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Our Increasing Inheritance

31 Monday Oct 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Hello and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

This week I continue looking at the Hebrew word bara and, as I have conducted this study on Isaiah 45:7, I found I haven’t been able to look at bara without also looking at bereshiyt.  I’ve felt I could spend the rest of my life just looking at Bereshiyt bara, the first two words of the book of Genesis or the Torah.  The deeper I look the more I find I am in fathomless depths.  There is so much more to be seen and learned and I may never find a bottom.

Which is fine by me.  Being taught of the Holy Spirit is a never ending adventure of discovery.  As my God is infinite and I am finite, I can delight in knowing there will always be something new to discover about Him.  I will grow into Him, come to know Him more and more, and our relationship will continue to grow and evolve.  I find it interesting that the English word “create”, which is almost always used to translate bara in scripture, comes from the base kre which means “to grow”.  We Believers speak of “growing in the Lord” but I don’t think I’ve ever thought of that in terms of create/creating.  This is a truth I do not hear spoken of in Christian circles near enough: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you”.  That’s Romans 8:11 and I do think it’s worth some time to ponder that: the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives IN us.  The Spirit we see hovering over the face of the waters in Genesis 1:1, the Spirit who is sent forth creating (Psalm 104:30) dwells inside of us. 

It doesn’t seem possible, does it?  It seems too good to be true and yet this is what scripture tells me is true so all I can do is ask that same Spirit to open my eyes to see it, believe it, and then strengthen me to live it.  The same Word who brought all things into being lives in me-and each one of you-through His Spirit.  How can we help but grow!

I do have to admit I always believed that, while there couldn’t help but be growth as long as I lived here on earth in this body, one day I’d go to heaven and then I’d know everything.  There’d be no more growth: just singing and dancing on golden streets in the presence of Jesus for all eternity.  I used to sing those very words during worship services and yet there’s a passage in Isaiah that always use to frighten me because it seems to say something different.  It’s found in Isaiah 9:7 and echoed in Luke 1:33: “Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end.  Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice, from that time forward, even forever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” 

No end?  The very idea used to terrify me.  If there was no end to the increase of His government and peace, what about me?  My early-church days had instilled in me the certainty that once I got to heaven that was it.  I would have-both literally and metaphorically-arrived.  This passage appeared to be telling me that wasn’t true.  If there was really no end to His increase, that meant I had no idea what “going to heaven” meant nor what to expect when I got there.  This passage deserves a dedicated study but, as I sought out a definition for bara, found there were some who thought it ought to be translated as “to fatten” or “to fill”, and then learned “create” contained the idea of growth, I couldn’t get this passage out of my mind.  What correlation could there be between bara-as it is translated “create”-and never ending increase?

When it comes to the dictionary definition of “create”, at first glance there doesn’t seem to be any.  The Webster’s dictionary goes on to define “create” as: “to cause to come into existence, bring into being, make, originate, to make or design (something requiring art, skill, invention, etc.), to bring about, give rise to.”  However, there is a further definition of “create” in the Webster’s dictionary that caught my attention.  It is, “to invest with a new rank, function, etc.”  This fascinates me because the Hebrew word for “increase” in Isaiah 9:7 is marbiyth (H4768) and it means “multitude, offspring”.  

I quoted Romans 8:11 before.  It is crucial that each one of us know the Holy Spirit lives within us because it is the Holy Spirit Himself who bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).  Because the Holy Spirit lives within us, we know we are born from above (or born again).  John 3:3 says, “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’”.  What is the kingdom of God?  It is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). 

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come and He answered them: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For, indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).  Some translations say “in your midst” but the Greek word used is entos (G1787) and it means “inside, within”. 

