TruthInvestigate

“Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange,—the Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the cursed is brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory.”

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Location: Kingsland, Georgia, United States

A person God turned around many times.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

More love because of obedience

More love because of obedience.
Righteousness by works.
Acceptance by behavior.

Does God accept me because of my obedience? This was the issue of the Reformation. Here the Reformers diverged from the apostatized Church. The Reformation said, “No! Our acceptance from God does not depend on our righteousness.” Upon this concept, they freed the human race again from the grip of Satan and restored the liberty of the gospel. They served the world a message of rest—resting from the endless work of propitiating God for His grace. Truth became a Sabbath; and the Protestants received power to become the sons of God. In the world, they were empowered over the papal nations, until force was conjured up from the bottomless pit to destroy them.

Do parents love their children because their children love them back? No, parents love their children because they are their children. But, this is only true unless the parents have been ruined by a religion of justification by works. If that were the case, the parents would have no deep love for their children. And I believe unloved children to be what has created demonic dictators and aggressor nations throughout history.

Does God love me more if I obey Him? If He does, then does He love me less if I disobey Him? The Reformers plainly proved from the Bible that our obedience has nothing to do with God’s self-sacrificing love for us. He loves us because He can’t help Himself.

To say God loves me more if I obey Him is justification by works and leads to salvation by my own work, working to get God’s approbation. It leads to Satan’s victory over us and access to our souls.

The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin. Desire of Ages, p. 35.

This damning lie says that we must work hard to keep God happy or He will stop providing for and protecting us. This falsehood was and is the driving force of all of Satan’s false religions. The whole unconverted world follows after it. This is why human sacrifices have stained the histories of the nations and kept the world in rebellion toward God. Satan led men to believe that God was never satisfied short of their most sacred offering—one of their precious human souls.

During the Dark Ages, the Church became so imbued with paganism, that it took human sacrifice to a new level. It sacrificed everyone who would try to preach the truth of God and free others from the eternal lie of righteousness by propitiating God, righteousness by works.

Creation’s greatest need is love. Man’s need exceeds that of all lesser creations’ need for love. Even the plants respond to love; and probably the insect world. Much more does the animal kingdom, and mankind is at the top of every order. Does Satan know man needs love? Does he know we die without it? He must, because he devises the most ingenious diversions from love.

Grace and mercy are love in action. There is no greater manifestation of love than gracious forgiveness and forbearance. Forgiveness comes with repentance; and forbearance comes without repentance.

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Rom. 11:29). It was Israel’s daily sacrifice, evening and morning, that revealed the forbearance of God. But His forbearance was only for those who acknowledged the lamb sacrifice, and whose hearts were softened by it. Even if they might not immediately come to repentance, eventually the Spirit of God would reach to their heart.

The children of Israel descended from the patriarchs who had loved the God of heaven. They were born from a history of surrender to love; they were products of love. Therefore God sought to perpetuate that beautiful environment, as He overlooked the acts of disobedience for those who remembered their loving parentage.

Love poured down upon the people who sought God for His love, as Abraham had. Love prepares the heart to obey God’s will, to keep His Law. Love is the fulfilling of His Law. All the Law and prophets hang on the God of love. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8).

The Father commended His love for us, when He put us on one side of the scale, and His only begotten Son on the other side. And, in His heart we tipped the scale. What kind of value does that say God places upon His human race? He values us greater than He does the whole universe! And what kind of venomous envy does that create in Satan, so that he would work non-stop to twist our minds and torment us by believing that we aren’t loved by our Father in heaven?

With all of his genius, he bends his mind to manipulate the deepest workings of our reason. He knows the science of salvation, the mystery of godliness. He also knows how to affect our trust in God with his iniquitous mysteries. He convinces us that we must be perfect to have God’s approval and acceptance—righteousness by works.

