The Glory of the Law of Love

Dear Father,

You have always been glorious. You have saved Your people while bringing destruction on all who oppose You in order to put Your glory on display. Your Law has been given to us so that we might live within Your glorious Presence. There is more to be written here than I could ever understand now. Please help me to convey a small piece of the supremacy of Your Law over the laws of men, the accountability of mankind with regard to Your Law, and the revelation of Your glory that results from our obedience to the Great Command. Our spirits are in Your Hands, our Sovereign Father.
In Jesus Christ's Name,
Amen

³ We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. ⁴ The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. ⁵ But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did. I John 2

     God's purpose in this letter is to show us the glory of His Law, summed up in the single command to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Rom 13:9). The glory of God (הָדָר) is the revealed splendor, majesty, honor, and beauty of Himself. The glory of God is His revealed HOLINESS, the perfection of His righteous character. The glory of God is the object of the view of Him Who is the irresistable essence of perfection from which on the day when we see Him Face to face we will never be able to remove our gaze. His glory is the beauty of His perfect goodness, love, mercy, justice, and Truth. 

     His Good and Righteous Law was put into effect so that we may walk forever in the Light of His glory. His Law supercedes the laws of men because they are able to distinguish between the "holy and the common" (Ez 22:26) and because when they are obeyed mankind is able to "live" (חָיַי or to be quickened, revived, restored, and preserved; Ez 20:21). God holds mankind accountable to His Law with regard to the needed rejection of the sin of our ancestors which dwells within our flesh and the blood of those who need to hear the Truth of the Gospel. And finally His message is that our obedience to His Great Command to love our neighbors as ourselves will result in the removal of the blindness that had prevented us from viewing the great love of God for each member of our Spiritual family. Obedience to His Great Command, though temporarily painful, results in the promised revelation of His glory, which will transform our souls into His likeness.

The Supremacy of the Law of God over the laws of Men

     God has given us His Law in order that we might remain within His Presence. For the moment the evil root of rebellion grew within our hearts and we stumbled in even one point, we would have been cast out from His Presence as Adam and Eve were cast out form the Garden of Eden and the perfect Union with their Creator. He has purposed for us to to remain within His Presence where His glory would be displayed before our eyes. If we had beheld His glory we would have been filled with awe and worship. In the midst of our complete adoration and exaltation of Him, our spirits would live. We would thrive and our hearts would leap for joy in the splendor of His majesty and the brightness of the Light of His Face. For those who have seen glimpses of His glory, their hearts cry is '"Seek His Face", Your Face, Lord, I will seek' (Ps 27:8). His Law was given in love. By obedience to His Law alone would we live in the Light of His Presence and see the glory that would command our joy and our worship for all eternity. For God has told us that "the man who obeys them [His Laws] would LIVE BY THEM" (Ez 20:21).

     But we know that we have broken His Law from the moment our souls were formed and we have been cast out from His Presence and He had become to us as the One who "lives in unapproachable Light" (I Tim 6:16) and the One who tells us "No one may see Me and live" (Ex 33:20). Our great rebellion and fear has caused us to form our own law derived from the requirements of the Law which are written on our hearts. The making of our own laws had been our blind attempt to deceive ourselves into thinking that we could escape the coming wrath.

     ¹⁴ (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, ¹⁵ since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) ¹⁶ This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. Rom 2

     The laws which we had made for ourselves were not able to keep us within the Presence of God. For we had already been cast out from It and there was no hope in our sinful souls for us to every return to it with our self-righteousness. Our own laws were not able to distinguish between what was truly righteous and what was unrighteous. Even the religious leaders among the world could not discern the Truth. Our laws could never "judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart". Our laws could not "divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow" (Heb 4:12). The laws of men had no clarifying power or purpose as the perfect Law of God did. Our laws were altogether useless and could never define the Truth. 

²⁶ Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.  Ez 22

     Furthermore, our own laws resulted in the development of all kinds of false religions and our worship of created things. We could not live by these laws that we had made. We could not see His glory. Our worship of created things and our belief in falsehoods led us to atrocious acts which further defied the perfect Law of God. We were even deceived to the point of sacrificing our children to the demonic forces of materialism, entertainment, the occult, deceitful teachings, and the flames. The result of our instituting of our own laws was that we were filled with horror.

