No Greater Love Than His - In The Son of His Love--a blog

It's not all about us!!!

6/12/2025

There is a huge hole in Christendom. I started to say “Christianity”, but I don’t consider what I see today as anything resembling what my Jesus brought to earth! My Lord prayed to His Father in the most intimate chapter in all of Scripture, in John 17:23. “I in them, and YOU IN ME, that they may be made perfect in ONE; that the world may know that YOU have sent ME, and has loved them as YOU HAVE LOVED Me.” In verse 22 He Phrases it, “that the world may BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME.”
You see, everything that God has Done and is Doing is wrapped with this Divine Bow, the Love of the Father for His Son. All that God Does is all about Family LOVE!!! This is missing in Christendom! As Thomas Smail stated in his book years ago, “The Forgotten Father”, “we have a Christology and a Pneumatology, but we have no Paterology.” But it is far worse than that. It is not an additional “theology” that we need. It is an entirely corrected “Relationship” that we need!
Consider with me the prayer of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21. He has spent the whole of Ephesians 1:1-3:13 unwrapping and bringing his readers into fellowship with the Mystery...”which from the beginning of the world has been hidden in God, Who Created all things by Jesus Christ.” (3:9) His calling by grace was “to make all see what is the fellowship of this Mystery”. It is “for this cause I bow my knees unto the FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now note the “description” of this Father, “Of Whom the WHOLE FAMILY IN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS NAMED.” This Family Context is missing from Christendom and Christian “theology”, and I don’t mean the “family church” on the corner. This is the Divine Family, the Eternal Divine Relationship of Father, Son, bound together in the Spirit of Love, commonly called, and somewhat coldly so, the Trinity. It is into this Eternal Fellowship that the Father’s Will and Purpose adopted children for His Pleasure from before the foundation of the world.(Eph. 1:3-5) It is for this Eternal Fellowship that the Incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of the Beloved Son was accomplished as John speaks in I John 1:1-4. “That which we have seen and declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: AND TRULY OUR FELLOWSHIP IS WITH THE FATHER AND WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.” (Vs 4)
Christ didn’t come to “get people saved so they don’t have to go to hell.” That is a gross mis-statement of but a part of the Father’s Will and Purpose in the display of His Glorious Grace “wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”(1:6) The goal of our salvation is found in John 17:24, “Father, I will that they also, WHOM YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, may be WITH ME WHERE I AM; that they may BEHOLD MY GLORY, which you have give Me; FOR YOU LOVED ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”

Christ Jesus is the Covenant!!!

3/3/2025

      All that the Glorious God Wills, He fulfills in and through His Beloved Son. That is the message of the Apostle in Ephesians 1, especially verses 9-11, and again in Colossians 1:12-29 & 2:9-10. Take time to read these passages as they are foundational. That being the case, we expect to see our Lord Christ throughout scripture. He is God’s Means of revealing Himself unto us for His Glory, which is our only Good. (Hebrews 1:1-3) When we detach what God Does and Gives from His Beloved Son, we end up with theological “stuff” over which the carnal mind of man never ceases to argue. But more damaging than this, is the “depersonalization” of God’s Word and Work. We end up studying what God does and gives and fail to see “the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ”. (II Cor. 4:6)