If we don’t believe what these scriptures are saying is true, if-as some denominations say-the action of the Holy Spirit stopped with the death of the last apostle; what is a Christian life?  Being a moral person?  Adhering to a list of do’s and don’t’s?  There certainly is no life.  Without the Spirit of God within us, there is no heart of flesh given us in place of the heart of stone, His law is not written in our hearts, and there is no enablement to walk in His statutes and do them (Ezekiel 36:26-27). If the kingdom of God is not righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and we do not know we have that kingdom inside of us now through the witness of the Spirit within us, if everything is indeed reserved until after we die and go to heaven; why do we pray the Lord’s Prayer?  Why say “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth…” if we have zero expectation of His kingdom actually coming and His will actually being done on earth?  I cannot believe when we pray that we pray for a future kingdom because the rest of the prayer is for now.  We ask for our daily bread and we pray to forgive others as we too are forgiven.  If that portion of the prayer is not reserved for some far off future, I cannot think praying for His kingdom to come and His will to be done would be.

While I do believe we have the kingdom within us, I also believe what the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: “In Him (Jesus Christ) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.”  While I believe what the Bible says is true, that the kingdom of God IS righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, I also believe what we experience is merely a down payment on our inheritance, as this passage is rendered in the Common English Bible.  There is coming a time of greater things, what this passage calls the redemption of the purchased possession.  But, we do have the down payment and what a down payment it is!

Every time the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of someone’s heart to see who they are in Christ, who Christ is in them, and the peace of Christ rules in their hearts, they begin to see the kingdom.  I also think it’s fascinating that the admonition is to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15) because it is peace that is juxtaposed to evil in Isaiah 45:7:  “I make peace and create calamity (or evil)”. His government and peace increases.

We are the dwelling place of God.  His peace which is part of the fruit of His Spirit rules in our hearts even in the midst of calamitous or evil circumstances.  Moment by moment, day by day, “from glory to glory”, His life is formed in us.  His Spirit is sent forth and we are created.  I am no longer frightened but rather I delight that “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.”

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Green, Jay P., The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew, Greek, English, Volume 4, Authors for Christ Inc., Lafayette, Indiana, 1976, 1984

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, Williams Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1970, 1976

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

In the Current of Peace

12 Monday Sep 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.”

This is Matthew 5:9 and is the passage of scripture I’ve had in mind since beginning this particular study on peace.  I have been certain that I must understand exactly what peace is before I can make it and now, after gaining a greater understanding of the peace of God, I want to take a look at this scripture.

First, a brief recap on just what is the peace of God.  It is not the absence of something.  The way the world looks at peace is it exists as long as there is no open conflict and this conflict can mean anything from verbal disagreements to open warfare.  I have seen this is not the case in the peace that comes from God.  His peace is a facet of His life and becomes a way we live.  It does not depend on circumstances and, in fact, His peace is all the more real in the midst of conflict.  Peace is an aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit and the peace of God grows in us and flows out of us more and more as we understand who we are in Jesus Christ and who He is in us by the Indwelling of His Spirit.

As I studied the Hebrew letters comprising the word for peace (shalom), I was struck at the relation to the heart.  The letter Lamed is the middle letter of shalom and is the tallest of the Hebrew letters.  It is the only one that ascends above the line and I learned this extending upward symbolizes the aspiration of the heart.  The first letter of the Hebrew word for heart (Leb) is the Lamed and Lamed has to do with what the heart longs for: to rise up, to elevate, and to connect to God.1 The third letter of shalom is the Mem and, while studying the Mem, I found another reference to the heart.  In his book, Mr. Bentorah writes the Mem represents a broken heart.  The little break in the left hand corner of the letter Mem shows us a picture of our hearts as vessels filled with pain and suffering but with a little hole in the corner where all that pain and suffering can pour out so God Himself can refill the heart with His love and presence.2

I do want to devote more study specifically to the heart but wish to stay focused on peace for the sake of this current study.  Reading these references to the heart reminded me of two scriptures.  The first is Isaiah 26:3 and I’m quoting it out of the Amplified Bible: “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.”  The second is Colossians 3:15 and, again from the Amplified: “And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live].”