²¹ “‘But the children rebelled against Me: They did not follow My decrees, they were not careful to keep My laws —although the man who obeys them will live by them—and they desecrated My Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out My wrath on them and spend My anger against them in the desert. ²² But I withheld My hand, and for the sake of My name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. ²³ Also with uplifted Hand I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries, ²⁴ because they had not obeyed My laws but had rejected My decrees and desecrated My Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their fathers’ idols. ²⁵ I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by; ²⁶ I let them become defiled through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn—that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the Lord. ’ Ez 20

     Knowing that we would refuse to keep His Laws, the Sovereign Lord had still delivered Them to us. He has delivered His Law to us in order that we may come to believe in His Gospel through which He intended to reveal His glory. 

²³ Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Gal 3

     It became apparent to us that none of us "could be justified by observing the law" (Gal 2:16). As we saw our helpless estate and writhed in the agony of our weakness and incompetency, "we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to the people of the world" (Is 26:18). He was then pleased to reveal His glorious Gospel: the wrath of the Father poured out on the Son, Jesus Christ, the tremendous sacrifice of love of the Trinity, the omnipotence of God who has raised Christ from the dead, and the judgement of God against "everything that causes sin and all who do evil" (Matt 13:41). Now His glory is revealed in part to those who have believed for salvation and have the Spirit of God. His glory may be revealed because Christ has satisfied the Law. He has condemned our sin so that the righteous requirements of the Law are fully met in us. Furthermore, the indwelling Spirit allows us to live within the Presence of God and in obedience to His Commands...in obedience to the Law of the Spirit of Life.

 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of Life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man,⁴ in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.Rom 8

Two Areas of Man's Accountability to God's Law

     As we behold the degradation of our society, we ought to consider who it is that is to be held accountable for the great "flood of dissipation" (I Peter 4:4) that we behold in the world around us. As those who have been brought from death to life, from darkness to light, and from bondage to sin to the freedom of righteousness, we understand that "it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God". We know that our "judgment" refers to the Father's discipline and the acts of the refining Word of God. For "When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world" (I Cor 11: 32). Our Master has commanded us to take the lowest place. In this case, our most favorable state is to be broken, contrite, and assuming of much responsibility for in this manner we "submit to the Father of our Spirits and live" (Heb 9:12). For ultimately we cast the burden of our responsibility onto Christ who bore our due punishment. God reminds us of two areas in which we are held accountable as His children:

1. We are accountable to God to reject the evil conduct of our ancestors that dwells within our flesh. 

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. I Peter 1

     When a child refuses to repent of and renounce the sin of an ancestor, there is a sense in which the guilt of the ancestor is passed on to a child. For the refusal to repent of this sin reflects a hardened hearts which harbors the very same motives and carnal desires which resulted in the ancestral sin. God reminds us that "sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all men have sinned" (Rom 5:12). In the Spiritual realms, the child takes on the character of the father for Jesus Himself was the "exact representation" of the Father (Heb 1:3). We come into this world loaded with the sin and guilt of our ancestors. Many of their idols and weaknesses lay hold on our flesh. There is a bent of our flesh towards the sin of our ancestors. Without the Father's quickening intervention, we would be prone to walk in the "aimless conduct of our forefathers". And yet the justice of God commands that "the soul who sins in the one who will die". We are accountable to God for the sin of our ancestors. We are commanded to openly renounce and repent of the sins of our forefathers, to claim that they have no hold on us in the Name of Christ, and to decide for ourselves this day that we will follow the Lord. 

¹⁹ “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. ²⁰ The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.

