- araratchurch
- Apr 14
- 4 min read
“See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory].”
1 John 3:1-2 AMP
Over the last few days, we have considered truths we must grasp as we look at our Lord in order to truly see Him and know Him. Only in so doing, can we live the resurrected life God has made possible for us through Jesus Christ.
Let’s rehearse these truths concerning the work of Jesus:
>We must see Him suffering in our place.
In terms of His suffering, the Lord does not need or want our sympathy. Rather, He wants us to see that He loves us so much that He would suffer in our place. As well, we should understand how terrible our sin was that it demanded such an awful penalty.
“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
“But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:22-23 NLT
>We must see Him risen so that we can have new life.
In terms of Jesus’ resurrection, He want wants us to see that as He was raised by the Holy Spirit of God to newness of life, just so, we are raised by the Holy Spirit to become a new creation, prepared for good works.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Ephesians 2:10 NLT
“And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
Romans 8:10-11 NLT
>We must see Jesus glorified and at the right hand of the Father, as the One Who is calling us upward (inviting us!) to share His place of authority.
In terms of Jesus’ glorification, and being seated at the right hand of the Father, He wants us to see our future, wherein we will rule and reign with Him forever.
“This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us.”
2 Timothy 2:11-12 NLT
“Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.”
Revelation 3:21 NLT
Now do you understand it? When we look at Christ’s suffering, His resurrection, and His glorification, we are seeing the process God has provided through which we can become sons of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ!
“For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
Romans 8:16-17 NLT
Child of God, we should not be able to look at Jesus Christ without seeing what God has done for us, what God has made us to be, and what God has provided for us in terms of a glorious future in the ages to come.
Remember, if you look at Christ, all He has done, all that He is, without seeing what this means for you, then you have missed the point of His suffering on the cross, the power of His resurrection, and the glory of His exaltation. After all, all of this He has done, is all about us!
Remember, the Lord didn’t need to do any of the things He did, to be Who He Is. He did it all so that we can be who He made us to be: His children, with whom He wants to share His glory!
See Him now! Believe Him now! Answer the upward call! Jesus has made it possible! Why wait any longer?
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Apr 11
- 4 min read
“And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. For in one place the Scriptures say, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him? Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them authority over all things.” Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority. What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”
Hebrews 2:5-10 NLT
I think most of us are intrigued by stories of “common” people who find out that they are actually royalty, or somehow or another, very rich and potentially powerful. The causes of not knowing about their actual position, and the means through which it was found out, vary, but the bottom line is—in a moment—they go from commoner to royalty, and/or from rags to riches.
Did you know that many Christians are living in a situation where they have no idea of their actual position? Indeed, to hear them talk you would think that they are the lowliest of all creation, devoid of power, totally without hope.
In my opinion, one of the main goals of the enemy of our soul is to keep us ignorant of who God made us to be, ignorant of the authority we have been given through Jesus Christ, still bound to him, through our sins.
I remember my father singing a song that went: “Oh yes, oh yes, I’m a child of the King; His royal blood now flows in my veins; and I who was wretched and poor now can sing, ‘Praise God! Praise God! I’m a child of the King!’” I remember him singing those words with such confidence and gusto. Indeed, he spent much of his teaching in his latter years, trying to convey what we could do for the glory of God, if we only believed what God has said.
In fact, it was God’s plan that through the work of Jesus Christ, we could be rescued from our lowly estate and restored to our rightful position.
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:29-30 NLT
The psalmist speaks prophetically of the King Who God would establish as ruler over all things. We now know: That King is Jesus!
“For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.” The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession. You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’””
Psalms 2:6-9 NLT
Understand, God did not need to exert or extend His authority; He is above all things. What He did through Jesus Christ, was for our benefit, that we could become sons of God!
Our opening scripture tells a story: God—through Jesus Christ—is leading us to glory. Indeed, the writer of Hebrews is referencing a prophetic word in Psalm 8.
“what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.”
Psalms 8:4-8 NLT
Further on in Hebrews 2, we see this stunning proclamation:
“So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.”
Hebrews 2:11 NLT
The Lord calls us His brothers and sisters! The upward call of God through Jesus Christ is that we rule and reign forever with our Lord, forever sharing in His glory!
The last couple of days we have been discussing the truths we must know to be able to see Jesus as He truly is. Only in so doing can we understand what He has done for us and what that means concerning the new life He came to make possible. Today, we look at another truth:
Jesus was glorified so that we can be glorified. Again, the Lord God did not need to add to His glory; but there was a need for us to be brought (back) into His glory.
For now, we only see glimpses of what we will truly be when Christ rules and reigns on the earth. But even now, we must recognize who God made us to be, and the lengths to which He has gone to restore us to the path leading to sharing in His glory.
Lord willing, next time we will put these truths together to understand what the Lord wants us to grasp from them.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Apr 10
- 3 min read
“For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
Romans 6:4-6 NLT
Legend has it that Florida was discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon as he was searching for the Fountain of Youth. Now, the concept of a fountain of youth (a source of life-extending water) is found in literature going back centuries.
Better than that, references to a source of living water go back to Old Testament times. Indeed, in the Book of Jeremiah, we find these references to the true source of living water:
“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”
Jeremiah 2:13 NLT
Instead of seeking the Lord, the true fountain of living water, God‘s people were looking to their own worthless sources to find the new life, the eternal life, only the Lord can give.
And then there’s this:
“O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water.”
Jeremiah 17:13 NLT
Again, God‘s people ended up disgraced and destroyed because they abandoned the true source of living water.
As well, the true fountain of life (living, or life-giving water) was spoken of by Jesus!
“Now on the last and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out [in a loud voice], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’ ” But He was speaking of the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him [as Savior] were to receive afterward. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).”
John 7:37-39 AMP
Yes, the true source of life is the Holy Spirit of God!
Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of God, died for our sins. His precious blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness and filthiness of the flesh. Not only that, His sacrifice made it possible for us to be connected to His never-ending life by way of His Holy Spirit!
“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
Romans 8:11 NLT
We don’t have to worry anymore about what will happen to us after we exit this life!
As well, by the Holy Spirit of God, we can live a new life while still in our mortal bodies!
Our opening scripture explains that we can live a new life free from the bondage of sin now, and can also look forward to eternal life with the Lord.
Yesterday, we discussed that in order to truly see the Lord and fully understand what He has done for us, we must see that His suffering paid the price for our sins.
Today, we consider another truth necessary to being able to know Christ Jesus and to live the new life He has made possible for us:
His resurrection makes it possible for us to live a new life as a new creation. As well, we no longer have to fear death; we have been filled with the same Power that raised Jesus from the dead.
“And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.”
Romans 6:8-9
“And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.”
1 Corinthians 6:14 NLT
Next time, we will continue our search for the truth that sets us free to live the resurrected life of Jesus Christ.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!