            Let us consider God’s Covenant purpose, as a Glorious example. There are a myriad of voices on the subject of covenant, and I don’t intend to enter the fray. My only purpose is to suggest some “scriptural light” on the subject in the hope that it may unite our hearts in praise to our Glorious God Who has given us all things “according to His Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)
            In Genesis 15, after the account of the fall and the promise of the seed of the woman that would crush Satan’s head, we find God “cutting” a covenant with Abram, a man who was graced by God. God told Abram to split in two a three year old heifer, a three year old she goat, and to take a whole turtledove and young pigeon. As the sun went down, a deep sleep fell on Abram and “a great horror of darkness fell upon Him” Vs 12. God gave him the “seed” promise, that he would have a seed that would inherit a “promised land”. And God sealed that covenant in this way, “and when it came to pass, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.” It is significant that Abram was asleep when the oven and lamp passed between the pieces, indicating that the covenant was based on God’s Word alone, not Abrams’ two cents being added in. And of course this becomes the foundation of our justification, “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:3 from Gen. 15:6)
            The Apostle Paul, through the revelation given to him, makes it plain Who this Seed is. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to thy Seed,’ Who is Christ.” (Gal. 3:16) Therefore, according to Paul, the Seed has always been Christ and the physical seed of Abraham were not the Seed God was speaking of, but were a part of the “shadow covenant” that was continually pointing to the True Seed, Christ Jesus.
            In Psalm 89:3-4, we find this theme, again in shadow. “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.” A quick reading of Acts 2:25-36 will verify that the seed of David Is Christ Jesus.
            Isaiah, that great gospel writer of the Old Testament, provides us with two key passages. Isaiah 42 is a grand Messianic declaration of the Servant, the Father’s Elect One “in Whom My Soul delights”. (Compare Matt. 3:17) In verse 6 we read, “I, the LORD have called You in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep You and give YOU as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles.” In Luke 2:25-32, aged Simeon, brought to the temple by the Holy Spirit, adds Isa. 42:6 to his list of Isaiah passages fulfilled by the Babe in his arms!!!  He was beholding God’s Covenant!!!
            In Isaiah 49, we have the Servant prophecy again, giving once again hope to the gentiles (Vs 6), forecasting an international Gospel. In the middle of verse 8 we come across this message, “I will preserve You and give YOU as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.” Once again, the Servant of Jehovah is HIMSELF given as a covenant.
            Consider with me Hebrews 10. It begins, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image (reality) of the things, can never with these sacrifices (animals as in vs 2-4)….make those who approach perfect.” Verses 5-10 gives us one of the most beautiful truths in scripture.  This chapter is a contrast of bodies!  Verse 5 gives a Holy Spirit twist to Ps. 40:8, “But a body You have prepared for Me.” God prepared a Body for Christ that was the Adequate Flesh to replace those shadow sacrifices that brought no pleasure to the Most High. They were instituted as a matter of obedience to maintain the “shadow communication” with God, and to point the continual sinners to a Sufficient Sacrifice Who was to come!!! Romans 8:3-4 speaks to this very issue. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (both the flesh of the sacrifices and the flesh of the people), God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” The Body that God prepared for His Son is exactly what Perfect Holiness required to give access into the Presence of the Most High God. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.!!!” And our only hope of completeness is in His Perfect Flesh and Blood. (Colossians 2:9-10)
            Now consider Hebrews 10:19-20. We are exhorted to enter the Holiest, the very Presence of the Most High God, and that with a humble, grateful, and eager boldness. But notice, we enter by a “new and living way which He (This Man of the Perfect Body) consecrated for us through the veil, that is HIS FLESH!!!   Remember the cutting of the covenant with Abram? Turn to Matthew 27:45-51. Note the darkness from the 6th hour to the 9th hour, as with Abram, great darkness came upon Him. Hear the Man Christ Jesus’ sense of desertion for our sins, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” That was the darkest hour in human history and in Eternities annals. Now note Vs 50-51 Jesus yielded up His spirit, “and behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” The Perfect Body, the Perfect Flesh, the Perfect Sacrifice bore our awful death penalty, that His Father might be Just in His Righteousness, and yet be the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, the Perfect Man!!! (Romans 3:21-26)