²¹ “But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. ²² None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. ²³ Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

²⁴ “But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?²⁶ If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. ²⁷ But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. ²⁸ Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. ²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

³⁰ “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent!Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! Ez 18

2. We are accountable to God for the blood of those who need to hear the Gospel.

²⁶ If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9

     As Ezekiel describes the watchman who is accountable for the blood of those whom he had refused to warn of the coming danger, we are accountable for the blood of those who need to hear the Gospel. We are commanded to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every one (Matt 28:16-20). It is not as though we will not be forgiven for each missed opportunity or for the momentary sins of the flesh that prevented us from walking with the Spirit in boldness with our feet shod in readiness with the Gospel of peace. For if this were the case, there would be no one who would not be condemned with the blood of many souls on their heads. But our belief in the Gospel is accompanied by our obedience to His call to preach. Our love for and belief in the Truth is evidenced by our great boldness and longing to preach Gospel. True belief is accompanied with the heart's cry, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (I Cor 9:16). We are held accountable for failure to preach because the failure to preach reflects that we had never truly believed in the death and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the new Life in Christ. For if we had truly believed unto salvation, we would have seen His glory through the Spirit. We would have been changed forever so that we may obey the Gospel and Its Great Commission. When we know the Truth and refuse to preach, we are accountable for the blood of those who need to hear the Gospel in the same manner that we are accountable for hearing the Gospel for ourselves and not believing unto salvation. For if we had believed unto salvation, we certainly would have preached. If we are saved, we are being transformed so that we may be bold and effective witnesses of His glorious Gospel. Refusal to preach the Gospel indicates unbelief in the Gospel for which the hearers of the Truth are completely accountable.

The Word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, ⁴ then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die, ’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. ⁹ But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.
¹⁰ “Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live? ”’¹¹ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
 Ez 33

Obedience to the Law of Love Results in the Revelation of God's Glory

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true Light is already shining. I John 2

     If we had been able to keep the Law of God we would have never departed from His glory. Though we had been utterly rebellious, as we believe in the Gospel, the righteous requirements of the Law are met in us, and we are able to obey the Law. We are able to obey the law because we are following the New Command of love. For the Spirit has poured the love of the Father into our hearts. This love of the Father has granted us knowledge of the Father's love for all of His children revealed in the Gospel. This knowledge has filled us with the same love for His children. As we think, feel, and live within this love, we are at the same time walking in obedience to the entire Law of God. All of the commands of His original Law are summarized in the New Command to "Love your neighbor as yourself". LOVE IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. As we love, we are contained within His Presence and not cast out from His glory. As we love, we are able to see His glory. We are able to rejoice in the perfection of His revealed holiness. We are able to exult in the splendor of His exalted Name. Our souls are able to drink deeply of the Water of Life and to be nourished by His Word. We are able to approach Him with freedom and confidence with our "hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience" (Heb 10:22). 

⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom 13

     As we love as Christ loved, we are "doing right". We are commanded now to speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the Law that gives freedom. The Law that gives freedom is His command to show mercy. For if we loved others as we loved ourselves, we would show others mercy. For we ourselves would ask for mercy. We would have nothing to be said in our defense. It is not as though we had a perspective that needed to be understood or explained so as to justify our souls. There was only One God who understood our perspective in Truth. He understood that we were altogether wicked in every motive of our hearts apart from Him. And yet He has showed us His merciful salvation. We are eternally redeemed through this revelation of His loving kindness.


⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the Law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! James 2


     The new Law commands for us to show the same mercy to the family of God. Our showing of His mercy and love is yet again evidence of our true receiving of His mercy and love. In this sense we are called to speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the Law that gives freedom. We press on to know His love and mercy so that we may deliver what we have known from the Father and so be assured of our inheritance in our knowledge of Christ.

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him.¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. I John 4

     Our disobedience to the New Command of love results in the blindness of our hearts towards God's love to our own souls and His love towards the souls of His children around us. Our refusal to love and to forgive effectively blocks our vision of His glory. Our sight of Him is diminished and blurred through our refusal to love and forgive. This would be fatal considering that the revelation of His glory is what transforms us into His likeness and what brings us the inexpressible and glorious joyful hope that allows us to stand firm until the end and so be saved. If we do not continually see His glory, we would surely fall away. Our refusal to love and forgive blinds our eyes and prevents us from seeing others as God sees them. 

