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God's Greatest Secret: Part III
The Ultimate Secret: The Messiah
I am not going to try and cover, in one post, all that God promised to deliver the Israelites or all the prophecies that were spoken about their restoration. But, who were the Israelites ultimately waiting for and looking forward to for their restoration?
They were looking forward to the Messiah.
There are many prophecies concerning the Messiah. Like the riddle that we told at first, you might know things about the thing spoken about, but you do not know the substance.
This is how it was with Christ.
In Deut 30:2 it states that when the Israelites obey God with all their heart and soul according to all that God commands that is when God will rescue them.
What is the problem with this if you are an Israelite and God tells you this?
This is impossible.
If the Israelites were honest with themselves they would have understood that this was completely impossible for them to follow. They would know that they must look to another to accomplish this. They would have to look at one that is perfect, without sin.
They must look to God. They must look to God to save them from their sins. They must look to God to not only send them the Saviour, but BE their Saviour.
And God gives them prophecies concerning this all along the way.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:11-12
God said this is how it will be done. God said that the one will have to be Immanuel, Eternal Father, Mighty God, the Righteous One. So, in essence, God says, I will send myself to die for you. And after this, I will do something remarkable.
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
So, back in Deut 30 it says that God will save them if they would obey him with all their heart. God now shows that the only way for this to happen is through the new covenant of blood through Jesus Christ and him dying for their sin and then God putting the new heart in them and cause them to walk in his statutes. This is the only way this will happen.
So, the ultimate secret, the ultimate mystery of salvation came through Jesus Christ. Instead of looking inward to our goodness and keeping of the Law for salvation, we are to look outward and the obedience unto death of our Saviour. This is how this redemption will take place. This is the ultimate secret that God gave the Israelites. But instead of listening to God, they decided to give it the good ole Pharisaical try and desired to try and live perfect lives, instead of looking outward to God, who is the perfect One.
It is almost comical when we see this play out back in Exodus:
So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.
Exodus 19:7-8
To think that you can do all that God has commanded is a travesty, and it will lead you directly into hell, because you will look to self instead of the all powerful Righteous One; Christ. Because of them trying to do it all by their own works, and they failed miserably, God tells us what will then have to happen: He will have to do it all himself, he will have to live a perfect life, he will have to die the perfect death, he will have to be risen in the perfect light, all for the sake of his people, ultimately for the sake of his name.
Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Jeremiah 31:31-33
With this in mind our next post will show the outpouring of the life that understands that the most perplexing story to unfold is that a Righteous Saviour would save a whore like me. This life, is lived for the glory of Christ and because of the love that we have for him.
I am not going to try and cover, in one post, all that God promised to deliver the Israelites or all the prophecies that were spoken about their restoration. But, who were the Israelites ultimately waiting for and looking forward to for their restoration?
They were looking forward to the Messiah.
There are many prophecies concerning the Messiah. Like the riddle that we told at first, you might know things about the thing spoken about, but you do not know the substance.
This is how it was with Christ.
In Deut 30:2 it states that when the Israelites obey God with all their heart and soul according to all that God commands that is when God will rescue them.
What is the problem with this if you are an Israelite and God tells you this?
This is impossible.
If the Israelites were honest with themselves they would have understood that this was completely impossible for them to follow. They would know that they must look to another to accomplish this. They would have to look at one that is perfect, without sin.
They must look to God. They must look to God to save them from their sins. They must look to God to not only send them the Saviour, but BE their Saviour.
And God gives them prophecies concerning this all along the way.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:11-12
God said this is how it will be done. God said that the one will have to be Immanuel, Eternal Father, Mighty God, the Righteous One. So, in essence, God says, I will send myself to die for you. And after this, I will do something remarkable.
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
So, back in Deut 30 it says that God will save them if they would obey him with all their heart. God now shows that the only way for this to happen is through the new covenant of blood through Jesus Christ and him dying for their sin and then God putting the new heart in them and cause them to walk in his statutes. This is the only way this will happen.
