The Effect of Justice and Righteousness

Dear Father,
      You are a sure Foundation for our times, a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of You is the key to this Treasure. Please forgive me for planting my roots in the wrong soil. Thank You that You are faithful to cut off all of our misplanted roots that we may be fully established in You. The effect of Your Justice and Righteousness is that Your people are filled with the full knowledge of Christ. Though it is impossible for us, please open our eyes to see the true Justice that You have purchased for us by Your blood. May we see that this Justice is exalted and supersedes the darkness that we are surrounded by. May Your Spirit reveal to us the heart-conquering effect of Christ's righteousness as we watch in hope for the movement of Your Arm.
In Jesus Christ's Name,
Amen

¹⁵ till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, 
   and the desert becomes a fertile field, 
   and the fertile field seems like a forest. 
¹⁶ Justice will dwell in the desert 
   and righteousness live in the fertile field. 
¹⁷ The fruit of righteousness will be peace; 
   the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Is 32  

     God's message to us is that there is an effect of righteousness brought about by the fulfillment of His justice for His people that results in the unshakable satisfaction of our soul. He tells us that many of us have misunderstood the meaning of justice though we had called out to Him for it.

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”Luke 18:8 

     His purpose is that we may understand the meaning and result of true justice and righteousness. As we understand these effects, we are building our house on the Rock, Jesus Christ, and we will find that we are always secure in His righteous boundaries. For it pleases the LORD "for the sake of His righteousness to make His law great and glorious." (Is 42:21")

Misunderstood Justice

      As nations, kings, administrators, fathers, and individual human hearts have sought to establish principles by which they govern, respond towards, and treat others, justice is idealized in the hearts of many. We have often been led with the remnants of God's Law which is written in the hearts of all men. The remnant of the justice of the Creator is on our hearts; this remnant is that longing for all to receive their due payment for their deeds. Our notion of justice is that we ought to be treated fairly, that no one should wrong us, that we should live in tranquility free from the oppression of an agency or man. As we dwell among evil and Godlessness, we have found that there was no perfect justice anywhere. Each person has records of injustices committed against themselves and those dear to them. 

¹⁴ So justice is driven back,
   and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
   honesty cannot enter.
¹⁵ Truth is nowhere to be found,
   and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
   The LORD looked and was displeased
   that there was no justice. Is 59

     Even as we pursue justice, we fail to acknowledge that we did not consider what was the effect of justice that we had hoped for. Did we pursue justice so that we may have peace? Did we pursue justice so that we may know unfailing love? Did we pursue justice so that we may be filled with gladness of heart? Or did we pursue justice so that we all may be physically provided for? Did we pursue justice so that we may make earthly plans or advancements with regard to our financial estate or family status? Did we pursue justice to temporarily satisfy our ever-guilty consciences...as a form of self-righteousness? Did mankind know the purpose, the effect, of justice? Have we sought the heart and mind of the Sovereign God with regard to His design for justice? What was the effect of justice that the Author of Justice had in mind?

     Even our attempts to carry out justice were entirely futile. For if justice refers to each man receiving the due payment for his deeds, we know that we all would only receive the wrath of the Father. How then could we seek to administer justice to one another? We were collectively a mass of people held directly under the cup of the full wrath of God. Even if we lived among a perfect world, a perfect Garden of Eden, our hearts were not righteous. The intended effect of His justice could never be brought forth from our efforts. And yet blindness of heart causes mankind to move on in their striving for justice. In the process they heap up words of conceit, aimless argument, malice, slander, deceit, and division. In the very pursuit of justice, mankind has committed atrocious injustices. Justice could not be born from unrighteousness. A condemned vine could not bring about the wonderful effect of God's justice: peace, quietness, and confidence forever. For we had failed to heed His teaching and direction. We paid no attention to His commands. 

 ^{17 This is what the LORD says— 
   your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 
“I am the LORD your God, 
   who teaches you what is best for you, 
   who directs you in the way you should go. 
18 If only you had paid attention to My commands, 
   your peace would have been like a river, 
   your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Is 48
5 In love a throne will be established;
   in faithfulness a Man will sit on it—
   One from the house of David—
One who in judging seeks justice
   and speeds the cause of righteousness.Is 16}

     The effect of justice that we sought, apart from the filling of His Spirit that came from the salvation of our God, was sinful indulgence, the satisfaction of the flesh, the feeding of the pride of the heart, the fulfillment of selfish ambition. Can we see, dear family, that everything we had hoped for in our pursuit of justice independent from His glorious Law and salvation was amiss? Not one one us had the clean and holy heart that would know and understand the effect of His justice. We were altogether useless in our pursuit of justice. For our heart's were misaligned with the purpose of the heavenly Father. No one could bring about justice. No one desired the true effect of justice; for we wanted the glorification of what is perishable rather than the glorification of the imperishable eternal God. And where man is glorified apart from God, there is only condemnation, guilt, shame, and futility. There is no peace, quietness, or confidence.   

True Justice

     Because of our unrighteousness there was no one who could intervene on behalf of justice. Therefore His own arm worked salvation for His people. Jesus put on righteousness as His breastplate, salvation as His helmet, vengeance as His garment, and He wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak. In the act of His death and resurrection, His own blood removed the cup of wrath hanging over our heads. His Father's justice was fulfilled. His wrath was poured out on His firstborn son and we were justly spared. Furthermore, we are covered in the righteousness in Christ as our offenses are swept away like a cloud and like the morning mist. 

¹⁶ He saw that there was no one,
   He was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so His own arm worked salvation for Him,
   and His own righteousness sustained Him.
¹⁷ He put on righteousness as His breastplate,
   and the helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance
   and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak. Is 59

 ²¹ “Remember these things, O Jacob,
   for you are My servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
   O Israel, I will not forget you.
²² I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
   your sins like the morning mist. Is 44

     Now He calls His chosen ones to hear the Words of His salvation by which they are given justice. 