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. ¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.1 John 2

     We must remember that His call to love is a call to faith and a call to forgive. For often our Christian family is walking more in the flesh than in the Spirit and thus we will be forgiving very often. We know that Christ is, even at this moment, doing the same for our own soul as He intercedes for us before the Father. For those who do not yet believe, the call to love them is the same. In the case of unbelievers, we are facing the devil (the accuser). For these unbelievers had not shown us the grace, forgiveness, and love that our heavenly Father has shown us. The only disposition left to be held in the soul of another towards us is that of the devil who came to steal, kill, and destroy. We can never be loved by those who walk in the flesh as Christ loved us while we were still sinners. Those who walk in the flesh could never bring any rest to our souls. For even their admiration or flattery was based on the fading glories within us which would make our hearts so very insecure if we trusted in them. And in their ignoring of us or accusation against us, they had refused to remind us of our Father's loving gaze which forever remains on us. In this sense, we are facing the devil in those who walk in the flesh, those who "do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men" (Mark 8:33)...the very people whom Christ commands us to love. His command to love by doing to others as we would have them do to us, is a command to forgive them for walking in their flesh. And our obedience to this command is a choice that we make in faith. There may be nothing at all in the person that we deem lovely and there may be no feeling of tenderness and compassion in our hearts at the moment of decision. Yet we are called to suffer in our obedience to His command to do to them what we would have them do to us. We would have for God to forgive us and to show us His mercy. And so in faith, we deny the irritation and agony of the flesh, and we die. Yes, we crucify the turmoil of the flesh with the all-surpassing faith that He has given us in His glorious Gospel. His command to love was for the good of the objects of our love and for the good of our own soul. For as we suffered in the flesh in obedience to His command, we are putting to death the most hard parts within us. We are tearing off the blinders that remained over our eyes. The glory would soon come. The suffering of the flesh would only be for a short time. 



¹³ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴ The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
¹⁶ So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷ For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit,you are not under law. Gal 5

      The result of our crucifying the flesh and the "putting to death the misdeeds of the body" is that "we will live" (Rom 8:13). We will be conformed to the image of Christ. We will be "transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Cor 3:18). As we experienced the excruciating death of our own flesh involved in the loving of the other person who walked in their flesh, God soon removes the veil of our blindness and we behold the glorious love of God. 

¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.¹³ But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed whenHhis glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4

²⁴ Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness— ²⁶ the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. ²⁷ To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1

     We acknowledge that God had loved that person and that He has loved us. In this manner He reveals His glory as we walk in faith and in obedience to His command to love. The glory of His revealed love far exceeds our expectations. "He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us" (Eph 3:20). The joy that we receive when we behold the love of God for the other person humbles our soul and causes us to denounce the former hardness of our flesh that had resisted our initial outpouring of love. Just a single sight, dear family, of the glory of God will captivate us and perfect the attitudes of our heart. This sight will fill us with the joy of His Presence. As we behold His glory we are transformed into His image. On the day when we see Him Face to face, we will behold His glory in full, and then we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is (I John 3:2) We must obey His command to love for "without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Heb 12:14). Believe that there is something that exists called "The Glory of God" and that if you trust and obey, He will surely show His goodness to You. He will hide you in the cleft of the Rock of Jesus Christ and He will pass by you. His loving kindness is immeasurable.


²² I have given them the glory that you gave Me, that they may be one as We are One: ²³ I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
²⁴ “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world. ²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent me. ²⁶ I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them.”
John 17




Excellent Testimony of the Glory of the Law of Love: The Story of Ian and Larissa

Thank Offerings Honor Him and Prepare the Way for His Salvation

Dear Father,

     Thank You for Your great love for Yourself. Thank You for Your deep desire for Your own honor and glory. Thank You that for Your own Name's sake You show us Your salvation. Please teach us that as we thank You, we are throwing off the disbelief of our flesh and walking in the faith that results in Your salvation. As we thank You, we honor You and grow in our longing for Your honor above our own. Please increase our faith.