Righteousness by works. I must do something to get God to love me. He must love me because of what I can do for Him. I had supervisors who would ask us, “What have you done for me today?” That might work in the workplace, but it doesn’t work in the home. And it’s certainly not what relationships are made of. Business can never create the model for the kingdom of God. The Law and obedience can bring us to the need for a Savior, but they can never make us acceptable to God. God’s kingdom can never endure upon the foundation of the Law. We need the Law of God, and we need obedience; victory over sin is a necessary requirement for happiness and peaceful cohabitation with God. But at the end of the day our receiving the redemptive grace of Christ decides whether or not we are acceptable to God. Grace appeals to our faith in whoever is gracious to us; the Law appeals to our fear toward all who accuse us and punish us. Punishment can abuse; grace will never.

Does God love me more if I obey Him better? If He does, then He must love me less when I disobey Him. Is that a God of love? Would we do that to our children? If we have we were wrong. Who obeys God all the time? Who obeys Him some of the time? Who rarely? Saints and religious fanatics and goody-goodies obey Him all the time, while the vast majority of us—the normal people—obey Him some of the time. Publicans and sinners rarely obey God—the thieves, prostitutes, and drug addicts.

But, what must have been Jesus’ message to the world, if it was the common people and thieves and prostitutes who flocked to Him? He must have destroyed the worldwide misconception of acceptance based on behavior. Their obedience came in the form of love and fellowship; and love was the true telltale sign of surrender to the Spirit of God, repentance, and obedience to God. Jesus must have turned this assumption upside down and showed that, in God’s view, the wretched and rejected sinners had more obedience than the religious people.

Who avoided Jesus? The self-acclaimed goody-goodies. The religious leaders and their lay army of Pharisees. They were the ones normally considered to obey God all the time. But, because Jesus wouldn’t preach their gospel of righteousness by working for God’s acceptance, they thought He was Beelzebub and killed Him.

In this real life scenario, Providence revealed the deep things of the Spirit of Christ, and the deep things of the spirit of Satan. Jesus brought out in the open the apostasy of Judaism, and how deeply rooted it was in Babylonian spiritualism.

The inner workings of spiritualism require some acquired goodness of our own, which leads Satan’s adherents to distrust God’s true omni-grace, and to trust in their own endeavors to be good enough without His seemingly unfair love. But, working for acceptance corrupts the yearnings of the heart that God put in us. Believing that the infinite God requires perfection before He will receive us and love us sours the healthiest human soul.

All who have imbibed these insinuations of the devil, and taught men to serve such a god, became workers of iniquity. Every priest and Pharisee, who looked down upon the publicans and sinners, drove them deeper into perpetual rebellion against the God of love. Today, we see the same things happening through the churches. Using a mixture of the high standard of God’s Law and the world’s uninformed definition of His love, the denominations have driven a wedge between this generation and the God of love. Can we blame the hedonistic world for being God haters? We cannot without first giving them the truth about God’s love, to decide for or against it.

God loves us because we are His children. A right standing, justification, acceptableness before God, God’s acceptance, do not come by working. They do not come by striving to be good enough. His acceptance comes by Himself who initiates it. He is merciful because He wants to be. “I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Rom. 9:15). And obedience follows acceptance. And that obedience is perfectly acceptable obedience to God because it comes out of love that He put in us by loving us first. Acceptance dwells in the heart of God whether or not my life is on par with His. He is the God of love, who will always see the ugly nakedness of my sinful heart in ways I could never conceive, and yet desire my love anyway. He is dying for our love.

“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.” (John 10:16,17).

“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.” That is, My Father has so loved you, that He even loves Me more for giving My life to redeem you. In becoming your substitute and surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your liabilities, your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father. Desire of Ages, p. 483.

The author wasn’t saying from this that God loved Jesus more because He obeyed His Father to lay down His life. She was saying that God was infinitely relieved to have His family all together again because of the sacrifice of His Son. God loved His Son before sin ever came into being. Their bond was infinitely tight. They created the powerful attraction of the proton and neutron in the hydrogen atom to demonstrate the force of love joining Them together. And the release of energy upon breaking that bond likewise demonstrates the separation of the Godhead. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). Power incomprehensible, Strong’s G1411 δύναμις dunamis, “explosive power, dynamite, atomic bomb energy released, mushroom cloud”.