Return to Me,
   for I have redeemed you.”
 ²³ Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
   shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
   you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
   He displays his glory in Israel.Is 44

     Even to us who have received by faith the gift of salvation, He calls us to watch His Arm bring justice to the nations. What is justice? What is our reward and recompense due us for our new standing as children of God, forgiven and clothed with righteous garments? The fulfillment of our justice is that we have be granted our inheritance: eternal Life. And what is Eternal Life? Jesus prayed, "Now this is eternal Life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. (John 17: 3)". 

THE FULL AND COMPLETE MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S JUSTICE FOR HIS PEOPLE IS THAT THEY KNOW JESUS CHRIST IN FULL.

     Dear saint, this statement has profound implications that only the Spirit surely will reveal to you. We will come to know Him as our Good Shepherd who tenderly gathers the lambs in His arms, carries them close to His heart, and gently leads those who have young. There is nothing else that we are granted, dear saints, and nothing else which can bring about the effect of justice and righteousness (peace, quietness, and confidence) than the knowledge of Jesus Christ: the perfect union with the Father in Him by the Spirit. For as we know Him we become righteous and pure as He is righteous and pure and we receive the effects of righteousness.

¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, 
   and His arm rules for Him. 
See, His reward is with Him, 
   and His recompense accompanies Him. 
¹¹ He tends His flock like a shepherd: 
   He gathers the lambs in His arms 
and carries them close to His heart; 
   He gently leads those that have young.Is 40

     Our Lord has promised to us in His Word that the earth and the heavens will vanish like smoke, wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants die like flies, but His salvation and righteousness will never fail. 

⁴ “Listen to Me, My people;
   hear Me, My nation:
The law will go out from Me;
   My justice will become a light to the nations.
⁵ My righteousness draws near speedily,
   my salvation is on the way,
   and My arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to Me
   and wait in hope for My Arm.
⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
   look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
   the earth will wear out like a garment
   and its inhabitants die like flies.
But My salvation will last forever,
   my righteousness will never fail.Is 51

     As we contemplate the final destiny of the world and its worshipers, we begin to see the distinction between our notions of earthly justice and the true justice that brings about the effects of righteousness in us. For if the world is condemned, then any lasting justice must be derived from a source that transcends and supersedes all earthly things. 

⁵ The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; 
   He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. 
⁶ He will be the sure foundation for your times, 
   a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; 
   the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.Is 33

     As the Law of our God goes out, the people of the world are convicted of guilt with regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment. The children of God from every nation, and from the islands, are brought to repentance, covered in Christ, know Christ, and are destined to know peace, quietness, and confidence. Attacks against God's just payment towards His children come from the accuser who stands day and night to condemn the hearts of the beloved. Attacks come from lies from the enemy as to his standing before God. The demonic forces labor to fill the hearts of the beloved with dread, guilt, fear, and greed for earthly "justice". He tries to cause them to place their hope in created things that they lose sight of the Father and bring their fear of God to a halt. He tries to cause them to feel wronged and mistreated by the people and agencies of the world so that they will lose their justice of knowing Christ in His fullness. So dear family, when we cry out for justice for one another, we are crying out for God to remove blinders from the beloved that they may exult in their continuous acknowledgement that they are found in Christ's righteousness and receive its effect of peace, quietness, and confidence.


²² “Turn to Me and be saved,
   all you ends of the earth;
   for I am God, and there is no other.
²³ By Myself I have sworn,
   My mouth has uttered in all integrity
   a Word that will not be revoked:
Before Me every knee will bow;
   by Me every tongue will swear.
²⁴ They will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone
   are righteousness and strength.’”
All who have raged against Him
   will come to Him and be put to shame.
²⁵ But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel
   will be found righteous and will exult.Is 45

The Effect of Righteousness

     Justice delivered to us results in our being granted the effect of righteousness: peace, quietness, and confidence. Any one of us who has walked with the Lord in the Spirit for any amount of time can attest to these effects of righteousness. As we walk in His righteousness we find that there is a tremendous peace that comes in knowing that our unrighteousness and weakness is forever blotted out. As we love unconditionally with the love we have known from the Father, we find that there is a fearlessness, a confidence, that comes to us. As we put all of our hope in Him our hearts experience a quietness and a rest from above. As we walk humbly before our God, expecting no earthly gain or pleasure, we are filled with rest. For we have made Him our abode and our dwelling place. As we seek to please no man and to receive nothing from him but rather to unconditionally love others, and seek only to please our heavenly Father we plant our roots in the Author of Justice. He will never fail us. When the Spirit breaks off our every root that is planted in the soil of the earthly glories, our joy increases. 

His Way of Revealing His Justice

     If the true and complete fulfillment of God's justice for us is that we may know Christ as we are covered in His righteousness, God certainly has a plan for revealing this justice to His people and to the world. What if God chose to remove from His people earthly facets of justice and prosperity to show them that His justice of knowing Christ was truly great and glorious? For even the Savior did not come to establish earthly justice or to become an earthly king but rather to pour out His Life unto death so that He could purchase the gift of righteousness for His chosen people.  

   My chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put My Spirit on Him
   and He will bring justice to the nations.
² He will not shout or cry out,
   or raise His voice in the streets.
³ A bruised reed He will not break,
   and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.
In faithfulness He will bring forth justice;
 ⁴ He will not falter or be discouraged
till He establishes justice on earth.
   In His law the islands will put their hope.”Is 42

     What if He chose to remove from His people every secure foresight of the future in terms of earthly events only to show them that His righteousness would lead them down unfamiliar, dark, and rough places? What if He did this to show them that He would truly never leave or forsake them?

¹⁶ I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
   along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
   and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
   I will not forsake them. Is 42

      God's people are often surrounded by the Godless who appear to have the earthly future of their lives secured and planned. The Godless live by the false light of the world and their reason and judgment is tainted by the false light: the false sense of hope, perceived security, granted prosperity. But the children of God do not have this earthly light, and the Light of their Savior is the only Light that guides them. The only sure and granted destiny of these children is the righteousness and union with their God.