I see in these two scriptures both the absolute truth of God’s statement in my study passage-“I make peace”-and how we are peacemakers.  The peace is not ours in the sense that we have anything to do with making it.  God Himself is the source of it, it belongs exclusively to Him, and He freely gives it to us.  We are not passive recipients.  We keep our minds stayed-and other translations have fixed-on Him and I do like all the verbs listed in the Amplified: commit, lean, and hope.  We also let His peace rule in our hearts.  The English word ‘let’ in this passage amuses me because it sounds so easy.  We just simply let His peace rule.  I don’t know about you but the “letting” is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do, especially when I am in a situation where I am being verbally and emotionally attacked.  When I am faced with being-by necessity-in close proximity to someone who is dismissive, belittling, and patronizing, the most difficult thing for me to do is “let” His peace rule.  I have to constantly remind myself that all I am in Christ and all He is to me is also His desire for that person.  I have to remind myself of their identity, choose to see them as one beloved of the Lord, and one for whom Jesus is actively seeking. 

We say the words “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” every time we quote the Lord’s Prayer and I wonder how often we take time to consider what that means.  I know Jesus Christ.  I know my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  I know this is true because the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation has opened the eyes of my heart to see this reality.  That’s it.  I don’t know it because I have studied hard and learned it although I learn more and more what exactly my inheritance in Jesus is through study so will not ever disparage study!  My point is I am not who I am in Christ Jesus because I’m special.  I do choose to respond to what He has shown and continues to show me.  I fix my heart and mind on Him and choose to keep my attention there no matter how I am treated or what I might experience.  This keeping of my focus on Jesus Christ can be a battle but I can do all things through Christ who infuses His strength to mine (Philippians 4:13) and His Spirit in me is my strength.

It is so very difficult to explain this Christian life.  I choose but can only choose what He has revealed to me.  I commit myself but can only do so because His Spirit strengthens me.  It is me but it’s also Him.  It is a we and us but I am not disappearing into Him.  I’m aware of constantly aligning my will and thoughts and decisions with His.  There really is no better description that “I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in (of) the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). 

This is how we make peace.  The Strong’s Concordance gives the Greek word translated “peacemakers” in Matthew 5:9 as eirenopoios.  The word is a compound word and can be broken down into eirene-peace- and poieo.  It takes a veritable paragraph to define poieo.  The main definition is “to make or do” but then there is a list of words which all seek to fully explain its meaning.  The very first is “abide” and I am immediately taken to the upper room where Jesus is explaining the life that was about to be the disciples’ life and is our life now.  “Abide in me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself (and let us not forget Peace is part of that fruit!) unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

“I make peace,” God declares through His prophet.  My study of Isaiah 45:7 has shown me how true that is.  I won’t repeat my study on the word “make” but I do not think I am wrong when I say He is peace and, through the workings and processing’s and chastising’s and corrections; makes the peace He is a reality in us.  His is the strength enabling us to keep ourselves in Him.  We abide in Him, and His peace flows out of us like a never ending stream to the world around us.  Truly we are blessed to be peacemakers because we will be recognized as sons of God! (Weymouth New Testament).

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRp8BGVAt8k
  2. Bentorah, Chaim, Hebrew Word Study: Beyond the Lexicon, Trafford Publishing, USA, 2014, Pages 119-120

Other References

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (biblehub.com)

The Amplified Bible, Expanded Edition, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, The Lockman Foundation, 1954,1987

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

A Matter of Perspective

28 Monday Mar 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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There is a moment in all of my studies where I come to a realization that I don’t know anything at all and, in fact-borrowing from that great sage Yoda-I must unlearn what I have learned.  As I have come to know this great Father revealed in Jesus, to actually know Him personally via His Spirit living in me, to know him not as a second-hand or merely intellectual knowing; I have discovered that what I have been taught to believe about Him is not true.  Not only do I discover God Himself to be very different than what I’ve been taught but I find great many other things I’ve been taught to believe do not, in fact, have their foundation in the bedrock of Jesus Christ. 

