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.

Monday, December 14, 2015

His name is Jesus, for He will save

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21).
“For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:56).

Jesus came not to destroy men’s lives but to salvage their lives. His words were never intended to be destructive, but corrective. He only sought to be of help and save us. In the above verse, the disciples still had the spirit of the Dragon, which only desired to devour men. They had not learned the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit that He wanted to impart to them.
How often we forget this fundamental in the nature of Christ. He was always working to save, even His enemies. This is true when He was before Herod; even while “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted…yet He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7). But, this is not because He hated Herod. He hated Herod’s wickedness and murders, and His silence was the only thing He could use to try to help that wicked man.

“And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned with Him in many words; but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. And Herod with his men of war set Him as nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a goreous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate.” (Luke 23:8-11).

His silence on the cross, against the cat-calls of the chief priests and elders, was the only way to send a message to save them. Not before judgment day would He turn against them, but would pray for God to forgive them. But, He will leave all judgment up to His Father to decide. His Father’s decision Jesus will execute; but, then only because He will have to destroy sin. They will have refused to detach their hearts from sin. As incomprehensible as it sounds, Satan will have convinced them to prefer eternal destruction rather than to spend eternity with God and His Son. But, Jesus would afford them every moment until the end of their mortal life to mourn for their hatred toward Him, and toward His honor to God and goodness to men. He would give the religious leaders every advantage of His justice and mercy, the same advantage He had been giving to the publicans and sinners. Although His words and deeds appeared different toward the leaders in contrast to His words toward the people, He gave to all what each character needed. He tailored His grace to each individual, as a seamstress does a suit or dress. He came not to destroy any, but to save all. But, He must also bring to each one the truth in relation to that one’s sinfulness. They all, high and low, moral and immoral, must be brought to decide for or against His eternal kingdom of holy love. He couldn’t have it any other way. But, He wanted every last one to be saved into His future kingdom.

Love was ever Jesus’motive—love to God and to man. His love for His Father came from His being begotten of God, from being loved by His Father. That constant flow of love from His beloved Abba constrained Him to give every moment of His life to those around Him and to those afar off. Many folks Jesus drew to Himself by sending His angels to whisper in their minds that the long awaited Messiah of the Jews had arrived to bless the world.
Jesus could easily repeat, “I am a Man under authority, having [My heavenly army] under Me: and I say to this [angel], Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to My servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” (Matt. 8:9). All Jesus had to say to His holy ones was, “Go.” (Matt. 8:32). Even the wicked angels obeyed that command.

“Bless the LORD, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” (Ps. 103:20). The angels were the star that called the Magi from the east. And surely the men came, saying, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.”(Matt. 2:2).

“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!... And He saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” (John 1:47,51). He gave the rich, young ruler all the encouragement that the prince needed—all of what he should have. He gave him grace, “Jesus beholding him loved him”; and He gave him truth when He “said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10:21). Jesus had to give truth with His grace. To give grace without truth would have been unlike His Father, and irresponsible. But, the truth that He poured out to the young man came packed in excitement, grace, and kindness—divine love.

Jesus didn’t say what He did to destroy the man. His answer was the perfect antidote for all of the man’s ills. It would have salvaged his life of selfishness and self-exaltation. The young man had the opportunity to stand next to Lazarus as another disciple outside the apostolic twelve. He could have been a candidate to replace Judas, if his will had fallen before Judas’ same demons of self-aggrandizement and pride.

It was Christ’s joy to always dispense both grace and truth, knowing that together those two pillars of eternal love never destroy, but only save. But, separating them can never save, and they can only destroy, which is the purpose of the great red Dragon. The mysterious work of iniquity is to take those two aspects of divine love, and to split them up. Then, dispensing truth alone can look like the will of God; and dispensing grace alone also can appear to be God’s will. To the proud, power-hungry leaders the vengeful effects of purely abusive justice (upon the non-religious, sin-loving, self-pleasing, idolatrous multitudes), and the bewitching effects of purely enabling mercy (upon their own enervated, religious, but carnal hearts) seemed to be “the great power of God.” (Acts 8:10). But, rather than justice alone or grace alone being strength, they are only drunkenness. Thus, Satan’s favored earthly agency terrorizes the world’s multitudes, tongues, and kingdoms so that he can “[smite] the people in wrath with a continual stroke”, “[ruling] the nations in anger”(Isa. 14:6), until they bow to the great Queen of heaven who will prostitute herself in their hearts, “whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” (Acts 19:27).

But, Jesus will command to the world that His Father’s fraternal twin pillars of grace and truth “are no more twain, but one…. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matt. 19:6). The warning is against men and devils putting divine love asunder.

Separating God’s two pillars of eternal love never satisfies us, but always deranges our soul. Disobedience to God’s Law and will has always left a confusing condition, especially when spiritualism brings an end to the scripture’s “reproof, … correction, …instruction in righteousness.” (2Tim. 3:16). “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee.” (Dan. 9:7).

Satan has sought every devious means to destroy and to bring to ruin the saving, unchanging covenant from our Creator. Through subterfuge the devil has been a murderer of billions from the beginning. “Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.” (Dan. 8:11,12). We see this mysterious source of iniquity against the Prince of the heavenly hosts in the political and legal intrigues to destroy Daniel and the excellence of his influence in King Darius’ court. And, in the dungeon of lions Daniel gave us a picture of Christ surrounded by the demonic hosts during the 33 years that He lived as one of us, right in His ravenous enemy’s territory. “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet. 5:8). And we see God the Father in King Darius, who left His Son in His Gethsemane den of demons, not because He wanted to, but because He had to for our sakes. The Law of God demanded it. His Law could not be changed; but, Satan must be exposed and his captives must be delivered. Nevertheless, the Father was encircling His Son in His arms of love, helping Him to bear it. And no sooner was Christ’s dark testing time past, than His Father brought Him up out of that horrible pit in glory and put a new song in His mouth. Daniel’s experience, which typified Christ’s, must be ours too.

By daily surrendering to Christ’s death and living for Him as Daniel did, we also, as a shadow of Christ’s greater things already past, can glorify and typify His death in Gethsemane and Golgotha through the eternal Spirit, and be pulled heavenward as Daniel was when he was pulled up from the den.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).

“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of Thy countenance.” (Ps. 89:15).

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14).

“Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin….
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (Rom. 6:4-6,11,12).

Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.” (Mal. 4:2).

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