¹⁰ Who among you fears the LORD 
   and obeys the word of his servant? 
Let him who walks in the dark, 
   who has no light, 
trust in the name of the LORD 
   and rely on his God. 
¹¹ But now, all you who light fires 
   and provide yourselves with flaming torches, 
go, walk in the light of your fires 
   and of the torches you have set ablaze. 
This is what you shall receive from My hand: 
   You will lie down in torment. Is 50

     Jesus told us before of the persecutions from the world that were destined for the people of God. In this sense are we promised justice that our lives may be spared from pain, suffering, and physical death? No, but His justice allows for His people to know His great love and joy in the midst of these fires and waters. 

¹ But now, this is what the LORD says—
   He who created you, O Jacob,
   He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
   I have summoned you by name; you are Mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
   they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
   you will not be burned;
   the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the LORD, your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; Is 43

     What if He chose to place us in deserts where we had no hope of survival and where every earthly resource was exhausted only to show us that the Spirit's Water and Christ's Living Word would sustain us in His all-glorious way? Yes, His gift of eternal Life is far exalted above all all other things. His love and righteousness are promised to overwhelmingly conquer all other perceived deficits. Horrendous earthly atrocities may come upon the people of God, but their God is enough for them. This is justice! For the knowledge of Christ is so great in them that any disaster, desert, and storm can come their way and they are secure and hidden in the peace, quietness, and confidence of Christ! 

 ¹⁷ “The poor and needy search for water,
   but there is none;
   their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the LORD will answer them;
   I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
¹⁸ I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
   and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
   and the parched ground into springs. Is 41

     He will increase our knowledge in the days to come so that we may know Him in such a sustaining way. He truly is able to sustain us through the worst earthly trials. If He is not, then we have not received the reward of Christ that His blood has purchased for us even as the Father's justice is satisfied. Do we cry out for true justice? Then we do not cry out for the prevention or removal of earthly trials. We cry out for the increased knowledge of the Savior that is able to overwhelmingly satisfy us through the dry and barren dark world. He uses this revelation of the knowledge of Christ to show the people of the world that His Law and Salvation are glorious and exalted among the hearts of His people. 

¹⁹ I will put in the desert
   the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set pines in the wasteland,
   the fir and the cypress together,
²⁰ so that people may see and know,
   may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
   that the Holy One of Israel has created it.Is 41

     His promise of righteousness and justice are promised to His people and by them, His people are betrothed to Him forever in faithfulness. Even as He continues to reveal this to His people, we are able to acknowledge the Lord. Imagine the people of the world who are trusting in earthly prosperity and glory to behold the people of God rejoicing in peace, quietness, and confidence amidst a "hell-on-earth" because nothing can separate them from their Father's love! This brings Him glory as the infinite worth of knowing Him and His righteousness is revealed!

¹⁹ I will betroth you to Me forever;
   I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
   in love and compassion.
²⁰ I will betroth you in faithfulness,
   and you will acknowledge the LORD.Hos 2

Waiting in Hope for Justice

     God asks us, "My child, do you know Me enough to never feel at loss regardless of what else is taken away from you or what earthly trial comes upon you?" And many of us could think of a list of certain trials or losses that we feel incapable of standing up under. But in the same manner that we trust Him for our continued sanctification and purification unto the Day of Redemption, we trust that at the time when these trials and losses come to us, He will reveal Himself enough to sustain us. Indeed we know in our hearts and minds that the full revelation of Christ who is the glory of the Father would render us resoundingly victorious and firm in Him. But because our faith is weak, and we do not feel that we know Him as we ought to, He calls us to put our hope in His Spirit's power to reveal the righteousness of the Father to us. 

     Often we are tempted to complain and feel that our way and cause is hidden or disregarded by our God. But we are called to put our hope in Him so that our strength is renewed and we are able to soar on the wings of eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. 

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
   my cause is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and His understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.Is 40

     As we are filled with increasing measures of the Father's righteousness, we walk in His power filled with His Spirit, and He enables us to act in righteousness and experience the effects of righteousness. He tells us that when we break every yoke of sinful oppression of others by delivering the love of the Father in us revealed in His Gospel, when we give the Bread of Life to the Hungry, share the Refuge of our God with the homeless, and to clothe by preaching the righteousness of Christ to those naked and guilty, to endear our Spiritual family to ourselves, spend ourselves on behalf of needy souls, satisfy the needs of the oppressed...then we experience the effects of righteousness: our light breaks forth like the dawn, our Spiritual healing comes quickly, the righteousness of Christ given to us goes before us, the glory of the Lord goes behind us as our rear guard, the Lord will answer and speak to us, our light will shine in the darkness, our night will become like the noonday, we will be like well-watered gardens whose springs never fail, and we will be called a repairer of Broken Walls and a Restorer of Streets with Dwelling: The Kingdom of God through the Spirit's indwelling of all His people!

 ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I.
   “If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
   He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
   and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
   like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.Is 58

     Could we ever do these acts of righteousness on our own? We know and have experienced that we cannot. But as we believe and receive His gift of the reward of justice, eternal Life and Christ's righteousness, we are granted the power to do these good works which God prepared beforehand for us. 

All the Afflictions of God's People (8 minute Puritan devotional by John Fawcett)

Dead Kernels Produce Much Fruit

Dear Father,

     I praise You that You let Your work be known to us. You reveal Your work in such a way that it is clear to all of Your people that Your own power and authority has brought about Your justice and Your sanctification of Your people. We know that the Day is coming when all of our hearts will be laid bare before You. Please forgive me for my most despicable hypocrisy and fear of man and wipe it away from the lives of all Your people. You have already forgiven us and covered us by the blood of Your Son. Turn our hearts to desire the death that You have granted to us. Turn our eyes to the Life of the Risen Christ, the One by Whom we live.