Moving from an intellectual knowledge and study of God, as if He’s an object to be studied like one of my school day science experiments, to a vital relationship with the Living God is terrifying.  There was a moment, years ago, when the God revealing Himself to me and the image of the god I’d been taught to know came face to face with each other.  The false image was burned away by the vitality of He who is Alive Forevermore (Revelation 1:18) and I could feel Him moving from my head to my heart.  I know, it sounds odd but it was a real experience.  At once, I felt as if I was dying and being made alive.  It was again, at once, a terrifying and electrifying experience. 

I do try not to be negative in these blog posts but I do have to say the god I’d come to know in religious institutions was utterly destroyed by the consuming fire God is.  This is not a pleasant experience in many ways.  There were Christian friends who were genuinely concerned that, if I continued down the path I was being shown, I would lose my salvation and end up spending eternity in hell.  These are subjects for another time.  For the sake of this post, I want to say to anyone having an experience like this, God is faithful.  The Shepherd isn’t going to let any of His sheep be consumed in the wilderness.  I had to cling to a handful of scriptures while my world was shaken to bits and stripped to the bedrock of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  One is Isaiah 41:10; “Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  Yes, I will help you.  I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  I also clung to the various passages in Psalms which promised God wouldn’t allow me to fall, that He wouldn’t lose His grip on me, etc.  I pictured myself held tightly in His hand and submitted to whatever the Holy Spirit thought was necessary. 

Which is not at all what I’d intended to say in this week’s post!  Perhaps all of that relates to my study of Isaiah 45:7 because I continue to come to places where I feel cast adrift.  I see that I believe something I didn’t even know I believed and I see that belief is-rather than “wrong” should I say “mistaken”?-that scriptures aren’t saying what I’ve been taught to believe they say and that I don’t know anything.  I am no longer afraid of these places of not knowing because I know I am held fast in the righteous right hand of the Father who loves me and that His Spirit will open my eyes to the Truth.  I also anticipate because my Heavenly Father loves surprises and I know there will be a Wow! moment.

That moment came when I looked up the meanings of the Hebrew letters comprising my study word darkness.  The Hebrew word is choshek (H2822) and the three Hebrew letters are Chet (ח), Shin (ש), and Caph [in its final form (ך)].  Mr. Haralick’s book The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters defines the three letters as Chet = Life, Shin = Cosmic Nourishment, and Caph = The Crowning Achievement.  I had just finished looking up the definition for darkness in the Strong’s Concordance and read through the various scriptures and was still wrestling with my thinking of the darkness as something bad.  These meanings made me sit back in my chair and think, “Wow!” Not only was there nothing bad here but these letters comprising my study word darkness actually contained the word life.  I couldn’t believe it.  I needed verification.

I have another book on the meaning of Hebrew letters titled Hebrew Word Study: Beyond the Lexicon by Chaim Bentorah.  I looked up the three Hebrew letters and was fascinated by what I found.  Mr. Bentorah’s book defines Chet as “new beginnings” and “the binding together of man with God”.  The entry for the word Shin says, “The word Shin (note: the Hebrew letters themselves are spelled with Hebrew letters so there are meanings within meanings) means urine and if you drop the Yod in Shin you have Sen which means to chew, tooth, or jaw.  This tells us that the Shin represents a totality of an overall process from eating, to digestion, to the elimination of waste.  Thus, the Shin has the meaning of whole, entire, intact, or complete.”  I looked up Caph (or Kap in Mr. Bentorah’s book) and found: “The Kap is shaped like a container that is empty and ready to be filled…this is the word for palm, hollow of hand, a pan, dish or a container.”  This might make more sense when you see that my study word uses the final form of Caph and that the regular form of the letter is shaped like a backwards/sideways U:  כ.