In Jesus Christ's Name,

Amen

22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue: 

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me,
and he prepares the way
so that I may show him the salvation of God. Ps 50:23

     God's purpose in this letter is to inspire us to sacrifice thank offerings to Him. Thank offerings (תּוֹדָה) are expressions of our praise, adoration, and thanks towards God. We have been lax in our thanking of Him or we have reserved our thank offerings for special occasions. God's message to us is that our sacrificing of thank offerings must be an enduring, continual, and faithful practice and way of life as we follow Christ. For in the very act of thanking Him, we are throwing off the old self with its disbelief and darkened perspective towards the heavenly Kingdom and putting on the new self which is filled with a heart of faith. It is this very faith that accompanies thanksgiving that results in the salvation of God in all areas of our life. Of utmost importance, our thanking of Him uproots our lack of longing for His honor and instills within us the long-awaited zeal for His honor. Our thank offerings bring glory and honor to Him as we behold His ongoing deliverance and salvation. 

16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thess 5

Refusal to Thank Him is Disbelief

     Before our eyes were opened to behold the glory of salvation and His righteousness, our thinking was futile and our foolish hearts were darkened. We were on a path that led to destruction. We could not comprehend the Truth and were falling along this path to our eternal destruction with no hope of salvation. We could not comprehend His sovereignty and power to dictate the events of the lives of men. We could not believe that He loved us to the point of giving up His own Son so that we may live. We could not comprehend that in Christ we would be "blessed in the heavenly realms with every Spiritual blessings in Christ" (Eph 1:3). We did not realize that "He who did not spare His own Son but graciously gave Him up for us" would "graciously give us all things" according to His perfect grace, wisdom, and purpose (Rom 8:32). Because we had not known or experienced the splendor of salvation or the majesty of His glory and honor, we could not thank Him. In the deadness of our hearts towards Him, we were unable to thank Him. 

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Rom 1
     Our refusal to thank Him was not without effect. There were certain life-bringing results of our thankfulness and gratitude which could not be experienced through any other way. Thus, our refusal to thank Him left us with little to honor and glory in except the fallen world and the fallen self. The depth of our minds and hearts which were formed and designed to adore the One True God were cut off from life and hope as we denied His worth. We resorted to idolatry by clinging to the idols which were not worthy of thanks or adoration. 

8 “Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to You.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:8-9

    In our clinging to our idols we forfeited the "grace of God that brings salvation" which "teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly in the present age" (Titus 2:11-12). In our failure to thank Him, we forfeited His grace and salvation. We gave up the power to "tame the tongue" (James 3:8) and to exhibit self-control. Our ungratefulness was characterized by our obscenity in character, our foolish talk, and coarse joking.

4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Eph 5 

      Even for us who claim to know Him, our failure to thank Him resulted in our temporary disbelief in His great and precious promises. We became anxious and concerned with all sorts of "civilian affairs" and forgot that our purpose was to please our "commanding Officer" (2 Tim 2:4). We temporarily exalted the trials of the world above the great salvation of our God. We yielded to the deceptive aura of power that the evil spirits associate with our trials. We were led to believe that these trials and troubles held sway over our lives and kept us in bondage. During these times, we were unable to thank Him. We were deceived to desire our own honor and glory above the glory and honor of our God. And this has been the most bitter deception. For we have learned that it was the death to the longing of the honor of self and the restoring of the longing for God's honor that would have brought complete satisfaction and delight to our souls. Even as we tried to thank Him in our souls, we felt resistance...a deep and soul draining resistance. We had almost given in to the "spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Eph 2:2). Our minds and hearts were sunk into the heart of the carnal earth. But in His restorative power, He would soon lift our eyes to His glorious throne. He would soon lift our eyes from the grave. We would soon thank Him. We would soon adore and praise Him. HE WOULD ENABLE US TO BELIEVE AND SO THANK HIM. He imparts His grace and instills true faith in us so that we may not perish but rather love the truth and so believe unto salvation.

He Inspires Us to Thank Him With His Wonderful Deeds For Men (Psalm 107)

     He has shown us His unlimited grace and love in the form of His "wonderful deeds for men" (Ps 107) so that we may be taught to thank Him for His unfailing love. For we had no hope of thanking Him on our own. 