In Jesus Christ's Name, 

Amen

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal Life. ²⁶ Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me. John 12

     God's will is that we die to our old self and be born again in the Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now He wants us to test ourselves with His Word to determine whether we have gone with Christ to His death and whether we continue to take up our cross each day. The effect of this death will be the outpouring of our lives for His Kingdom and our being used as effective instruments for His special purposes, "made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work" (2 Tim 2:21). True faith is a belief and entrusting of our lives to the unseen heavenly purpose of God in Jesus Christ such that our physical and spiritual being are continuously subjected to the Spirit that He has jealously caused to live inside of us. 


 ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Rom 6


Have You Died?


     God asks you, dear saint, "Have you died with My Son?". We know that we have been born into this world as enemies of God. All of the inclinations of our hearts were only evil all of the time. We were taught by the world to wear masks of self-righteousness. The devil had taught us many intricacies of the masquerading techniques and we have learned them well. We have learned to feign love which would quickly fall away from within us when the objects of our feigned affection rose against us or condemned us. We have learned to show concern when we could not acknowledge God in the midst of our own actions. We have learned to act, to smile, to speak, and to present. We have learned to put forth our outsides as clean and white, engraved with credentials, attires, and personas. We had become like the whitewashed tombs that were "beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of bones and everything unclean" or the "clean cups and dishes" which were "full of greed and self-indulgence in the inside" (Matt 23). This conviction is not only for those who outwardly deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also for those of us who have a form of godliness: for those of us who have been born and raised in the church. For though on the outside we appeared as righteous, God knew that on the inside we were filled with "hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matt 23). Yes, even us who have believed and who are growing towards maturity. We have deceived one another but we know that one Day we will stand before the Judge and He will test our work in the fire. And to our Master each of us will stand or fall. 


     For all of the charitable things which we had done out of a heart that was mindless of God and negligent in the Gospel of Christ and all of those things which we had done out of the fear of man, to appease and to please men, will be burned up in the flames. The greatest loss would be if our profession of faith was made on the outside, but in the depths of our hearts there was no knowledge of Him. There was a life lived outwardly in the presence of the people of God, but lived inwardly as darkened and independent from the Spirit's circumcision which is always present in the hearts of true believers. There is a powerful aura of righteousness which mankind may have, but it cannot save. We cannot be saved unless we have known Him in the secret place of our souls.


⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matt 6

     We cannot know Him if we have not died with Christ. God has proclaimed that though we were His enemies in our self-righteousness, we are reconciled to Him THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON. In order to be saved through His Life, we must die with Christ. Have we died with Christ?

¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Rom 5

     Our hypocrisy and attempts to appear as worthy, righteous, or presentable before men is as if we painted our own kernels. We painted our kernels beautifully and elaborately such that they stood before the eyes of the world as prized and worshiped. We were adored kernels. These visually perfect kernels are numerous and widespread in the earth. We find them in the media and in our social circles, yes, even in our church. Perfect families, perfect decency, perfect charitableness, perfect attire, perfect talents, perfect honor and respect by the people of the world, perfect wealth and possessions. But these perfect kernels had never died. They had never been put to death. And thus no seed nor fruit could be born from them. These perfect kernels could not bring the Word of salvation to the corrupted world. They could not pour their lives out as drink offerings and living sacrifices for the good of the people of God. They could not stand up when their perfection was stripped from them by the trials of the world. They could not restrain secret sensual indulgence. They were of no Spiritual benefit to anyone around them. Like "clouds without rain" these beautiful kernels were altogether useless to the Master and fit only to be trampled or destroyed in the fires (Jude 1:12). We are in the last days and there are many who have a form of godliness while denying its power.


¹ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Tim 3


     But to us who are called, chosen, and beloved before the world began, Jesus calls us to come to Him in His death. Jesus in His death became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. In order to die with Him, we must see all of our wickedness, our inward and outward hideous sin as well as the sin of our "beautiful" hypocrisy (the act of faithless self-dependent righteousness that was apart from the humble acknowledge of the Savior) as placed on the Savior. 


For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
 ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Col 3



     We must behold the wrath of the Father due to us for our offences poured out on Christ. In the very process of beholding our sin placed on Him, we go to Him in His death. As He bore our sins and was crushed by His Father, we too die to the old self. In this way we are "crucified with Christ and no longer live" (Gal 2:20). In going to Jesus in His death we must die to sin. Death to sin results in a distaste and inner displeasure towards sin. That is, we no longer delight or thrive in our wicked acts and self-righteousness, but we find the sin that we committed beforehand as utterly distasteful and detestable. We can no longer find pleasure in the sins of the flesh for we have seen the end result of them. We have seen the shame and guilt for these sins placed on our perfect Lamb and the due just and good wrath of the righteous Judge and Father for these same sins poured out on our Savior and Friend, Jesus Christ. We are released from the deceitful promise and the sting of sin, death, as we die with Christ and behold our sin placed on the Lamb nailed to the tree. 


¹ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Rom 6

     The end result of our death to the old self with Christ at the cross is that we are able to wisely count as a loss whatever was to our profit compared to the greatness of knowing Christ which we have come to realize surpasses all other things which we had previously sought to attain. What had we considered our profit? 

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Phil 3

     I had considered it a profit to become a perfect and elegant woman, a perfect wife, with a perfect large family. To be at peace with every human, to be loved by all, and to be never at fault before their eyes in the work of my hands or the words of my mouth. To live content and secure with no fears, worries, or physical discomfort. To live with no risk of failing, fumbling, doing anything awkward, or regretting any act....this was what I had considered a profit when I had not come to know my Savior in depth. 

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER A PROFIT?