            You see, the veil in the tabernacle in the wilderness and its succession of temples, was a picture of the truth “that in me, that is my flesh dwells no good thing”. (Romans 7:18a)
        There was no access into the Holiest Place, the Presence of the Most High God until a Perfect Flesh was come. Our flesh was a constant barrier to that Presence.
These very bodies that we coddle and pamper or despise and curse, they cannot do anything that pleases God, let alone bring an adequate sacrifice for our innumerable sins. The shadow sacrifices could not change the picture, for the veil continued to cut off the entrance to the Presence/Holy of Holies. The sacrifices had to be repeated over and over. But God prepared the Adequate Body, the One Who completely pleased the Father, for it was the God manifest in the flesh, the Man Christ Jesus that the Father showered His Pleasure on in His Baptism, the emblematic object lesson of what was soon to occur for our salvation. This Flesh and this Flesh only could be "cut" as the covenant of Eternal Redemption!!!
            One more blessing from Hebrews 10:9-10 “Then He said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God., He takes away the first (shadow covenant) that He may establish the second. By that will we have been set apart through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Consider carefully Hebrews 9:6-10. The shadow covenant was symbolic until the time of reformation. The Reality is now at the Right Hand of His Father, our Forerunner.

            But what about the smoking oven and the flaming torch of Genesis 15:17? Where is that in the Seed Sacrifice? Do you remember John the Baptist’s words just before this Declaration of the Father in Luke 3:16, “I indeed baptize you with water, but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandals I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Does that bring Scripture to mind? Acts 2:2-4 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind….Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” I am not ignoring the tongues in the passage but they are not pertinent to this discussion. They do point to the “gathering together In Christ of all things” as they evidence Gods’ reuniting what was scattered at the Tower of Babel.

            So what do we take from this? We have the Father’s declaration of His Satisfaction in His God/Man. We have the tearing of the veil in the temple at the God/Man’s death along with the Hebrews 10 statement that the True Veil that had to be torn in two for our redemption was His Perfect Flesh—that is the Body prepared for Him by the Father!!! And then we have the Holy Spirit of Fire passing through the Veil, that is the Perfect Satisfactory Flesh in our stead, and alighting upon each and every one of the disciples in the room, repeated upon others in Acts to show that the Holy Spirit is the Guarantee of the Covenant, and that for all people, Jew or Gentile, male or female. The Holy Spirit is God's indwelling verification, His indwelling word, the Christ in us, that the Covenant is sure and true. (Ephesians 1:13-14) God Himself would have to be torn from His Throne of Righteousness, His Holy Spirit yanked from the hearts of His people, for this covenant to fail. There is no more sacrifice possible for sin because the Perfect Body has been prepared as the Sacrifice for the sins of His People and a new and living way has been made for access into the Presence beyond the veil, and the Man Christ Jesus is Eternally our High Priest seated at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High as the Living Intercession for His People on the basis of the Once Done Perfect Sacrifice that Destroyed "him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:14-15)
            “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
                This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the Forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”  Hebrews 6:17-20