I am such a beginner in my studies of Hebrew and Greek that using the word beginner gives me too much credit.  I always verify because the final forms of letters can look like the normal/regular forms of other letters and want to be sure I am looking at the correct letter.  The internet is extremely helpful and, while verifying, I found two more sources that helped to further define these letters.  The website alittleperspective.com defined Chet as “the wall, thus outside, divide, half”, Shin as “two front teeth, thus sharp, press, eat, two, again”, and Caph (spelled kaph) as “the open palm, thus bend, open, allow, tame”.  I found a YouTube channel for studying Hebrew words called Rock Island Books and they defined Chet as “sanctuary or inner room designed to protect, a place of refuge, or a place of separation, cut off”, Shin as “crushed, pressed down, destroyed”, and Caph as “palm of the hand which either covers or uncovers.” 

All four of my sources allow for both a positive or negative interpretation of darkness.  Mr. Haralick writes of our lives being the manifestation of our thoughts and those thoughts either coming from the human mind or the divine mind.  Mr. Bentorah speaks of a shadow meaning to Chet where that life of being bonded to God can turn to arrogance and rudeness or an addiction to newness.  Both internet sources speak of Chet as being a place of protection, an inner sanctuary, or place of refuge but it can also be a place of being cut off like a prison.  The same holds true for Shin and Caph as well.  Which is true?  Is Darkness positive or negative?  Good or bad?

I think it’s a matter of perspective.  Both darkness and light exist simultaneously in our present lives.  This is true on a natural plane where one side of the earth experiences night while the other experiences day and this is equally true on the spiritual plane.  The entire world lies in darkness.  We believers once walked in darkness and there are a host of ideas, thought processes, and identities associated with the darkness.  When our eyes are opened to the light that is Jesus Christ and we enter that light, we are confronted with an entirely different set of ideas, thought process, and identity.  His light shines in our darkness, our death is swallowed up in His life, and we are transformed through the renewing of our minds.  The process doesn’t always feel good: remember the chewing, crushing, destruction of Shin but also remember that Shin means whole, entire, intact, and complete.

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (1 Peter 4:12).  “We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).  “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).  “But he knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

What a hope we have!  Truly, in Jesus, God our Father has given us treasures of darkness.  And, I thank Him that this purging and processing and transforming takes place in His sanctuary, a place hidden from the eyes of those who do not see and cannot understand.  He keeps us safe.  He is our covering as He fills us with Himself.  We are filled to overflowing until “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) and we too shine His light into the darkness.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all scriptures are quoted from The New King James Version of The Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Bentorah, Chaim, Hebrew Word Study Beyond the Lexicon, Trafford Publishing, 2014, Pages 92, 108, 148

Haralick, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1995, Pages 113, 161, 293

choshek, “darkness,” strong’s H2822 (alittleperspective.com)

(2) “Darkness” in ancient Hebrew! (Part I) – YouTube

Formed a Vessel-Tzadi

24 Monday Jan 2022

Posted by in Hebrew Words, Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Stock Photo From Pixabay

I am continuing to look at the Hebrew letters that make up the word yatsar, translated ‘form’ in my study passage of Isaiah 45:7.  Last week I looked at the first letter, Yod-Spirituality, and this week I am looking at the second: Tzadi-Righteousness & Humility.   

 צ Tzadi = Righteousness & Humility

The New World dictionary defines righteous as “acting in an upright manner; doing what is right; virtuous.”  However, before it ever gets into the definition of righteous, the dictionary states that righteous comes from the Old English ‘rightwise’.  I looked up ‘rightwise’ online and found the same meaning as given in the New World dictionary but also this definition: “by a rightward path, rightwards, rightwardly, clockwise”.

I remembered how many times I find the mention of ‘paths’ in the Psalms: “smooth paths”, “teach me your path”, “all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth” and so many more.  It’s in Psalm 23 that I find ‘paths’ linked with ‘righteousness’: “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”  I love this idea of God’s righteousness being walked out in our daily lives.  It is His attribute and He longs to teach it to us.  I hear this longing in Isaiah 48:17-18: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go.  Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.’”