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power G1411: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11).
 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power G1411, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” (Rev. 5:12).
“Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power G1411, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.” (Rev. 7:12).

God loved man immensely in the Garden of Eden. And He loved him no less after he fell into sin. And the dunamis between the Father and Son is this same power that explodes in the hearts of mankind when we know, beyond any doubt, that God loves us in spite of our innumerable, gross and horrific defects, and the exceeding sinfulness of our sins.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the [dynamite] power G1411 of God.” (1Cor. 1:18).
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the [creative] power G1411 of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16).
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with [explosive] might G1411 by His Spirit in the inner man.” (Eph. 3:16).
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of [atomic] power G1411, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Tim. 1:7).

 “And the whole multitude sought to touch Him: for there went [creative] virtue G1411 out of Him, and healed them all.” (Luke 6:19).
They “tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the [dynamite] powers G1411 of the world to come.” (Heb. 6:4,5).
 “But ye shall receive power G1411, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

 “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily G1411.” (Col. 1:29).
“Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power G1411.” (Eph. 3:7).
“And what is the exceeding greatness of his power G1411 to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” (Eph. 1:19).

“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power G1411 of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35).

And the lack of knowing God is the cause of salvation by works and the loss of His power working in us. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power G1411 thereof: from such turn away.” (2Tim. 3:5). How do they deny the mighty power of God’s love? By believing that God loves them less when they fail and fumble, and mess up, and really blow it, and blunder, and cause people to brow beat them into better performance. Or, believing that God thinks they are heroes because they were victorious over sin and sinners.

It’s only in the atmosphere of acceptance that we can be obedient. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Rom. 7:18).
“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom. 7:6).
“Do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the Law.” (Rom. 3:31). Only in the atmosphere of acceptance can we be obedient; thus, righteousness by faith.

Which comes first, love and obedience, or forgiveness of sin? Forgiveness of sin. “When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell Me therefore, which of them will love him most?
Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
And He turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest Me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luke 7:42-47).
“Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom. 13:10).

The life of obedience doesn’t come without knowing God’s acceptance, despite any good or bad actions we might have had. Regardless of the life, if we need a Savior and Friend, we have one. Done. Period. We have heard the old saying, “You asked for it, you got it!” In Christ it is, “You asked for Him, you get Him!” “You needed Him, You get Him!” Divine acceptance before good behavior happens is a biblical paradigm. “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth.” (Rom. 9:11).

Righteousness by receiving grace. Righteousness by gratitude for God’s love. Righteousness by servitude to an everlasting Friend.

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6).

Jesus said, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt. 9:12,13).

 Briefly, God doesn’t love us more if we obey Him, and He doesn’t love us less if we are disobedient. Our acceptance with Him is not dependent on our behavior or performance. Before He begins a relationship, He doesn’t say to us, “What have you done for Me today?” Justification is not based on good works or good living. It can’t be, or none of us would have eternal life. But, God commended His love toward us. While we were yet sinners, He sent His only begotten Son from the bosom of His heart. The publicans and sinners came to Jesus when the good people hated Him. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. There is more rejoicing in heaven for one sinner who repents than for 99 righteous people who need no repentance. Those who are forgiven much, love much, and those who need and receive little forgiveness, love little. God’s love comes to us without the requirement of good behavior and perfect obedience. And nothing else like unmerited love gives us the power to obey much more than the self-righteous people who work to get God’s love.

“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:20).

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The mercy of a just God

“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.” (Gal. 4:9-12).
The sinner doesn’t damage God when he sins. But he destroys the Son. The Father towers over sin and looks down in offended sensibilities upon a world of offensive sinners. Sinners don’t hurt God because He will destroy them when the time comes.
“Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep.” (Ps. 36:6). “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away Their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.” (Ps. 2:15).
The Father stands for justice, pure and unadulterated. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
“With the merciful Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright; with the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt shew Thyself froward.” (Ps. 18:25).
Through His Son, our Father in heaven has made it clear that He doesn’t play around with sin or sinners.

“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God,… that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:6,7). “For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.” (Ex. 20:5,6).