Mortal Life is a Lie

2/16/2025

  The phrase, "mortal life" is an oxymoron. Mortal in Webster's Dictionary, as an adjective, means "that must die". Used as a noun, it means "human being". So being mortal means that death is a necessary part of being human.   This is the lie that the Evil One has perpetrated upon humanity. The Good and Gracious God created the earth and humanity in it to live life, real life, eternal life-life by God's definition. He has no other meaning for life in His Dictionary!!! He placed man in an incredible garden of total supply and sustenance, a dwelling place with only one warning label, "of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." God's Garden wasn't like modern pharmaceuticals where the warning label out weighs the benefits!
        Enter the LIE. "And the serpent said to the woman, 'you shall not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'". And guess what, God's warning label was correct!!! They died. Eternal life dwindled into a death experience that was initially described as 969 years down to our "threescore and ten". From immortality to mortality in one bite!
        The sad result of the lie is that dead humans were led to define "life" by this death experience! Everything in human experience shouts death, but we call it life. This "life" has a "time' measurement. Time is a factor of death. Each second and millisecond is death. It can never be resurrected for a replay. This classic futility is manifested in contemporary man's obsession with "retirement'. How utterly futile! We are taught to work and save from our youth into our middle years for our "golden years". It is most often golden only for the medical communities pockets. The Apostle Paul sums this futility up in I Corinthians 15:32, "If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die."
        I don't know of a car manufacture that offers an eternal guarantee on their vehicles. Life insurance is an absurd concept. It isn't life insurance, it is a bet on your death! Everything is measured by death--from oil changes to land fills. Modern humanity has gone to greater lengths to perpetuate this illusion than any other time in history (a death term). Technology is certainly the "fountain of life'. From plastic surgery to cryopreservation (the preserving of dead bodies by freezing in the hope of recovery to life by future advanced technology), man is innately lusting for immortality. And yet the exploding suicide rate around the world manifests the loss of the "will to live" which is an epidemic of the loss of any hope and a conceding that "mortal life" is a lie after all. And so, humanity has come to accept the evil one's definition of life and in so doing, have sealed their fate.
        Most sadly, however, most of us that call ourselves "Christians" operate out of the same lying definition. Our modern "evangelistic" language perpetuates this error in our converts--and I submit that they are just that--our converts. We tell them to "invite Jesus into your life". NO, they do not have a life--they have an animated death! In such language, we are ignoring God's definition of life, the only one He acknowledges. Christ didn't come to modify death, to make it more comfortable! He came to give life! "I am come that you might have life". The Son of God took upon Himself our flesh that "through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH, were all their lifetime (fake life-note the measure term) subject to bondage." Hebrews 2:14-15 " For He (Christ our King) must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." I Corinthians 15:25-26
        So what is LIFE? "and this is LIFE ETERNAL, that they might KNOW (an intimate relational word) YOU, the Only True God and Jesus Whom You have sent." John 17:3
This is feasting at the Tree of Life, for Jesus says in John 6:53, "Most assuredly, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, YOU HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU!!!" "And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day". John 6:40 Have you seen the Son? Do you believe in Him? This is Eternal Life. And remember, Eternal Life has no time limit nor measurement!!!

The God Who is Relationship

2/10/2025

All that the One God "does" in Eternity and time flows out of the Will of the Father (Ephesians 1:3-11), in and through the Delighted Obedience of the Son (Psalm 40:6-8, Hebrews 10:5-10, John 6:38), and by the Power of the Glorious Spirit (Genesis 1:2, Luke 1:35, John 3:5-8. The Father is the Reservoir of Perfect Will out of which the revelatory obedience of the Son flows by the Power of the Spirit of His Glory. John 1:18 states that "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, Who IS IN the Bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." You can't get any closer than "bosom relationship". That speaks of oneness of heart, will and purpose. John 15:26 speaks of the Spirit of God as "the Spirit of Truth who proceeds (continually) from the Father." John 16:28 speaks of basically the same thing of the Son in His becoming a man like us,
"I came forth from the Father and have come into the world." This is the starting point of all consideration of the God of heaven and earth. He is the ONE GOD, Eternally Alive as three persons, always in union of one essence, but ever in distinct expression of Will, Obedient Declaration, and Glorious Power, never in isolation, always in Eternal Concert in the smallest expression as well as in the most glorious creation. To see one member of the Godhead alone in any activity is to miss two thirds of the Glory of God, or more acurately, to miss the High and Holy God nearly altogether!

Growth In Grace

1/27/2025

Growth in Grace is manifested as our wrestling with the Lord in our sins grows into a wrestling IN the Lord with our sins! This is "Throne of Grace" wrestling. Having learned that we have no strength in ourselves to subdue our sins, most always learned the hard way, to put to death the deeds of the body, we learn to live at the foot of the Throne of Grace, the Throne of the Power of God, where our Precious Jesus sits & intercedes and mediates His glorious Blood Bought Mercy and Grace. This is Habakkuk 3:17-19 faith. This is David's faith in 2 Samuel 15:26. There must be fingernail scratches on the Throne of Grace!! We must obtain "new every morning Mercy" for we are such weak sinners, and we must find always undeserved Grace to help in the continual time of our desperate need! Only the fresh revelations of our Redeemer King/Priest's resources can bring strength and comfort over our sins. STARE AT MY SIN AND I AM DOOMED! LOOK UNTO MY JESUS AND MY HOPE HAS NO SHAME!!!

