “Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Heb 8:6). 

Then he reminds them that their response because of that… because Jesus is enough…should be “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.” (Heb 13:6)

When you begin reading the Bible through the lens of the New Covenant you begin to see things in Scripture that you never saw before…. and you truly begin to find the Father’s heartbeat.  This grace filled New Covenant is liberating!

~Robin

Inked for Jesus….

This weekend I attended a prophetic training conference.  I love these particular classes because they stretch me out of my comfort zones and teaches me new ways to hear from God and to minister to people.  These classes also remind me how easy the prophetic is when we trust God to speak to us and then through us to others.  Just simply saying what we hear the Father saying.

At the end of the conference I glanced over and noticed a woman’s tattoo, it was a flower and 2 letters in the middle of the flower on her wrist, and I “saw” a Hebrew word on it.  When I looked a second time I noticed it wasn’t a Hebrew word at all but I knew what God had shown me was the Hebrew word “bo” in the middle of the flower.  I’ve had that happen before where I see words that aren’t there… it was God was showing me what was going on behind the scenes of a situation.  Giving me insight.

I walked over to the woman and asked her what the tattoo was.  She got a bit embarrassed and said it was a tattoo she got before she was saved.  I asked her what the letters in the middle were and she said it was the Hindu word “ohm”.  She went on to tell me how much she dislikes the tattoo and you could tell from her expression and the fact that she pulled her arm from me to hide it, that it caused her great shame.  While it may at one time have represented who she thought she was, it now no longer defined her.

I apologized for making her feel uncomfortable and then proceeded to tell her about the word I saw in the flower.  Honestly, I am probably the least likely candidate to prophesy over a tattoo.  I don’t even like tattoos!!  LOL!  I love that about God though…. if we stay compassionate towards people, and if we seek after His heartbeat and desire to release His love and who He is, then we make ourselves available to Him in EVERYTHING.  I love co-laboring with Him.

God is not for or against tattoos.  He is for people… ALL people…. believers and unbelievers (or as I now like to say “pre-believers”.)  And He is against bondage…..He’s against the devil and how he tries to enslave people in condemnation and guilt over things we did before (and sometimes after) we knew Jesus.

Jesus came to earth 2000 years ago and purchased our freedom.  We have been set free from the condemnation and guilt of sins, choices, mistakes, etc. of our past.  He forgave us completely… of ALL past, present and future sins.   This tattoo was causing guilt and shame to this woman… this daughter of God that Jesus had completely set free. 

The word “ohm” has a meaning in Hindu.  It means an eternal sound, the seed of creation, the sound of creation, truth, the name of Divinity, the origin of the universe.  It also means the place from where everything has come, in what everything dwells, and into what everything will dissolve into.  Wow!  What a lie from the pit!!  What a bondage from the devil!

No wonder God zeroed in on this particular tattoo.  There were several tattoos in the room and no one was going around prophesying over tattoos… it wasn’t part of the class info.  God was just focused on this one.  Contrary to religious thinking, He wasn’t angry about the tattoo… He didn’t see it as wicked, evil, or wrong… He didn’t even tell her to get rid of her tattoo…God simply renamed her tattoo.  What a beautiful expression of His redemptive power!  He is a good Father and He cares about what we care about.  His love envelops and consumes every area of our lives.

Words are powerful and carry the power of life and death.  I believe He simply didn’t want the “power” of this Hindi word speaking to her mind and thoughts any longer.  So he chose a simple Hebrew word “bo” to redeem this marking.

Bo in the Hebrew is a command meaning to come.  The verb “come” means, to move from a far position to a position nearby.   The King left His throne (a far place) to earth to redeem us back to the Father. We who were once far from Him came to Jesus when the Father drew us.  And then He came and made His dwelling place our hearts.  Now we are one with Him.  He told us to come to Him and He would give us rest.  His yoke is easy and never burdensome or heavy.  

This word that He chose for her tattoo speaks of her oneness in Him and about the freedom, He purchased for her.

She was so thrilled that God would do that and she lovingly put her hand on the tattoo, the one that she had just a few minutes before tried to hide, and she said: “this is my bo tattoo.”  Oh, Abba Father You continue to astound me!!  You are truly the God of restoration…. of ALL things.  

He can even turn tattoos that exalt a false god into ink for Jesus.