In Paul we see the same bullish sentiment of the Father toward His intelligent creation. “I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?” (2Cor. 2:1,2).
Before sin came into being the mercy of God was in place through His only Begotten. Foreseeing the need for His mercy to His creation, the Father of all provided His only begotten Son as the means of that mercy. While sin and sinners don’t hurt God, they immensely hurt His Son; and His Son’s pain hurts Him.
But, the Father’s pain also comes with having children. He knew from the beginning that childrearing would have its cost. Having a family presupposes agony. The family of heaven and earth would greatly multiply the Father’s sorrow; but He had counted the cost. Thus, through His Son, “of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3:15), He created His universe of developing angels and inhabitants of worlds, and then He created all the children of Adam who have made themselves sinners.
And even though the Father stands as District Attorney against sin and sinners, His Son, who He begat for the purpose of providing creation mercy, and who has never failed in that capacity, ever lives to be the defense attorney for sinners.
The Son naturally stands to defend us because, by His Father’s infinite wisdom, the Son created us; we came directly from His heart. Of the Godhead, the Son by virtue of begetting us, is the most intimately acquainted with, and attached to, us. Like a newborn to the mother, we have a special place in Christ’s heart. And as the mother never forgets the moment she laid eyes on her baby, the Son can never forget the day our race came from His hands of creative virtue when He breathed into our nostrils the breath of life. But, all of this mercy comes through the provision of the Father of infinite justice.
The merciful Son was the perfect intercessor before the infinite God who infinitely hates defects and mistakes. But, though the Son’s love was perfect, He would need to be still further perfected because of the entrance of sin.
“Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.” (Heb. 5:6-9).
To intercede for sinners before the Almighty, the Son’s disposition of eternal mercy toward His rebellious world would need to be more greatly empowered. His empowerment could only come through His Father putting His love for them to the ultimate test. Drastically caring to the very end for inveterate rebels could only come out of witnessing the full affront they gave the King. The Son must endure to the maximum all the wrath of His Father in order to be the mediator between the infinitely holy God and the damnable sinfulness of sinners.
Gethsemane and Golgotha made the all merciful Son even more merciful. So “He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.” If He could not abandon His love for us under the most intense wrath of God against sin and the temptations of Satan to lead Him to sin, then He would never in a million eternities give up His intercession for fallen man. On the cross, the God of infinite justice heaved all of His just hatred of sin upon His Son, His second self, the infinitely bound Son of His love. Our closest ties on earth only hint at the relationship binding the Godhead together in love.

“So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.”(Eph. 5:28,29). Incomprehensibly more so, does the Father nourish and cherish His only begotten Son.
“I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” (Jn. 17:4,5).
So, while the Father has held a purely strong stance against all defects in His developing heavenly hosts and inhabitants throughout creation, and has distanced Himself from them by giving the work of creation to His Son, He has ever shown His mercy by providing His creation a Mediator who would never cease to work in constant reconciliation between His Father and His created works of His love, especially in saving the sinful children of Adam.
Jesus says to all of His beloved created works, “God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1Sam. 12:23).
Before sin entered the universe, the created hosts of heaven and unfallen worlds, those holy and perfect beings, needed intercession before God, “for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” (Heb. 7:18). They were weak and unprofitable, and they by themselves could not stand before God, any more than sanctified Abraham, who though he was “justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” (Rom. 4:2).
They were holy, and much holier and more powerful than Abraham, yet compared to the infinite holiness of their Father, they infinitely lacked. “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.” (2Cor. 3:10).“Behold, He putteth no trust in His saints [Heb. qodesh qodesh, holiest ones, angels]; yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.” (Job 15:15).

Even the holy angels and unfallen worlds needed an intercessor, and the Son had ever been that for them. Even they needed God’s compassion given through His Son, their great High Priest, “who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that He Himself also is compassed with infirmity.” (Heb. 5:2). The Son was in their form; even He was less than the great King. “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not.” (Ex. 23:20,21).

The Son of God, like His Father and acting in His Father’s behalf, would by no means clear the guilty without their true humility and confession of guilt, and sorrow for their sin. Then, He would be their very merciful High Priest. He must first bring the proud sinner to real conviction. He can admit no leavening of His Father’s kingdom by the deceitful nature of sin that would break out into another plague in heaven as it had on Earth.