     Many were captive under the hand of the evil one. They were scattered in places where they were alone, hungry, and thirsty. They had no good Shepherd, but followed the hired hands who did not lead them by still waters and green pastures. They were following the desires of their hearts with no lasting peace. They looked for Truth but found none. Their souls ebbed away in the sin that they could not escape. These people CRIED TO THE LORD IN THEIR TROUBLE. God's wonderful act was to deliver them from their distress and to lead them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. This city was the Kingdom of God and the boundary lines of His righteous Law. He satisfied their thirst with His living Water and their hunger with His Bread of Life. 

      Others sat in darkness and the deepest gloom. These were prisoners suffering in iron chains. Our prison walls and chains were the states of darkness that accompanied our disbelief in the Truth. For "the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law" (I Cor 15:56). Our inability to keep the law held us in bondage to the wrath of God and the prison of Spiritual isolation and weakness. Our dead souls were incapable of the faith needed to see His glory. We had rebelled against the very Words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. For this reason God subjected them to bitter labor. These people CRIED TO THE LORD IN THEIR TROUBLE and He saved them from their distress, brought them out of darkness, and the deepest gloom, and broke away their chains. He breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron. The Son had set them free and they were free indeed (John 8:36).

     We had been fools in our rebellious ways and even all of our afflictions fell short of the just payment for our sin. As we wasted away in sin, we loathed even the idols that we had sought before for pleasure. As the gates of hades drew near, we CRIED TO THE LORD IN OUR TROUBLE. And He saved us from our distress. He sent forth His Word to heal and clean us. His Word has brought forth life to our dead hearts. His Words have become Spirit and Life to us. He rescued us from the looming gates of death. 

      We had gone out as merchants among the peoples of the world. Even before we had known His salvation, we saw His works. He beheld His authority to "fell the lofty trees" and to "bring low the tall tree" (Is 10:33). We acknowledged that we were powerless to control the events of our lives. We saw that by His exalted right Hand the world came into existence and by His Hand nations and kingdoms  werebrought to nothing. Great fear and dread came upon us as we realized His awesome authority and His just wrath towards evil-doers. In our danger, our courage melted away. WE CRIED TO THE LORD IN OUR TROUBLE and He delivered us. He set still the storms of our life by granting us His Presence as our resting and dwelling place. Christ has become the abode and the solid Rock on which we stand. 

Thank Offerings Exhibit Faith that Results in His Salvation

       As we have experienced His deliverance from our distress, we overflowed with thankfulness and gratitude for His unfailing love. Each distress that we encounter is yet another arena for Him to reveal His deliverance to us. Each distress is only considered troubling to our hearts, minds, and bodies because we have yet to learn the "secret of being content in any and every circumstance" (Phil 4:12) and that "He who promised is faithful" (Heb 10:23). The description of the types of salvation in Psalm 107 that God bestows to His people applies to our initial belief in the Gospel and to our ongoing progress in the faith. For we know that we are daily faced with burden-upon-burden and temptations that come like arrows. In light of our belief in His goodness, His unfailing love, and His ability to save we thank Him. As we read Psalm 107 and similar descriptions of His wonderful deeds for men, we know and believe that He will bring deliverance. It is not as though it were always His will to relieve our physical distress or trial, but we know that He promises to bring rest to our souls. Rest for our souls in knowing Jesus Christ is the salvation for which we cry to Him. 

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Col 3 

     For there is a healing of the soul that far transcends the physical healing of a disease. There is the freeing of the will to obey that far overrules the oppression we feel from the yokes of men. There is a desire for His honor that He instills that conquers our hearts for Him and shatters the inner turmoil that had resulted from our self-protective efforts. And those who have learned the secret of Spiritual contentment are the most blessed among us. "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Tim 6:6). 