God's Mysterious Ways

1/12/2025

This post is from 2012, as the Lord closed one chapter in my faith walk and opened a whole new adventure, a new adventure in the Biblical truth, "The Just shall live by faith".

I have been away from this site for awhile, closing a business of 30 years and learning and starting a new job. Our Loving God has shown me a new level of belief and trust. And it has been a bit scary. Walking in the Spirit is to walk/live by faith. That means we no longer live by sight but have entered into the realm of the unseen--even in visible circumstances! Our only security is the Word of God! Our only comfort is the indwelling God, the Holy Spirit. This walking in the Spirit casts most circumstantial evidences to the wind. Circumstances are no longer the fuel of our faith, nor the devastation of our faith. Our hope is in our God alone. As one old saint put it, "we should sit low at His Feet and watch His Hand."
    This terrifies the flesh! Through the years we each have built little "safe houses" that we retreat to when circumstances are out of our control (as if they are ever under our control!). These are places we go where the flesh feels comfortable and "safe" for a while. All of our addictions fall into this category--addiction to alcohol, food, sex, television, shopping--all are "safe houses" that dull the senses for a time. They all have undesirable consequences, but immediate relief from the present circumstances seems worth the high cost.
    The Holy Spirit comes with the scalpel of the Word of God & exposes the futility of our "safe houses". Romans 8 says that the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death--its constant accusations and morbid fear of uncontrollable circumstances. The Spirit of God works in our inner man to take away our dependence on our "flesh havens". He brings Truth to bear and and exposes the lie and futility of our escapes. Oh, but how our world/flesh/devil trained flesh rebels. It is terrified! This new "freedom" that the Spirit speaks of, initially feels more terrifying than free. Believe the Word of the Invisible God in the face of my visible real circumstantial difficulty??? Oh how the flesh strains and sometimes succeeds to return to the old "safe houses", but the resulting emptiness & aloneness is greater than any momentary relief. That is because the Spirit of Life dwells in us & has given us a taste of life and the old death is now just frustrating & empty. "The body is dead because of sin."
    The flesh has had years of training! It's two "drinking buddies", the world & the devil are going all out to keep their companion in the flesh fold. But again, our Loving God has made provision for this battle. "For if you live after the flesh, you will die, but if you THROUGH THE SPIRIT do put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live." Romans 8:13 And what does the Spirit do in the midst of our "flesh/spirit" battle? He strengthens our inner man (the new man) by making Christ to dwell in our hearts BY FAITH. (Ephesians 3:16-17) He convinces us in increasing measure that Christ Jesus is our only Righteousness, and He is our continual access to our Loving Heavenly Father Who Is All our Security and Peace! He convinces us that we are to live constantly at the Throne of Mercy and Grace. And bit by bit, the Truth of the Word of God begins to make inroads upon the fear and anxiety of our circumstantial existence. It is all about believing the Word of the Invisible God. May we all grow into the understanding of my mother, a dear tested and tried saint. Her words (which drove me crazy at the time) were, "God Said it, I believe it, and that settles it."
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Faith Fuel for the Battles in this World

12/1/2024

1 John 5:4b-5a “And this is the victory that overcomes the world, OUR FAITH.
Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that BELIEVES that JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.”