     But as I daily come to Christ and deny myself, the Father tells me "Dear daughter, you must take up your cross. This means that you must be willing to take on any affliction that comes your way, whether this affliction be due to your own errors or to the troubles of the world which you could do nothing to prevent, to take them as part of the cross which I have given you. You must take up this cross while trusting in Me knowing that I am making You like My Son, Jesus Christ. There may be times when your heart feels ripped to shreds. There may be times when all earthly security is taken from you. There may be times when you experience great earthly loss. There may be times when you are disgraced or when you fall before the eyes of men. There may be times when My love will be the only love you feel and it will be enough for you. There may be times when I am the only One who shows you grace but My grace is the only saving grace. There may be times when your physical body is seared with pain and discomfort, but my Spirit will never be taken from you and I will keep you from denying My Name. You must take up your cross and seek to please Me alone. You must make My Kingdom and My pleasure the only desire of your heart. Remember, dear child, I am saving Your soul. I am granting you every good thing in knowing My Son, Jesus Christ. I grant you the desire of your heart: to know and possess My love. I will help you stand firm until the end that you may be saved."

What more could we want?

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 2 Cor 4

     In the same way that we die in unison with Christ, we are united with Him in His resurrection. The new Life that we have in our risen Savior is one in which our old self is completely crucified. "The old is gone and the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). As Jesus said "I am making everything new" (Rev 21:5). As we are raised with Him, we are set free from the futile cycles of self attempts to obey the Law and we are given new hearts and spirits by the indwelling Spirit of Jesus. He pierces our hearts with the double-edged Sword of the Spirit: the Word of God. His Words will no longer fight against us, but will be cleansing to our spirits and hearts, refining to our whole bodies, souls, and minds. His Words become our daily Bread of Life and our Living Water. Our lives become lived for God alone. We no longer live for ourselves or to please other men, but we live only to please our Lord and Master. His Spirit is poured out on us from on High and we are given conviction, counseling, and comfort in Him.

 ⁵ For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His.⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
 ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. ¹⁰ The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. Rom 6


     The risen life in Christ is no longer contaminated by the fears and worries of the world with regard to material things: the food and clothing that the nations seek to acquire. We know the Father and we know that He has given us His Son and everything else in Him. That is, if the Father loved us enough to give us the greatest gift of His Son, there is nothing He would allow to come our way that could not be given in the same perfect display of love. Christ is never taken from us. Christ is never taken from us. In Him, we have escaped judgment. We have escaped the wrath  of the Father. Our gloom has turned to joy. Our blindness has turned to sight. He has enlarged our joy in Him! He will present us covered in Christ and there will be none to accuse us. For the accuser of the brethren is condemned. In view of this mercy, our lives become living sacrifices.


¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.Rom 12


     God desires for us to know that until we experience this death with Christ, we are unable to bear the true fruit that last for eternity. Until we have died to self by acknowledging and believing the Holy Spirit's conviction of our wickedness and of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we cannot be used for any eternal good. We would be of absolutely no use for the Kingdom as long as we hold onto our beautiful kernels and refuse to die with Christ. Even each day, we must not seek to cover ourselves with the same self-righteous cover we had before we died with Christ. But we must come before God with utmost sincerity and reverence. Our fear of God must be exalted far above our fears of any man. Is it not saddening that we often do fear men more than God...that after some event, we find ourselves pondering the possible thoughts of other men rather than the thoughts of our Savior and whether we have pleased the King of the Universe and the Lord of the Harvest. Have we died? Do our heart live anew with Christ?


      As long as we had feared men, we could never please God. For God alone is to be feared and His pleasure alone is to be sought and that of His people in Him. But when the Spirit moves us and the gift of faith and repentance is granted to us, we are given power to die with Christ. As our lives are given over to death, we bear much fruit for the Kingdom. We become like the jars of clay that display the Light of Christ to the world. For the Light of Christ is hidden from us all of the time we put our forsaken beautiful kernel coverings around us. Yes, it is our fear of men rather than God that causes us to pick up the formerly discarded covering which would hide rather than reveal the Light of Christ. Yes, even our self-righteousness hides the Light of Christ from being shone from us. We must be true to God and sincere before God with men. Only then are we able to love in Spirit and in Truth and not in hypocrisy. Do you want to love in sincerity, dear saint? Is this not our deepest longing?: to love in the truest sense as Christ loved? We must first die and then continue to deny self, take up our cross, and follow Him each day. We will no longer have these beautiful kernel coverings but the Light of Christ that renews us daily will shine so bright that our beautiful coverings (or lack thereof) are no longer of any importance. He is so glorious! He is perfect in glory and holiness and no one can compare to His majesty and splendor!

¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself. 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.

 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.2 Cor 4

     As God's chosen people, we suffer outside the city gate. We are often excluded from the various elite circles of beautiful kernels that have never died, and that have never borne fruit. We go to Him like a scapegoat outside the camp bearing the same disgrace that He bore as He lived among sinful men. But may we never forget the enduring city that is to come!

¹² And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. ¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.Heb 13

     Even as we assume no earthly position, status, or identity, but seek only to be found covered in Christ's righteousness and to please the Father, we are granted the ultimate love and unity of the believers. We must be patient as we wait for each other to come to maturity in the faith. That is, we may not always sense the love and unity of believers but even as God inspired us to die to self and live anew in Christ apart from those formerly profitable things, the true sheep will be drawn to us not because of us, but because their heart's longing and soul's need is for the Savior and His Light will shine out from us. Yes, His Light shines out from our broken and contrite spirits. 

² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. I Cor 2


May we love well, dear saints, but He asks us, "Have you died with My Son?"





Events in the Heavenly Realms (testable by the Counsel of the Word of God, The Spirit of God in you, and the community of believers):
May God forgive me for not sharing these things earlier (the past several months), but I trust in His will as they are now shared. I feel that the Spirit has already revealed these things to many of you.

As we move closer to the time of the end, the Spirit is working heavily among His worldwide church:

1. The Spirit and Word are working to grant the true sheep a complete understanding of the Gospel:

    In our past lives there were few believers who understood the true meaning of the Gospel. But God in His grace has been pouring out His Spirit on believers to grant them a knowledge of this great and precious salvation. His Spirit is working to convict the world of guilt with regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment.  The result is that the people of God are being purified and seen as increasingly distinct and separate from the world.