The beauty of being alive in this day of the Lord is that this teaching is no longer something that comes from outside of us.  The voice that was heard in the OT behind us saying, “this is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21) is now the voice speaking inside of us.  Righteousness is no longer something to be learned from the law but is now become our identity.  2 Corinthians 5:21 states, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  We are taught of Him, certainly, but He does not give us rules and regulations to follow but rather lives His righteousness in us.  Paul states this so clearly in Galatians: “…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (2:20).  This righteousness that is ours in Christ Jesus is not only our identity but becomes our very garments.  This is something I want to come back to in a later study but, for now, I will share Revelation 19:7-8:  “‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

I was fascinated to see righteousness and humility together in the same Hebrew letter.  It seems fitting because it really is impossible to have one without the other.  Our Self with all of its righteousness is crucified with Christ and we now live not only His righteousness but His humility.  What is His humility?

In my studies, I have come across a truly horrendous idea of humility.  I am told that, if I am constantly reminding God of my sins-or worse, expecting Him to remind me of them-, if I come crawling before Him with words of my unworthiness on my lips, and remind Him I am acceptable because of the death of His Son; then I am being humble.  How grateful I am for the Holy Spirit as my teacher!  How grateful I am He is with me when I read scripture!  Jesus has come!  As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12)!  The curse to crawl on the belly was to the serpent, not humankind!  We come boldly before the throne of grace, not ashamed, sure in our acceptance because the love of the Father has been shed abroad in our hearts by His Spirit (See Hebrews 4:16 and Romans 5:5).  This is our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ and, because we are in Him and walk by His Spirit, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

I am aware of scriptures like 1 John 1:8-9.  As I study the passage, I find the word confess here is the Greek word homologeo (G3670) and it means “to assent, i.e. covenant, acknowledge.”  Acknowledge what?  Jesus.  The finished work of the Cross.  I don’t see here the necessity of raking my sins over the coals nor does it mean to air my dirty laundry.  I assent, I say with the covenant God that He sent His son, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, and His blood doesn’t just cover my sin but washes me clean.  He establishes me and presents me to Himself holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).  This is who I am!  It doesn’t sound very humble though, does it?

I read the best definition of humility I’ve ever found in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible.  The entry for humility begins with: “Trench defines ‘humility’ as the esteeming of ourselves small, inasmuch as we are so; the thinking truly, and because truly, therefore lowlily, of ourselves.  Alford, Ellicott, Salmond, Vincent, and many others agree.  It is an inadequate and faulty definition.  A man may be small and may realize his smallness, and yet be far from being humble.  His spirit may be full of envy instead of humility.  He may be depressed in spirit because he sees his own meanness and general worthlessness, and yet he may be as rebellious against his lot or his constitutional proclivities as he is clearly cognizant of them.  Low-mindedness is not lowly-mindedness.  The exhortation of Ph 2:3 does not mean that every man ought to think that everybody else is better than himself in moral character, or in outward conduct, or in natural or inherited powers.  That would be impossible in some cases and untruthful in many others.  It is not an exhortation to either an impossibility or an untruthfulness.  A better definition of the Christian grace of humility is found in the union of highest self-respect with uttermost abandon of sacrifice in service.”

James Hastings then points to John 13:3-5, Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, as the classic NT example of humility.  Mr. Hastings says, “The consciousness of His own transcendent worth was in no respect inconsistent with His humility.  Genuine humility leads the strong to serve the weak.  It never underestimates its own worth, but in utter unselfishness it is ready to sacrifice its own claims at any moment for the general good.  Genuine humility loses all its self-conceit but never loses its self-respect.  It is consistent with the highest dignity of character and life.  Hence we may rightly call the Incarnation the Humiliation of Christ.  He stood at the head of the heavenly hierarchies.  He was equal with God.  There was no dignity in the universe like unto His.  Yet He humbled Himself to become a man.  He made Himself of no reputation.  He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.  He was the servant of all.  There was no humility in the universe like unto His.  He never forgot His dignity.  When Pilate asked Him if He were a king, He answered that He was.  He stood in kingly majesty before the mob, in kingly serenity before the magistrates; He hung as King upon the cross.  Yet He never forgot His humility.  Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  St. Paul exhorts, ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus (Ph 2:5-11).  God giveth grace to all who are this humble (Ja 4:6).”