In angelic form, the Son identified with His faulty heavenly children, and cared for them and taught them how to be better, as the Father designed it should be. The provision of the Son’s intercession came from His Father’s love for His kingdom. The song of the angelic hosts as they flew around Him was, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us…” (Eph. 2:4).
That love of the Father, who is rich in justice toward every flaw, especially so with rebellion and the disgusting products of sin, led Him to give an avenue of mercy; otherwise, who could stand before Him? No one of “the whole family in heaven and earth” (Eph. 3:15) could stand before Him, even of the angelic hosts and inhabitants of the unfallen worlds.
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”(Rom. 5:6-10).
But, sin and sinners have forced the brightest manifestation of the furthest extent to which God’s forbearance would go. They have also revealed the extent of the burden carried by His beloved Intercessor, and ours.“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Jn. 3:16).
Of God we hear, “For Thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.” (Ps. 18:27). But, of His chosen Mediator we hear, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” (Matt. 8:17). “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25).
Of the Father we hear, “I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.” (Isa. 63:6). But, of His provisions through His Son we learn, “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” (verse 9).
Of the great King we hear, “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
But, “seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:12-16).
Of the Father we read, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31). “Our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:29). “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” (Heb. 12:25-27).
But, of the Son we read, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised).” (Heb.10:19-23).
And through the Son we “are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” (Heb. 12:22-24).
“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” (Jn. 17:3). Knowing the bond that exists between Them in love and the intimate roles each has through the justice of God and the mercy of His appointed anointed One, give us the victory over sin. Neither will leave us or forsake us, after all that They have gone through to make us and redeem us from Satan’s abduction.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Jesus, the lightning rod of God’s conviction

“When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Lk. 5:8).
 
Suddenly Peter was taken from earth to heaven. He was rudely shaken out of this little world and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. This translation took what felt like a million volts of lightning, but Peter asked for it when he first accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow Him.
 
Conviction by the Holy Spirit into the faith of Jesus is what we all want. Is it not? And none are without hope for this. We can all be shocked with a million volts of conviction if we will simply accept Jesus’ invitation to come to Him and by heeding His Spirit.

“If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Rom. 8:9). But, we can all receive the power that makes our heart grip onto heavenly realities and never let go.
 
Peter saw something he had never seen before. He saw a wholly new reality. That other reality was a major paradigm shift that erupted inside of  him and caused an earthquake in Peter’s thinking. What he saw was God in human affairs. For the first time in Peter’s life of carnal religion, he had faith.
 
“Now when [Jesus] had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:4-8).
 
“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” (Ps. 119:130). Peter was simple minded and earthly minded, but in just a few seconds he became heavenly minded and wise. And his new wisdom and greatness he made him small. By human standards, he did the most foolish thing. He fell on his face and confessed his sinfulness, right there in public. Who in their right mind would ever do such a thing? Obviously, someone without the typical human mind, someone with a new mind. Someone with evidence that the others didn’t have, even though their eyes were seeing the same thing Peter saw.
 
The brain work is very mechanical. It functions by evidence and responds accordingly. People with evidence do things differently than others who don’t have that evidence. It’s just simple, mental mechanics. And sometimes the entrance of too much evidence to the mind surprises it into overload.
 
Peter was humbled and justified for the first time in his life. The revelation of God was shocking, to Peter and to those around him. A million volts of conviction rocked his previous death-warmed-over nature. He was quickened, shot through to the quick. And he was justified by his faith, which was a gift from Jesus, a faith only made possible by his new Master.
 
What was the first realization upon seeing the beneficent power of God to Peter? Sin. Grievous sin. The exceeding sinfulness of sin. “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” “Sin, that it might appear sin, working death in [Paul] by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Rom. 7:13). God has built into the intelligent human conscience the recognition of the gravity of God’s holiness, the realization that such a power could destroy us, and yet graciously permits us to live instead. Our response is to bow before that Power.