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.Col 2

     Now God exhorts us to continue to thank Him because we know that He will bring about deliverance. We are not promised earthly prosperity, but we are promised to be satisfied in Him. We are promised to be brought to a place where our hearts are willing and able to praise Him for His unfailing love. We are promised to be brought to a place where His glory satisfies us and we are left with no more earthly longings. The effects of our thank offerings are many and some will be described now: 

1. Thanking God accompanies our receiving of His forgiveness for salvation. 

       Often our greatest struggle as children of God is to continue to believe and comprehend the Father's love for us in spite of our ongoing acknowledgement of the sinful flesh and to receive the forgiveness of God for past and intermittent sins of the flesh. But as we obey His command to thank Him, we cannot refuse His forgiveness. Thanking Him shows that we are accepting His favor towards us. Thanking Him shows that we are receiving the finished atoning work of Christ on the cross to satisfy the Father's justice. And we have learned that the receiving of the Father's forgiveness results in the instilling of the love and gratitude by which we are able to live in His righteous law and through which the power of sin in our lives is overwhelmed. Our thanksgiving is our expression of gratitude for His promises of Fatherhood. We are believing that He will continue to do good to us and work everything out for our good as we love Him. There is a great faith that always accompanies our thanksgiving. We cannot thank Him without faith. His very command to us to thank Him is a command to trust Him, to depend on Him, to rely on Him for our sustenance, to make His promises our anchor, to rest as a child with his/her Father...

     In this way, our thanksgiving prepares the way for His salvation. We were falling and stumbling to our eternal destruction in our wickedness, but as we thank Him, we are receiving Christ as our Lord and we find that we are bound to the firm foundation of Christ. This foundation is His Light and Truth. As we walk here, we walk before God in the Light of Life. 

Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose Word I praise,
in the Lord, whose Word I praise—
11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, O God;
I will present my thank offerings to You.
13 For You have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the Light of Life.Ps 56 

2. Thanking God results in the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

     Because we trust Him, we are able to thank Him even as we are presenting our requests to Him. Our anxiety is removed. Even before our requests are granted, we are commanded to thank Him. This is faith. Thank Him before you receive what you have asked. His grace brings us faith to thank Him without seeing and without knowing because we have known HIM who is good. We have known the character of the heavenly Father and we can do nothing but trust Him.

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4

3. Thanking God for His grace shows us the new creations of our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. I Thess 2

      There is a great blessing for us as we thank God for His salvation and mercy towards the family of God. We are able to forgive others for any wrongs or error in character as we thank God for His grace towards them.

15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 2 Cor 4

     Thanking God for His grace to others shows that we are trusting God for His ongoing sanctification of His people. We no longer accuse the family of God without hope and without dependence on the One who makes us holy. Thanking God for His grace shows that we are trusting Him for His Hand of power to bring about change and restoration in the hearts of the elect. We are not looking to the past or present heart condition of our dear family which often seems dire, but rather with joyful hope we thank Him because He has and will continue to show His grace to all of us. Because of His grace our weaknesses and strongholds continue to be removed. In view of His grace, we see the new man "made to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24). 

4 I always thank God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in Him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge — 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.I Cor 1

4. Thanking God brings Him glory through everything that we do. 

     If we were to say a single word, take a single morsel, walk a single step, or make a single gesture without regarding His glory and honor, we would be walking in the flesh. We are infants in our desire for His glory. We have not desired His glory as we ought to. We have not been zealous enough for His honor. If we do not become zealous for His honor and if we do not love for Him to be glorified and exalted, we are in danger of the flames of hell for He hates the lukewarm. As we cry out to Him to increase our longing for His exaltation, we can start to honor Him by thanking Him. He told us that "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me..." (Ps 50:23). He promises us that when we thank Him we are honoring Him. So if we fear God, we can trust His promise that He is honored by our offering of thanksgiving. 

30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.I Cor 10


4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer.I Tim 4

     What does it mean that He is honored? It means that our hearts are drawn to revere Him and to hold His Name as high. This is the desired state of heart for us who intend to continue in Him. There is an incredible need for us to desire for His glory. This need is so great because the desiring for His glory or lack thereof reveals the status of our soul. For this is the ultimate intention that results in our standing firm until the end. WE MUST DESIRE HIS GLORY. If we desire our own glory even slightly more than we desire His glory, we would be damned unless He intervened. We would be damned because we would not be able to choose the way of righteousness over the cravings of the flesh. We would not be able to speak of Him before men. We would not be able to hold onto the faith in the face of persecution and trial. The desire for His glory is what pleases Him and enables us to persevere unto the Day of Judgment. 