John has given us the Divine Imperative of all of God’s Actions and Promises to His children. This belief is much more than mere historical assent to the history of Jesus coming into the world. It is likewise imperative that His children have a “faith adjustment” each morning. Upon awakening, we are attacked by the realities of this fallen world. Aches and pains, the duties of the day, relational conflict, financial woes, and on and on. We must address this barrage with the faith fuel of the Word of God. And it includes all that we have in Christ Jesus, the Son of God/Son of Man.
I John 4:9 “In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, THAT WE MIGHT LIVE THROUGH HIM!!! Our faith is to live upon the fact of the Son of God Who has already overcome the world.(John 16:33)
Remember the claims of Hebrews 1 regarding this One who is the Word of God?
This Sent On is the appointed Heir of all that the Father possesses.(Revelation 4:11) He is the One by whom the Father made the worlds.(Colossians 1:16) He is the Brightness of the Father’s Glory, the very Express Image of the Father’s Person. He upholds all things by the word of His Power. It was He, by Himself that purged our sins. When His work was complete, He sat down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High, the place of complete satisfaction of the Father’s Will and Purpose(Ephesians 1:9-11),
The Apostle Paul elaborates further on the benefits of this Glorious Person to His beloved people. In Ephesians 1:19-23, in his prayer, he asks that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God that they might know the exceeding greatness of the Father’s power toward to all who truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, which He manifested for us when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own Right Hand far above all power, might and dominion; and gave Him a name above all names forever. The Father has put all things under His feet and given Him to be head over all things to the church.
We are to live upon and pray in the Name of this Jesus who “is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25) He has already destroyed the devil and his power of death by leaving it all in the grave in His Glorious resurrection.(Hebrews 2:12-15) But we only benefit from this victory through faith in Him and all He has done for us.
So consider Him and His Might and Power in the aforementioned verses and seek out many more that declare what our God and Father has done for us in and through the blood and righteousness of His Son, and made real to and in us by His Spirit. So drag all of those “necessary evils” to the Throne of Grace where your Jesus is ready to mediate His Grace to help in our continual time of need. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!!!
“Saved by faith alone, this is all my plea. Jesus died for all mankind and Jesus died for me”.

September 07th, 2024

9/7/2024

"The Love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win; His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin."
    "Could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the Love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho stretched from sky to sky"
    "O Love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong" It shall forevermore endure--the saints' and angels' song!
    Fredrick Lehman 1917

    The Relationship that is God from all eternity, that Radiance of Union that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One in Essence, distinct in Roles, has ever been the Glorious Eternal Life in which no imperfection could dwell. This Glorious Bond is Eternally Radiated as a Precious Radiant Jewel, each facet blazing with perfect Balance and Glory from the Inner Source that is the Essence of the Godhead. The Father, Son and Spirit ever abode in Perfect Love. Their Relationship was ever Perfect Love.
    God's will to show forth His Glory in its fullness, (mysteriously to us) chose to manifest that Glory in creation and redemption. Yes, He foreknew the fall of that creation, but mysteriously and Righteously, He chose to reveal His Glory and Goodness against a dark canvas, the only way certain facets of His Glory could be seen. We know that His Glory is the ultimate goal, for we speak of "three stages" of redemption as Justification, Sanctification, and GLORIFICATION. By glorification we mean that the Redeemed are brought to dwell for all Eternity in the Glory of God Through the Glorious God Man Jesus, in a new heaven and a new earth where the Presence of the Father and the Lamb are the Light. (II Peter 3:10-13, Revelation 21:22-23)
    Impossible to comprehend? In the here and now, the only way to comprehend and apprehend this is by faith. For the very existence of the Justified is by faith and faith alone! (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38) But the path to this apprehension is shown in Ephesians 3:14-21, in the Apostle Paul's prayer. Important to our discussion is first of all, verse 16-17. Paul asks the Father to strengthen them (and us) by His Spirit in their inner man--"that Christ may dwell in your hearts BY FAITH; that you may being ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know THE LOVE OF CHRIST which surpasses (intellectual) knowledge." Now notice the goal of Paul's prayer, "THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD."
    So you see, God's means of approaching, comprehending, and apprehending the Love of God is only through having Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith (that's the only ground and root out of which this comprehension can grow, and is the work of the Holy Spirit), and wonders of wonders, such a knowledge of the LOVE OF CHRIST is the means of being FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS OF GOD. Do you get it? To know (intimate relationship with) the Love of Christ is to be filled with the fullness of God which is the Love of God.! Just a reminder, such a miracle is only possible because in Christ "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete IN HIM." (Colossians 2:9 & 10)
    Is this too high for you? Does it give you a headache? Does it seem impossible? Then make Paul's prayer for the Ephesians (and us) your very breath!