The same effect came upon Isaiah when He saw the holy power of God. “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isa. 6:1-5).
 
Ezekiel experienced the same. Both men realized that they needed a savior from sin.
 
“And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a Man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of His loins even upward, and from the appearance of His loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face.” (Eze. 1:26-28).
 
When Satan shows himself, his revelation comes with power and light and wisdom. But, not so with the Lord. When He reveals Himself it is all that and also holiness, love, joy, and peace. These attributes do not flatter us when we see them. They convict us because we realize our exceeding deficit of them. We see our exceeding sinfulness.
 
We need to see holy power. That is in the Bible. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2Tim. 3:14-17).
 
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” (Jn. 5:39,40). “But as  many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (Jn. 1:12).
 
When we are justified, as with Peter, we have just begun our heavenly walk. We can never forget that first sheering translation from earth to heaven. It leaves a permanent memory in every person who testifies of God. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.” (Isa. 43:10).
 
Whether Israel was faithfully following Jehovah or not, they were His witnesses. If they chose to misrepresent Him, He remained known to them, but in negative consequences. Likewise, with every sinner who ever gives his heart to God and is genuinely justified, God can never be forgotten by them. His roots of love and trust went deeply into their conscience and cannot be removed. They can even try to flee God in order to please the world, but will not be able to remove the gnawing memory of His love and faithfulness. This has driven many to total intoxication to stop the haunting goodness they witnessed of the God of love who they have turned away from. The strong memories of his experiences with Jesus drove Peter back into Gethsemane to beg God’s ear and His forgiveness for denying his love for His Son.
 
But, to those who remain desirous of the continuing education in the school of Christ, He becomes a fortress that casts down every high thing that exalts itself against His love and holiness. One humbling and salvation wasn’t enough for them. They chose to be gluttons for punishment. Like Peter, they kept coming back for more and more conviction because love was there. Even though faulty in every way, weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of his life of sin, Peter kept coming to Jesus for more friendship and heavenly love.
 
By previously having accepted Jesus’ invitation, Peter had unwittingly set up himself for the translation that day by the seaside. And Jesus knew that Peter’s translation was coming. “Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:5,6). The vast majority of us are lost coins and lost sheep who just don’t know. We are foolish, but our foolishness works for God’s advantage.
 
Again, keep in mind that the electrical short from heaven to earth through Peter and Isaiah and Ezekiel and Saul of Tarsus did not come by accident. It was no random coincidence. Each one had been choosing to receive the conviction of God, seeking the short from heaven. Each had been cleaning the corrosion off of their heart and mind by heeding the promptings of the Spirit of God. Peter had listened to John the Baptist. Saul had listened to Stephen before he had him stoned for his witness. Ezekiel must have suffered from wickedness of Israel and their Babylonian captivity. Isaiah must have suffered the loss of King Uzziah and the apostasy of Israel.
 
In each case, they were responding to God, even if they didn’t know it. But, when His Spirit’s first conviction to obey became apparent they did not reject the Almighty through His Son. Thus, little by little, He makes His approach.
 
By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God,—a patient, protracted process. Desire of Ages, p. 172.
 
As each of us keeps heeding the impressions of Christ to be humbled for our life of sin and we make good contact with ground. We open the heart by heeding the negatively charged Law of God, scrubbing away the layers of rebellion that insulate us from His full entrance into our soul. Once that insulating corrosion is removed heaven will devise the circumstances necessary for our awakening to His convicting love and presence. However providence works it out, we end up holding a lightning rod and standing under the nicely grounded tree of life. Then Ka-Powee! Fire falls from heaven. We get jolted with a new power that brings life to our dead soul. We are empowered to now view life as a means of service to God and others and jolted out of our previous self-service. We know want to see others jolted into the heavenly reality and to have the same contentedness and peace with God that we have.
 
“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” (Dan. 4:35). “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Eph. 1:11). “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy.… That He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy.” (Rom. 9:18,23).
 
That first conversion was the big one. “Ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Cor. 6:11). But that first justification will not be the last one. Peter had many more re-justifications, reconversions and Gethsemane experiences to readjust his heart and head back to holiness. “They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:23).
 