~ Robin

Distorted view of the Father

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.  ~ Luke 15:24

What a beautiful description Luke 15:24 is of the Father’s love for us.  Truly His heartbeat is restoration and His response to our being restored to Him is to celebrate over us!! 

luke 15

Zephaniah 3:17 in God’s Word Translation says “The LORD your God is with you. He is a Hero who saves you. He happily rejoices over you, renews you with his love, and celebrates over you with shouts of joy.”  I love that.  

Psalm 91:15 He says He will rescue us and then throw us a party.  

The more I meditate on His goodness, the more I see Him in this light…. rejoicing over me, renewing me with His love, celebrating over me and throwing me a party!!  I begin to see Him as Love… extravagant, lavish, outpouring, overflowing Love towards me!  This is the picture of the Father that Jesus is showing us in this parable… a picture of a Good, Good, Daddy.. full of chesed (Covenant Love) toward us (for more on chesed see my post Goodness and Grace).. a love that just won’t let us go!!

BOTH SONS HAD A DISTORTED VIEW OF THEIR FATHER

Both sons had a distorted view of their father and therefore a distorted view of themselves…. this identity problem made them unable to walk in the fullness of their positions as “sons” and enjoy the benefits of their inheritance.  They couldn’t see themselves the way their father saw them… accepted, loved and favored.

The Greek word for son is ‘huios’ and means son… a son having the nature of the father; a son representing the father — this is a word of position.  As opposed to the Greek word ‘teknos’ which means child…  meaning one not fully grown or mature, still needing to be under tutors and governors (Galatians 4:2).

God has called us as sons…. Ephesians 1:5  Having predestinated  (in Greek: proorizo…determined our destiny) us unto the adoption (in Greek:  huiosthasia… declaration of sonship) of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will”.  How awesome and powerful is that truth!!  Before the foundations of the world, He determined and established our destiny as His sons… being conformed to the image of the Firstborn Son.  

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.  ~Luke 15:9

He had 2 sons… both were huios.  We are first introduced to the elder son as a huios (Luke 15:25)…  again meaning having the nature of the father; one representing the father — it’s a word of position.  But his distorted identity was based on works… on what he did for the father instead of who he was.  Verse 29 gives us a glimpse of how this son saw himself.  “But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.”  The word served is douleuo which means “to serve as a slave” — slave is “doulos”.  This was the distorted the view the son had of himself.  

He was a son, not a slave but he saw himself serving as a slave…. not as a son!  And the rest of the verse gives his distorted view of the father… not as an extravagant, generous father but someone withholding from him — even something as small as a goat to celebrate.  

The younger son is introduced in verse 12 also as a huios…. again meaning having the nature of the father; one representing the father — this is a word of position.  His distorted view of his identity was based on his inheritance.. what he would possess at his father’s death —  his priority was on his inheritance instead of relationship.  Although even after he leaves with the inheritance, he is still called a “son” (huios).  His position hadn’t changed even though he walked away from it.  

Later in the story, he comes to his senses and realizes he has sinned against heaven and against his father and decides to tell his father he is no longer worthy to be called “a son” but instead a hired hand (with no inheritance).  But the father’s response is one of love and although the son no longer sees himself as a son but a servant, the father sees him the way he always has… as a son… his son. 

HE ALWAYS MAKES GRACE AVAILABLE FOR US

Redemptive grace was offered to both sons to see themselves as they truly were and to see the father as he truly was.  While we know the younger brother repented (changed his mind to align with the father’s) and began to see clearly who he was, sadly we never know if the elder brother repented, if his heart was healed and if he embraced his sonship.  But we do get a glimpse of the condition of his heart in looking further into how the father referred to him.  In verse 31 the father calls him son but the Greek word used is teknos instead of huios;  Teknos means child — a member born into the family but immature; not yet transformed into mature sons who are able to represent the father and administer the father’s house and his belongings.

We are sons of God.  And our Father is a good Daddy to us.  Ask Abba Father today to reveal this truth to you…. begin to see yourself in Christ… as joint heirs with Him, carriers of His glory, made in His image and as a representative on earth of all that He is and all that He is… and then begin releasing that to those who have lost their way!

~Robin  

Following in the wrong footsteps….