²⁴ Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;
   those who complain will accept instruction.”Is 29

¹⁵ till the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
   and the desert becomes a fertile field,
   and the fertile field seems like a forest.
¹⁶ The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert,
   his righteousness live in the fertile field.
¹⁷ The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
   its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.Is 32


2. The Spirit is unifying the believers through the Bond of Peace:
 
    As long as we had gloried in earthly things and in our culture and the familiar things and people, we could not sense the immediate union which we have with other believers. But the Spirit is working to give believers a true unity through the Bond of Peace: a common experience in knowing Jesus Christ. He will bring to us an instantaneous love and familiarity in the Spirit with believers, even the believers that we do not know. He is increasing our awareness of the global body of believers and increasing the fervency of our prayers for them. Make it your aim to be used by God to unite the believers in the Name of Christ wherever you go: if you have to move, as you travel, in your workplace, in your community, etc.

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 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—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. John 17


3. The Spirit is filling believers with the boldness and clarity of purpose and need to share the Gospel to the world:


    As believers understand the meaning of the Gospel (see number 1), the need to share the Gospel is understood as the love of Christ fills the hearts of believers for their neighbors and the people of the world. The great need is due to the "famine of the Word of God" (Amos 8:11) present in many places in the present world. Believers are becoming aware of the "other sheep who have yet to join the fold" (John 10:16). We have a great hope and prospect for the salvation of souls because the Spirit has been working in the soils of human hearts such that when we cast our seeds (the Word of God), God will make them grow in the chosen ones. We may face much rejection, but God will grant us that delightful fruit and the sight of the miraculous change of human hearts that will result in our praise and thanksgiving to Him.


4. God has filled every believer who is placed in an arena of communication to other believers with the same Spirit of the Revelation of Jesus Christ: (e.g. pastors in pulpits, Christian radio broadcasters, Christian speakers, Christian writers and music artists, Christian parents and teachers, etc.)


     This filling is not granted only to the mature or knowledgeable in the faith, but to all Christians who have the Spirit living inside of them. Thus, we can expect to hear the Voice of God from all sorts of sources in our Christians circles. We will hear the same message everywhere: the message of God concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His call for His church to put on their armor and to awake and be alert. Because God is giving this same Spirit of Revelation of Christ to ALL believers, the Christians will start to focus less on the presenters and to make less judgments about the earthly glories of their Christian leaders, but will acknowledge of the King of Glory who has given His same Word and Command to all His people that He has appointed in various places. 


²⁰ Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Is 30


¹ See, a King will reign in righteousness
   and rulers will rule with justice.
² Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
   and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
   and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
 ³ Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
   and the ears of those who hear will listen.
⁴ The fearful heart will know and understand,
   and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
⁵ No longer will the fool be called noble
   nor the scoundrel be highly respected. Is 32


However, the deceivers among the believers do not have the Spirit of God and continue to speak lies.


5. The Spirit is breaking our attachment to material things and preparing our hearts to share:


     Our strong attachment to material wealth and goods is being melted in the fires of heavenly refinement sent to us from the Father above. He warns us against greed of all kinds. He teaches us to refuse to acknowledge security in any earthly sense. He is preparing us to share with the body of believers because a time is coming when many of us will be in need and the love of our hearts will be tested. He tells us to hold onto nothing except for Him. He will never fail us. He alone can rescue and save.

¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Rev 13

The Exalted Word

Dear Father,
     As You raised Your Son from the dead, the Head of the Church was brought up. Along with the Head, the body, that is, the church of Christ is resurrected with Him. Not in part, but in full, every part of her was brought to life. In Your great love for us You have brought Your Son to Life. Here in the stillness, we know that You are God, that You are exalted in the heavens and in the earth. Please do not cease the work of Your right arm. Your love for Your children is infinitely great and we have seen more of it in the recent days. Daily we are drawn to You. Our eyes turn to You. We opens wide our mouth and You fill it with every good Word of Spirit and Life. Your Words are our Life and You have caused them to dwell within each of our members. Please reveal to us that Your Words are exalted, are inseparable from Your love, are filled with Light, and bring us Life eternal in knowing Christ. Unfold Your Words of the Gospel to each of Your Bride's parts.
In Jesus Christ's Name,
Amen


Theme Song: Ancient Words

I will bow down toward Your holy temple 
   and will praise Your name 
   for Your love and Your faithfulness, 
for You have exalted above all things 
   Your Name and Your Word. Ps 138:2


     God's purpose with this letter is to give us a sight of the power, voice, and life-giving nature of His Word. Our Father has chosen to use His Word to instill and impart His Life to us. His Word has been the only Truth that remains forever and is thus exalted above the heavens and the earth. He uses a Divine interplay between His Word, His gift of faith, and the power of the Spirit to raise our souls from the dead. This work is unseen and yet it is eternal. This is the work that occurs on this very day in members of the bride scattered throughout the world. The ministry of His Word is exalted in power. Yes, His Words come to us from under His loving canopy.


JESUS IS THE WORD


 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1


     In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. By His Word, the earth was formed and is sustained. God spoke and the earth and the heavens came into existence. Until the time when Jesus was born, the people of God were given the Word of Jesus through their faith in the prophesied Deliverer. The belief of their Father's gift of Life through the sacrifice of His Son was the Word which sustained the souls of the believers who awaited the coming of Jesus Christ.


     The precious nature of His Words was by no means disregarded by those who lived before "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us". As Moses taught the Israelites, "No, the Word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. Deut 30:14". Christ was still yet to come but the Word of Christ dwelt in their hearts by faith. His Words were on the mouths of these ancient elect by their hope in their future Deliverer.


      The power of these precious Words is unchanging. Before Them the mighty waters and created elements of the earth are held back. His voice is heard through the thunder and the lightning. His voice is infinitely loud, powerful, and majestic. Its effects are to break the cedars, to make Lebanon skip life a calf, to shake the dessert, to twist the oaks, and to lay the forests bare. At the very moments that His Words are heard from the heavens, countless glorious beings cry out "glory" from within His temple. 