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Rom. 1:16,17). From faith to faith.
 
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Cor. 3:18). “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2Pet. 3:18). From glory to glory and grace to grace.
 
We must continue to clear away the corrosion off of our easily corroded cathode so that the connection with heaven’s power can keep revitalizing our hearts and consciences.  “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn. 8:31,32).
 
“But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end…. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” (Heb. 3:6,14).
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Heb. 10:38).
 
Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians. Steps to Christ, p. 47.
 
Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast. Steps to Christ, p. 48.
 
Many are inquiring, “How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?” You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him. Steps to Christ, p.  47.
 
By coming to Christ, Peter and Paul, Isaiah and Ezekiel and Nicodemus, and all the people who ever ended up living the godly life, have chosen to be followers of the Spirit of God. In those earliest infant stages they made decisions toward hoping and desiring to be right with God. Then at the big decision they put down their nets and are convicted and humbled and anointed to become fishers of men. They leave their earthly works because they are on a new mission with eternal purposes.
 
They continue in Jesus’ word and become His disciples indeed. They receive the new life of hope and knowledge of God’s love which they wanted all their lives. “Thus, through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.” Steps to Christ, p. 48.

 “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn. 1:12,13).

Friday, September 05, 2014

The Mother is the Son

Surely, the scriptures are they which testify of Jesus. “Search the scriptures; for…they are they which testify of Me.” (Jn. 5:39).

“But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.” (Jer. 3:19,20). The Lord compares His church with a wife and a son. Both spouse and child declare the Son of God.

In the [future July 13, 2015]  post we looked at Eve representing the Son of God. Adam, the king of Earth, was made in the Father’s image; and, Eve, the queen, was made special in the Son’s. If there was ever a Queen of heaven, it would be Jesus. But, this privileged status Satan has usurped for himself and has replaced godly Eve with a prostitute, “the Great Whore”. So, let’s turn away from paganism’s representations of Satan’s kingdom and let’s look at the true greatest of all attractions, the self-sacrificing Son of God through His biblical lessons.

Eve was the mother of all living as the Son made all things, and without Him there was not anything made that was made. As Adam empowered her lifeless eggs, so did the Father empower His Son with creative power and life. “I can of Mine own self do nothing” (Jn. 5:30). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself.” (Jn. 5:19).

He breathed the breath of life from His Father, breathing the Holy Spirit into Adam and Eve. “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (Jn. 20:22). “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” (Jn. 5:26). “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:12).

Eve’s characteristics perfectly resembled the Son of God in every way. In the garden, hers would have been the pure joy of birthing her children, as likewise, nothing had given the Son greater joy than to mold Adam from the ground and to form Eve from his rib. But, after sin, outside of paradise, both Eve and the Son would greatly multiply their sorrow in delivering the children of their love.

“Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” (Gen. 3:16). To give us the second birth, the Son of God, the Mother of all living, must also experience multiplied sorrow as He faced the full wrathful disposition of God against the sin controversy and the disloyalty of His most precious human race. He greatly multiplied His Son’s sorrow in order to prove His Son’s already infinite love for fallen mankind and thus make Him more than fit to be our eternal intercessor against all the indefatigable efforts of Satan to keep us lost under his dominion.

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His [Son’s] soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa. 53:4,10-12).

For His release from impenetrable upset against sin and sinners that raged in His heart, God provided His own way of escape, a loophole from Lucifer’s legal machinations. His Son must assume their full liability. “He said, Surely they are My people, children that will not lie: so He was their Saviour.” (Isa. 63:8). Through God’s just plan, nothing Satan would say could ever remove the Son’s right to represent them before God. Once His plan was fulfilled, God’s disturbed mind toward Adam and his race was finally resolved. He had His precious children again, and their dangerous adversary was worsted beyond repair.

“He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” In Rachel’s death we see a figure of Christ’s travail and hard labor for our redemption. The wife of Jacob’s deep love died in order to give him a son. First the babe was named Benoni, “the son of my sorrow”; but, after birth he became Benjamin, “the son of my right hand”. “And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.” (Gen. 35:16-19). The death of the beloved mother was the birth of her son; her life lost for his. Likewise, the Son of God in order to give us the second birth.