In our last post (Tammuz 5776 (2016) we learned that Reuben took his eyes off the prize (Phil 3:14).  The sad thing is his descendants also followed in his footsteps… the tribe of Reuben also lost their inheritance.  Wrong vision can cost you your inheritance.

inheritance

As they were about to enter into the Promise land… the tribe of Reuben chose not to cross over.  They stayed on the east side of the Jordan.  They made a choice not to move towards their inheritance.  After 40 years in the wilderness, Israel was getting close to the Promise Land.  But they had to cross through Amorite territory in order to get there

They were attacked by two Amorite warlords named Sihon and Og (Numbers 21:21-35).  

The Amorites were most likely the largest of the 7 enemy nations in Canaan.  They were large and powerful and controlled much of the Promise Land.  Their center of power was Cheshbon which means “reasoning”.  The Amorites were a warlike tribe and their name means to “say or speak” from a root word meaning to speak against or boast of self…. it includes all evil speaking, boasting, slander, boasting, murmuring, complaining, grumbling, blaming God, etc.  This translates as “a talker and a slayer.”

This enemy uses his words to reason with you and cause you to doubt what God has promised you or to settle for something less based on natural reasoning…. which is exactly what the tribes of Reuben, Gad and 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh did.  

King Sihon refused to allow the Israelites to pass through their land.  Sihon means tempestuous and also means warrior.  He gathered all his people together and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.  Jahaz is from a root meaning to stomp.  It was here Sihon and his men fully intended to stomp out the Israelites but instead, the Israelites defeated them with the edge of a sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok.  Arnon comes from a root word meaning a ringing cry, or joy.  Jabbok comes from a root meaning luxuriant or abundant… to pour forth.  

Like Sihon, we have a violent, raging enemy that opposes us, desiring to stomp us out.  He attempts to target our thoughts and reason with us…..”Has God really said?”  

Just like the Israelites defeated their enemy with the edge of the sword, so can we.  The word edge in Hebrew is mouth.  Ephesians 6:17 tells us that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.  By using our mouths to wield the sword against this enemy we will defeat him and take possession of territory that he has illegally stolen from us.  Not listening to his evil words but declaring the promises of God as yes and amen in Christ.  We will regain our joy and abundance.

Then Og, king of Bashan, went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei (meaning might or strength).  Deuteronomy 3:11 describes King Og of Bashan (meaning fruitful) as ‘the last of the remnant of the Rephaim’ and notes that his iron bed measured 13.5 ft by 6 ft.   Most likely, Og is not a personal name but a title given to the Canaanite king meaning man of valor.  God told Moses not to fear Og because He has delivered him into their hands.  Israel fought Og and conquered their land.  No matter how big or strong the enemy appears to be he is a defeated foe… stripped of all his power (Col 2:15).  Declare your victory over him and take back your fruitfulness and strength.

The Amorite territory was never part of the Promise Land. Israel had told the Amorites that they did not want to possess their land and asked permission to cross over.  But Reuben looked around and said “We’ll take this for our land”  They chose the territory of Sihon and Og (Num 32:33) over the Promise Land God had chosen for them.

Because of this, they had continual trouble:

  • They were attacked by their pagan neighbors
  • They were drawn into the idolatry of their neighbors
  • One of the first tribes to be taken into captivity

Why did the tribe of Reuben settle for a land that was not the Promise Land?

“The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock”  Numbers 32:1

They reasoned based on their natural vision, forsaking the vision God had for them.  The land of Gilead is lush and fertile; they saw that and thought, Why should we go any further? They saw something…. it looked good, and they were willing to stop short of what God had promised to them in order to have it.  What they saw was beautiful and bountiful…..however, what they saw was not the Blessing that God had for them.

In this decision, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh divided the nation. They separated themselves from the Blessing of the land of Canaan. As a result they were farther from the tabernacle and much closer to the influence of the pagan nations that surrounded them.

God has promises for us that He desires we step into.   But to make this shift will require that we be willing to lay aside all natural reasoning… stop looking at things in the natural and step into faith….. like the children of Israel to go to a new place where we’ve never gone before.  

What has God promised you?…. health, healing, prosperity, etc?  Don’t settle for anything less!  In a time of transitioning not everyone will be willing to move forward with you. Be willing to leave behind the familiar to cling to God’s promises even if it’s unfamiliar territory for you.

~ Robin