September 02nd, 2024

9/2/2024

The Father's power has been worked mightily toward all who truly believe, in His exaltation of His risen Christ to His Right Hand in the Heavens, far above all principalities and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, and has put all under His feet, and given Him to be head over all to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all. Ephesians 1:19-23(adapted to my subject)
The exalted victorious Christ is at the Father's Right Hand, waging war until His enemies are made His footstool, the last enemy is death. These enemies are those, Satan being their head, who are seeking to erase God's creative image from the earth, man being the pinnacle as God's created image bearer.
The restoration is to the Image of the Son (Eph. 1:9-10) by Whom He created all things.(John 1:3, Heb. 1:2) His Incarnate Son, is the firstborn among many brethren(Rom. 8:9), the firstborn of every creature(Col. 1:15) the firstborn from the dead(Col. 1:18), the Ultimate Victory over him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. His people, this body, are now the church of the Firstborn.
Beloved, may we live by faith in our birthright, our inheritance in Christ Jesus. "Behold, what manner of Love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." (1 John 3:1)

The Incarnation of Christ

8/19/2024

The incarnation of Christ is the foundation of all other actings of God for us: it is the very hinge, on which all turn; it is the cabinet (treasure chest) wherein all the designs of God do lie. Oh what a sweet object of faith is this. I know there are some other things in Christ which are more proper for some acts of faith, as Christ dying is most proper of the pardon of actual sin, and Christ rising from the dead for the evidencing of our justification; but the strongest and purest acts of faith are those which take in Christ as such a person, laid out in all His Glory. Christ's incarnation is more general than Christ's passion, or Christ's resurrection , and, as some would have it, includes all. Christ's incarnation holds forth in some sort Christ in His fullness, and so it is the full and complete subject of our faith. Come, poor soul, thy eyes are running to and fro, to find comfort and happiness on earth. O cast thy eyes back, and see heaven and earth in one Object! Look fixedly on Christ incarnate; there is more in this than all the variety of this world, or of that world to come. Here is an object of faith, and love, and joy, and delight; a compendium of all glories.
We are indeed to believe on God, but we cannot come to God but through a Mediator, and hence faith must directly go to Christ, as God in our flesh. O the infinite condescension of God in Christ! God takes up our nature, and joins Himself as one person, and lays that before our faith: so that here is God, and God suited to the particular state and condition of the sinner. Now with what boldness may our souls draw nigh to God? Why art thou estranged, poor soul? Why standest thou afar off, as if it were death to draw nigh? Of Whom art thou afraid? Is God come down amongst men, and canst thou not see Him, lest thou die and perish? Oh, look once more, and be not discouraged. See, God is not come down in fire, in the armor of justice and everlasting burning. No, He is clothed with the garments of flesh, HE DESIRES TO CONVERSE WITH THEE AFTER THINE OWN FORM. He is come down to beseech thee, to see with thine own eyes thy eternal happiness.
Oh, that ever there should be a heart of unbelief after these sensible demonstrations of Divine Glory and Love. Tell me, what would thou have God do more? Can He manifest Himself in a more suitable way to thy condition? Is there anything below flesh wherein the great God can humble Himself for thy good? It is sad to see believers shy in their approaches to God, or doubtful of their acceptance with Him, WHEN GOD HIMSELF STOOPS FIRST, AND IS SO IN LOVE WITH OUR ACQUAINTANCE THAT HE WILL BE OF THE SAME NATURE THAT WE ARE!

Isaac Ambrose 1604-1644