³ The Voice of the LORD is over the waters; 

   the God of glory thunders,
   the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The Voice of the LORD is powerful;
   the Voice of the LORD is majestic.
⁵ The Voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
   the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 

⁶ He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, 
   Sirion like a young wild ox. 
⁷ The Voice of the LORD strikes 
   with flashes of lightning. 
⁸ The Voice of the LORD shakes the desert; 
   the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 
⁹ The Voice of the LORD twists the oaks
   and strips the forests bare. 

And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”Ps 29

     The Israelites who heard the Word of God were filled with dread and fear. They could see that the Voice of the Lord could grant them a sentence of eternal damnation or an acceptance that was valued more than life itself: the Words that bring Life, and the Words of the Eternal Gospel. The Israelites who lived at the time of the Exodus cried out that they could not hear the voice of the Lord their God and survive. Their own words were filled with sin, hatred, and ultimately death. Their own words would have set a seal on them for His destruction by His own pure Word. 


By the same Word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7


      The words of mankind were of no use to them. Their own words could never bring life or love into their hearts. Their words sought to justify their deeds which were worthy of only condemnation. Both their actions and words of defense were condemned. Their words could only be spoken with the desires for selfish gain and profit and could bring no eternal fruit. Their own words lay claim to the heavens and bestowed on them a deceptive shroud of power, control, wisdom, and importance, but deep in their souls they could not see the Light. There is no Light in those who speak their own words.


To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, they have no light of dawn. Is 8:20


     The holiness of their God was beyond comprehension and the Words that came out from the Holy Fire of the Lord who dwelt among them caused the people to fear His awesome judgments.


¹⁶ For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” Deut 18

     God's Divine Purpose has been to glorify Himself through creating, saving, and uniting a people in His love. We are to be His very own people who are holy just as He is holy. He would send His Son (the complete radiance of the Father), the Word, to become flesh and make His dwelling among us.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and Truth. John 1:14

     The Word in Flesh was to speak to us everything that the Father commanded Him to speak. His Words would be to His people their salvation, righteousness, cleansing, and promise.

 ¹⁷ The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My Words in His mouth, and He will tell them everything I command Him. ¹⁹ If anyone does not listen to My words that the Prophet speaks in My name, I myself will call him to account.Deut 18

     Jesus remained in His Father throughout His time on this earth and His Father remained in Him. The Words which He has spoken that we have recorded from our four precious Gospels were not only His own Words. They were the Words of His His Father. He spoke according the will of His Father. He spoke exactly what His Father told Him to speak. The speaking of His Words were the manifestation of the Father's work. Through these Words He preached the Gospel. He was the Gospel. He lived the very essence of what He came to do. Everything He spoke was to reveal the work for which He came that would bring Life and salvation to all those who would believe. 

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The Words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. John 14:10

     What kind of dwelling did the Word make among us? The Word's dwelling was one of obedience to His Father. He came to portray His perfect submission to His Father. From the very moment He entered this world He chose to suffer. For us who were conceived in sin, even as we were born, we drunk iniquity as though it were water. We had never known the perfect union with the heavenly Father that Christ had as He perfectly obeyed and dwelt in His Father as He lived on this earth. To Jesus, His dwelling in His Father as He dwelt on this earth caused utter agony even from conception as He was surrounded by the wickedness of the world and wicked men whose hearts were filled with blaspheme and hatred towards God. As He grew in wisdom and stature, every temptation known to mankind was given to Him. As these trials came upon Him, He cried out loudly and wept to the One who could deliver Him from the separation from His Father that would immediately arise if He faltered in even one step. Though He was the perfect Son of God for every moment of His existence, He learned obedience by crying out to His Father for deliverance at every step. He never faltered. No, not even once. In the years leading up to the day when He would be offered as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, the Word obeyed the Father and remained the perfect spotless Lamb, the only perfect sacrifice who could make atonement for our sins and be called our salvation. Every moment of the Word's dwelling among us was one of intense suffering and "acquaintance with grief" and yet He poured out each morsel of the Bread of His Life. Yes, we live by the Living Bread of the Word's Life, every Word of the Mouth of God. 

      ⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Although He was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him ¹⁰ and was designated by God to be high Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Heb 5

      His Words are Spirit and they are Life. We know that our heavenly Father is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. He Himself delivered the Spirit through His Word. Even as He ascended He promised to send the very Holy Spirit to be with us and to live in us. His Words are Life. They awaken our souls. Until we eat them, we are dead. We could not even know the emaciation of our souls for we did not have the appropriate function of the living senses to detect our Spiritual starvation. We did not understand our loss until His Words had awakened out soul.

The Spirit gives Life; the flesh counts for nothing. The Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are Life. John 6:63

     It is our destiny to know His Words through the Gospel. 

¹⁴ “Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth. ¹⁵ You will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. Acts 22

     As the Word was crucified for our sins and raised to Life for our justification, we beheld the glory of the Father, full of grace and Truth. His Word was filled with grace and Truth. For the Word did not make His dwelling among us to condemn us, but to save us through Him. Thus, the Word spoke to us Words of grace and Truth so that we may be saved. On the cross where He was broken, He spoke to us Words of grace through what He bore. He bore not only the physical suffering inflicted on Him. For certainly many saints throughout history were tortured physically in similar manners and were able to do so while singing joyfully to their eternal Savior, the Word Who had saved them from damnation. Our own Savior suffered the infinitely greater suffering: the complete wrath of His own Father that was due to us in our wickedness. He drank the full cup of this wrath. He was cursed as we ought to have been cursed. The Word became sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of God in Him. Incomprehensible agony. Incomprehensibly love. This was His Word. As the Word was poured out unto death and numbered with the transgressors, bearing indescribable torment, the Words of love, grace, and truth were spoken to us. This was the revelation of the Words: His utmost agony from conception until the moment the Father forsook Him and He was put to death, He spoke His Word of unfailing love. 