So, the ultimate secret, the ultimate mystery of salvation came through Jesus Christ. Instead of looking inward to our goodness and keeping of the Law for salvation, we are to look outward and the obedience unto death of our Saviour. This is how this redemption will take place. This is the ultimate secret that God gave the Israelites. But instead of listening to God, they decided to give it the good ole Pharisaical try and desired to try and live perfect lives, instead of looking outward to God, who is the perfect One.
It is almost comical when we see this play out back in Exodus:
So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.
Exodus 19:7-8
To think that you can do all that God has commanded is a travesty, and it will lead you directly into hell, because you will look to self instead of the all powerful Righteous One; Christ. Because of them trying to do it all by their own works, and they failed miserably, God tells us what will then have to happen: He will have to do it all himself, he will have to live a perfect life, he will have to die the perfect death, he will have to be risen in the perfect light, all for the sake of his people, ultimately for the sake of his name.
Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Jeremiah 31:31-33
With this in mind our next post will show the outpouring of the life that understands that the most perplexing story to unfold is that a Righteous Saviour would save a whore like me. This life, is lived for the glory of Christ and because of the love that we have for him.
5 comments:
Aren't good baptists supposed to keep the secret that we're whores?
Great series man.
CT,
wow,
aren't you a little bit ashamed?
Seth,
it causes me to tremble in one aspect of this 3rd part series, which, to those devoid of the Spirit, will find it mysterious as they have no cognitive sense who is "Spiritually Speaking", that is the Christ, that Mystery in us, the Hope of Glory, to "hear" what you are writing about.
I am certain one devoid of the Spirit of Grace would not read these things you write about and comprehend them, rather, they would count you foolish writing foolishness as they did during Jesus' time on earth.
The fear is this, those who you write about were "seeking" to "see" "find" "embrace" "their Messiah". He was present with them!
He was with them and in fact He is Emmanuel, right in their midst and they missed the time of their visitation.
We consider that a fright and I certainly do.
What I have trouble with is the prophecies that foretold of His appearing and knew and then promptly rejected to follow that appearance! They were blind, deaf and dumb! And He was right in grasp of them all!
I am not so bold as to say, I know Him now even though I do and I have Him dwelling in me and He comes to me continually, speaking to me in many ways through many a brother, even you!
That's troubling to me to say the least.
I want to rise up and reign in Life through Jesus Christ my Lord.
But without Him rising up in me, it is pointless and equally mysterious.
Why did He come then and suffer at the hands of godless men, knowing now what we know and write about and then we do nothing about it in our time?
Troubling and trembling this part 3 is to me.
thanks and bless you and may His Grace embrace you as you hunger to embrace His Grace!
michael
Am I ashamed of the comment I made? Absolutely not.
Am I ashamed of whoring after seemingly every little thing? Absolutely yes.
Thanks for asking.
CT:
I am with you...
Michael:
What did you mean?
Seth,
oh, yes, I see I did it again.
Sola Scriptura, right?
Here, using scripture to interpret Michael's anguish of soul that has again come to the surface after reading this part 3:
Rom 9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit--
Rom 9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
Rom 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Rom 9:4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
Rom 9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
What do I mean?
I mean, I have been in a Fellowship of "True" believers now for over 30 plus years. I as a lot of the "old timers" of my ministry have married and raised families like you are today. Nice horse! :) But nicer family!!:):)
Today, as I write, several of our "young" people, born into very Godly families and in fact, some fathers of these youth are elders in my Church are leaving our fellowship for various and asundry justification!
WHAT!
WHY?
I believe Christ is present in our Church. The Bible teaches that where two or three gather, there He is in their midst. It is true for my Fellowship but we are seeing some, not all, of our youth moving on, disappointed or, or, or.
My point was that your message on part 3 is similar to the actual days of Jesus when many if not all of those alive in Israel "where looking for the Messiah". Well, pop, out He came and grew up among them and knew Him but their eyes were blocked so as not to "see" the very one in their midst to be the one they zealously sought, their Messiah.
Later in the next chapter of Romans, 10, we read this:
Rom 10:1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
Rom 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom 10:3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
It is so for my Church fellowship when it comes to those "born" into it from "within", those not "added" daily, such as should be saved, but rather, those added by being "born" into the "Family". It is these that are leaving "Christ" searching for "Christ" and sadly, He is right here in our midst!
Was that clear?
michael
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