I have no need to creep and crawl before my Creator.  My identity is Jesus Christ.  I am His Beloved and, because I am in Him, everything He has is mine.  In utter humility, I acknowledge that all of this is true because He has made it so and not because of any merit of mine.  I speak the same words as my Lord and Saviour: “I can of myself do nothing” (John 5:30) and “not what I will but what You will” (Mark 14:36) and I know that “He who calls me is faithful and who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)  I look at my talents and offer them up knowing that “every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).  I know that as He is, so am I in this world (1 John 4:17) which means that the one who has bestowed upon me His own transcendent worth will make me into the same sort of servant; humble and meek.

In joyful humility, I cast myself utterly on Jesus and know that He will cause me to walk paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

The New King James Version of The Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Rightwise Meaning | Best 6 Definitions of Rightwise (yourdictionary.com)

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins+World Publishing Company, Cleveland • New York, 1976

Haralik, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson, Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1995

Hastings, James, Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 2001, Humility, Page 372

Strong, James, LLD., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Heart of The Father

13 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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I think I can say with certainty that every Christian is aware of the story of the Prodigal Son recounted in Luke Chapter 15.  I have heard numerous sermons on this chapter and numerous songs sung but each one have been about the Younger Son or, sometimes, about The Father.  I have never heard a sermon on the Elder Brother.  That is, until I heard Malcolm Smith preach one: five of them, actually.  The timing of these sermons is one of those little coincidences that come only from God.

I had been reading this story and found myself thinking the Elder Brother had a point.  Have you ever thought this way?  If so, I bet you never told anyone.  Everyone knows the Elder Brother was wrong in his attitude.  Even so, I couldn’t help thinking the Elder brother was making some valid points.  I knew I had to be wrong, but I had no answer as to why.  As I said, I had not-up to this point-heard a sermon on the Elder Brother.  Even Malcolm Smith, who preaches regularly on Luke 15 and especially the Prodigal Son, had never done a sermon on the Elder Brother that I knew of.  I did not know where to find an answer, so I made a journal entry.  I prayed about an answer and left the giving of that answer to The Lord and His timing.

First, why did I think the Elder Brother made some valid points?  I have been the one not invited to parties.  I imagine how the Elder Brother felt coming in from the fields and hearing the music.  I imagine how it felt to hear that the Younger Brother had come home and The Father had thrown a party and no one had come out to the field to get him and tell him.  I know what it feels like to be overlooked.  I can imagine the Elder Brother’s feelings at the fatted calf being slaughtered in celebration of the Younger Brother’s return.  The Father had never celebrated the Elder Brother.  Perhaps in his grief he never noticed the Elder Brother always there taking care of everything and never thought to throw a party for him.  If the Elder Brother was hurt and angry, wasn’t it possible he had good reason?  No.  Of course not.  Everyone knows the Elder Brother was mad that The Father didn’t treat the Younger Brother how he no doubt deserved to be treated.  Right?  Maybe.  All I could say for certain was I had an uncomfortable feeling that I was reading this all wrong, I did not understand what Jesus was saying in this story, and had no idea how to gain understanding.   