     
Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, 
   for I have put my trust in You. 
Show me the way I should go, 
   for to You I lift up my soul. Ps 143:8

Exhortations of the Word for Us

1. "He who has ears, let Him hear" 

     Do we believe that He alone has the Words of Spirit, Life, and Truth? Do we believe that His Words are our salvation and our righteousness? Then we ought to make every effort to hear and know His Words. We have heard that His Word is able to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Though we do not fully comprehend the meaning of these actions, He calls us to put our faith in the power of His Word, not to be careless, but to hear from Him. Who are those who have ears? Are they not we who have been chosen before the creation of the world? Jesus spoke His Words of grace and Truth to all so that those who are chosen may be saved through Them.

2. Let the Hearing of the Word be Combined with Faith.

    

     His Words of grace and Truth were spoken to all and the Gospel is made known to all people throughout the world, and yet, only those who heard the Word with faith received the life-giving and life-changing value of the Word. For we are born again by the imperishable, living, and enduring Word of God.


For we also have had the Gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Heb 4:2


     To those who do not believe the Words of grace and Truth, the Words become a law of condemnation. For only those who have been set free from the law and who have become bond-servants of Jesus Christ are able to experience the loving refinement of the Word. 


So then, the Word of the LORD to them will become: 
   Do and do, do and do, 
   rule on rule, rule on rule; 
   a little here, a little there— 
so that they will go and fall backward, 
   be injured and snared and captured. Is 28:13

3. Trust in the Spirit's power to convict us with the Word.

     May the Words of the Gospel not come to us as words alone, but may we acknowledge and trust that the Spirit of God will come upon us with power and deep conviction as we hear the Word. 

⁴ For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you,⁵ because our Gospel came to you not simply with Words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 

     We know and believe that Christ is the Word and that this Word is the only way of Eternal Life. He promises to use the Word to refine and cleanse us. The Spirit takes and gives to us the Words of Jesus. As the Spirit continues to "teach us all things" He is our deposit and seal guaranteeing what is to come. 

^{25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14}

4. Read the Bible through the lenses of the Word, full of grace and Truth.

     We will find our loving Savior who went through complete suffering for our sakes all over the Bible. We must read the Words of our Bible through the lenses of the Gospel. Think of the Aaronic blessing: "May the Lord bless you and keep you.; the Lord make His face shine upon you; the Lord turn His face to you and give you peace" spoken to the idolatrous Israelites. The speaking of this blessing onto any Israelite who was not covered by the blood of Christ would be a contradiction of the Father's justice. But because Christ was cursed, we are blessed. Because He was forsaken we are kept. Because the Father turned His face away from the Son, The Father's face shines upon us and He turns His face to us. Because He was separated from His Father, we are given peace through His blood. Why did the prophet Isaiah tell us that "Though our sins were as scarlet, we would become white as snow"? Could this be understood from the law which stated that every man who does not abide by the law be put to death? The Word of grace and Truth, the Gospel, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is the way to understand and read the Scriptures. He will bring everything to light as we understand His sacrifice and resurrection of love.

The unfolding of your Words gives light; 
   it gives understanding to the simple.Ps 119:130

5. Obey the Word of God in Order to Be Complete in the Love of God.

    Once we have tasted a small bit of His Agape, we know that we have found something of greatest value. Our acknowledgement of the exalted worth of His love is incentive enough to obey our Father. Our greatest desire is to live and walk in His love. 

But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in Him. 1 John 2:5a

6. Do not Forsake Giving His Words to His People.

     The faithful and wise servant is the one who is found giving the other servants their food at the proper time. We know that the sheep listen to the Shepherd's voice and we know that there are many other sheep yet to come into the fold. The Word of the Gospel is as a seed that we scatter and plant as we go about this life. May we cast our bread upon the waters as we live. Though we often feel that our love is incomplete, He commands for us to deliver His Words of Life to all mankind. And even now He is working to perfect our love. Even as we scatter the Word, He is filling us with measures of AGAPE.

and at His appointed season He brought His Word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the Command of God our Savior Titus 1:3

7. Acknowledge that the Word lives in Us.

  

     He never leaves us or forsakes us. Many of us do not feel Him and we feel as though we have been orphaned or widowed. But the apostle John tells us that we are strong and the Word of God lives in us. Be still and know that He is God, that He lives in You. He is so very near to you, dear saint!

 I write to you, fathers, 

   because you have known Him who is from the beginning. 
I write to you, young men, 
   because you are strong, 
   and the Word of God lives in you, 
   and you have overcome the evil one. I John 2:14

8. Hunger and Thirst for the Word.

    May our souls hunger and thirst for the Life that comes to us from His Words. May we not be like the dead souls which lack the senses to detect their own Spiritual starvation. But may we press on into the rushing waters of His Word. They keep coming and coming. The moment we praise Him for His Words, there are many more to be spoken. The Spirit will cause the Words to rain down and drench our  souls so that we may be refreshed. 

His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. Rev 1

9. Praise Him for His Word.

     Even as we praise Him by faith for His Words of Life, we are given the victory. In the midst of the praise of His Word, He removes our fears and captivates our trust. 

     In God, whose word I praise, 

   in God I trust; I will not be afraid. 
   What can mortal man do to me? Ps 56:4

10. Make His Word our Highest Joy

       As we behold the awesome power of the Word of God that allows us to be thoroughly equipped for every work, to enlighten us to the love of the Father, to refine and purge us from deeds that result in death, and to make known to us the path of Life, we will surely find deep joy in the Word. We must consciously delight in His Words as our soul eats Them. Our choice to find joy in His Truth is manifestation of the faith which He has instilled in us. We will also find that a love for God and His people comes with this delighting in the Word of Christ. 

 When Your words came, I ate Them; 
   They were my joy and my heart’s delight, 
for I bear Your Name, 
   O LORD God Almighty. Jer 15:16

Excellent Read: The Resurrection of Christ and its Relation to the Inner Life of a Christian (by Octavius Winslow ~1830)