16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because You have taken Your great power
and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry;
and Your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
and for rewarding Your servants the prophets
and Your saints and those who reverence Your name,
both small and great —
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” Rev 11 

5. Thanking God results in generosity and obedience.

      The deep gratitude to God for His indescribable Gift of the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins results in our freedom from the slavery to the love of mammom. As we acknowledge that the Gift of Christ is indescribable, we are ascribing infinite priceless worth to Christ. We are acknowledging that "everything else is a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ" (Phil 3:7). Our thankfulness towards Christ results in the harvest of our righteousness that results in the giving of Christ's love towards the people of God. This giving of love is our obedience to Christ's command to love our neighbors. Our obedience and generosity of love inspires thanks in other believers. Furthermore, our perfected view of the fleeting nature of mammom allows us to freely bestow offerings, tithes, and gifts of hospitality. For "where our treasure is there our heart will be also" (Luke 12:34). When our view of the splendor and worth of our God is low, only small amounts of our earthly wealth and possessions would be directed towards the Kingdom's advance as God would direct us. But when we acknowledge more and more the worth of Christ, more and more of our earthly treasure will be directed towards Him. Indeed our every possession, big and small, is to be subjected to the control of the Spirit. The thought of this standard would seem overwhelming to many of us, but we know that as we thank Him, we will acknowledge His worth. And as we know His worth, everything else will seem worthless.10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for foodwill also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!2 Cor 9 

6. Thanking God increases our fear of Him.

     As we thank God for His unshakable Kingdom we are acknowledging that He is the Giver of good gifts and that "every good and perfect gift comes from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). When we receive the desires of our hearts, our thankfulness results in our worship with reverence and awe of His goodness and love. When we receive trials and persecution, our thanksgiving moves our hearts to trust in His authority and His maintenance of the advancement of His own eternal Kingdom. We trust in His Sovereign plan. We are ascribing each event, good or "bad", to His purpose and design which we know is always good. Thanking Him for everything allows us to attribute everything to His providential love and in this way we worship Him with fear and reverence with a deep gratitude that we have escaped His consuming fire of judgement. 

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”Heb 12

7. Thanking God increases our joy in Christ. 

     Indeed it would be difficult to maintain a heart of gloom and despair in the midst of our thanksgiving. As we thank Him, our eyes are turned to His exalted Throne and His eternal victory over the world. We are remembering our great salvation and the good which is in store for us as we eagerly await our "home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). He will fill us with joy in the midst of our sorrow as we proclaim to Him: give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; His love endures forever.

11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying,
“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,
for the Lord is good;
His love endures forever.” Jer 33

JESUS Offered the Perfect Thank Offerings

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said,“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.” John 11

       Jesus thanked His Father for always hearing Him. As we approach the Father in Him, the Father hears us as His children. Thank Him because if we believe, we will see the glory of God. Christ's faith was perfect. His thanks to His Father for listening to Him as His beloved Son was perfect. He brought perfect glory to His Father. His thanks to His Father was an epitome of His perfect faith, His perfect desire for His Father's glory, the perfect love for the Father and His brothers and sisters (us; "I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me"), and the joy set before Him that allowed Him to endure the cross. He had poured out His Life unto death. He lived a life of sacrifice. He was the Man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief (Is 53) and yet He offered thank offerings to His Father for as long as He lived. 
17 After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My Body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”Luke 22

       During the last supper, the time drew near for Christ to drink the cup of the Father's wrath. He would soon go through the worst kind of torment under the hand of His Father. He would bear the cumulative judgment for our wickedness. He would be forsaken by His Father for the very first time. All of His blood was to be poured out as a ransom for many. His Body was to be broken for us. And yet Christ believed that He Himself is the Resurrection and the Life. He knew in advance that death could have no hold over Him. He thanked God for what His followers would be able to do in remembrance of what He was to suffer and what He was to conquer. He had no doubt in His authority to lay down His Life and His authority to take It up again. As He gave thanks at the last supper, He thanked God for the finished work of the Gospel though the most difficult task awaited Him. This work which He has now finished has relieved us of the infinite wrath of the Father and brought to us His infinite love and Life in Him.