Within a short time of recording my thoughts in my journal, I reached Malcolm Smith’s Webinar 189 and heard him begin to speak on the Elder Brother.  It was liberating to hear him say almost word for word what I’d been thinking: that he’d sometimes thought the Elder Brother had some valid points and knew that he was wrong in thinking so.  Mr. Smith then proceeded to preach the first ever sermons I’d heard on the Elder Brother.  They are numbers 189-193 on Mr. Smith’s YouTube Channel and I’ll include a link to his channel at the end of his post.  I cannot recommend these sermons enough.  I found them to be of immense value.  Through them I learned that yes, I was mistaken to think the Elder Brother was making valid points.  In his own different way, he was as far from The Father as his Younger Brother.

It all boils down to relationship and how neither son had one with The Father.  The Younger Son was much more vocal about things by demanding his inheritance but he couldn’t get his without the Elder Brother getting his double portion (see Luke 15:12).  The story doesn’t have the Elder Brother offering up a word of protest as the Younger Brother made his demands.  And, the Elder Brother’s complaint is not that The Father never celebrated him but that The Father never threw a party for him and his friends.  He had no desire to celebrate anything with his father.  The Elder Brother had no understanding of The Father’s heart and the story doesn’t say he had any interest in doing so.

The heart of The Father.  I have been thinking about this for a while now and thinking about the attitudes of both sons in Jesus’ story.  The Younger Son at least came to a place where he could begin to understand the heart of his father and understand that heart was full of love.  Jesus leaves the story unfinished.  What about the Elder Brother?  Does he realize his father loved him so much he left the party to ask him to join?  Does he see that his father always loved him?  Does he respond to that love and join the celebration or does he remain in his anger?  Does he see that he never knew his father or understood The Father’s love?  Does he stay outside in the darkness where all he can do is hear the celebration and rage at it?

What will I do?  A few weeks ago I wrote that God had invited me to see people as He sees them.  This is true but not the entire truth.  I and every believer in Jesus, have relationship to the Father because we are in Jesus Christ and His Spirit lives in us (See Ephesians 2:18, John 14:6).  John 14:23 says, “…if a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (KJV).  Jesus is my Lord and Saviour, His is the name above all other names, and He had the preeminence in all things; yet I cannot have a relationship with Him without also having one with The Father.  God cannot be separated and wherever and however I meet Jesus, so also do I meet The Father. 

I find I don’t have to be afraid of Him.  I find He is not wrothing and frothing (to borrow from Joyce Meyer!) and is only restrained from tossing me into hell by the bloody horrific death of His son.  No, I find I can trust Jesus words when He says He and The Father are one (John 10:30).  I believe that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19).  I find The Father is safe.  I believe that He so loved the world that He gave.

What is harder to believe is that all of that love, all that He is, is for me.  I still feel as if I have to be doing something.  I can’t exist just to be the beloved of God, I have to do something.  I have to bear fruit, I have to go into all the world, I have to-I have to….I hear His voice saying, “My dear child, you are always with me, all that I have is yours.”  I realize then I’ve been working for Him and not having a relationship with Him.  I remember I cannot bear fruit on my own but only as I abide in Jesus and His life flows through me.  Relationship.  I remember my works are worth nothing unless they are the works prepared for me before the world began.  I only know what that is within relationship.  I remember that I can do good works, give all my money, even offer up my body and none of it means a thing if I don’t have love: the agape love that God is.  I only know that love and have it for myself if I have relationship with The Father.

Just this Sunday, the speaker during Service said, “God doesn’t heal in order to use.”  I had to write that down and it’s something I’ll be thinking about for a while.  How often I have begged to be used by God!  The Younger Son had his speech ready and was willing to work as a hired servant.  The place he’d known as son was surely no longer for him.  The Father didn’t listen.  He loved the son, dressed him, restored him, and threw a massive party.  I want to know the heart of that Father.  I set myself to seek the very heart of God.  I seek to cease from my labors and know I am beloved of God.  I boldly enter His presence, knowing a new and living way has been given to me by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-20, 22).  I find it’s not at all what I expected because The Father is having a party and all I have to do is join in.

Malcolm Smith’s YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MalcolmSmithWebinars/videos