In many ways we see Jesus through His wonderful female creation. When the woman is of age, something in her longs to be married and she looks forward to the man who will give her a family. Normally, once married she immediately begins to build a nest and a gaggle of kids. How tenderly does she watch over her little ones and feed them with life and love. Unless they are predisposed otherwise, they respond in kind—always. God made the children to respond to love and affection. And, unless her sinfulness or that of her husband damages her love, she pours out herself for her family and enjoys the greatest peace God could ever design. Greater love has no one than this.

Albeit, she paid a price to have all this love and comfort, and soon she is the center of her little family, closer to the children than her husband is. And, as much as the children do, she is loved by her husband the same. “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.” (Prov. 31:11). Here we see the Son, the center of the kingdom of heaven.

So the woman ends up the happiest person in the family, getting love and affection from both sources, her husband and her children. She gets the best arrangement! Who wouldn’t envy her position in life? The father goes to work or works in the field, surrounded by business or manual labor, white collar workers or blue collar workers. They don’t love him; they expect him to work. And of course, he is naturally bent to work hard. So everyone at work is copasetic.

But, the mother who stays home has all day to love the children, and her husband also when he comes home. The deeper her family’s affection and attention and intimacy to her, the happier she gets and reflects all that love again back to them. She can never get enough love. Her heart is a bottomless pit for love. She wants her family together, especially at night before she can rest. She worries about them and waits up late until her babies come home.

She craves acceptance. All the children crave it as well; and she is like them in that respect. But, unlike theirs, her craving started as a child and has only increased during the years. She is all about love and acceptance and relationship. All that she really needs is to be accepted by her loved ones. She doesn’t ask for pay to spill blood, sweat, and tears for them; all that she want is just inexpensive love.

The more acceptance she receives, the more she loves to serve. In her heart, Acceptance = Willingness to serve. Acceptance X 10 = Willingness to please X 10. Acceptance10 = (Happiness + service)10. The equation of her love response is as unbendable as the laws of mathematics.

Give her enough love and she will do supernatural things. I heard of a mother picking up the corner of a car to save her child who was pinned underneath. The strain on her body was probably like having another childbirth; but she got her baby; and that’s all that mattered to that woman.

Give a mother love and she is the happiest person in the family. And that is as it should be because she is like the Son, the Mother of all living by whom “were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,” for “without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (Col. 1:16;Jn. 1:3). As every mother can’t get enough love from her life-mate and her children, so does the Son of God, who loved His Father and us with an everlasting love. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jer. 31:3). Through a continuous stream of millions of mothers since the dawning of time, love and self-sacrifice have broken out in a blessing to all mankind, the world round.

In every mother we see the Son of God. His Father surrounded Him with love. Constant was and is and ever will be the love from His Father. And after diffusing His Father’s infinite and never-ending life and love to the inhabited worlds throughout immensity, the innumerable inhabitants echo back to the Son an accumulated appreciation and love that strives to reciprocate with the Father. So, like the earthly mothers, the Son gets love from both directions.

In the heavenly courts, in His ministry for all created beings: through the beloved Son, the Father’s life flows out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of beneficence is complete, representing the character of the great Giver, the law of life. Desire of Ages, p. 21.

Prior to the emergence of the great controversy into His heavenly home life, He thrilled under such blessed conditions. The affection of His Father and His creation was what He lived for. He was their perfect mediator with the infinite Father. Creation was His constant concern and the object of His heartaches. He ever lived to make intercession for them.

But, the time came when the Mother of all living came to Earth, made of a woman. The Lord Jesus, Son of Mary, the Messiah.

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6).

Now, the Son of God, the Mother of all living who, through eternity past had prefigured Eve and every mother, beams with joy in anticipation that the great controversy is almost finished and the original arrangement of double love can be restored. “And I saw another mighty Angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun.” (Rev. 10:1).

And His prayer before His Father:
“That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.
And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:
I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.
Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.
And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (Jn. 17:21-26).