| Author | Message | ||
| Free2dance Registered user Username: Free2dance Post Number: 435 Registered: 2-2010 |
"Knowing God" by J.I. Packer. Taken from chapter 5, sorry, I don't have a page number because it's an audio book. "Gods Word, in the Old Testament, is His creative utterance; His power in action fulfilling His purpose. The Old Testament depicted Gods utterance, the actual statement of His purpose, as having power in itself to affect the thing purposed. Genesis chapter one tells us how at creation, God said, “Let there be…and there was…”. In Psalm chapter 33 verses 6 and 9 it says, “By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made, He spoke and it came to be.” The word of God, is thus God at work." The last line lingered in my mind after I heard it again this afternoon and sent me on a trail of thought that I am going to take you all down if you will bare with me. "The word of God, is thus God at work"... First, Jesus said in John that His father is always working so I don't want to assume that God was only at work in creation and when Jesus came. However, there seems to be a unique connection to Gods work at creation and at the incarnation and execution of the plan of salvation. Both works had a beginning, a purpose, and an end. The first completed work of God was followed by *God* resting--not man. Man was only "resting" in the sense that He was alive in God. This rest was interrupted, *for man*-- not God, by sin because we were separated from the life of God and could not “vicariously” rest through Him. The second completed work of God allowed us to enter back into the rest that was never interrupted for God. This explains why following the Sabbath of creation there are no more “morning and evenings”. God's Sabbath rest never ended. Our rest ended because we were no longer in His Life. This is why God speaks of allowing us to "ENTER INTO" His rest. It is a continuing rest that we "exited" when we "exited" His Life at Eden. Sabbatismos isn't about us ceasing from our work. For us, Sabbatismos is about whether we are *in Him* partaking in HIS RESTING, or outside of Him and outside of HIS RESTING. Therefore, when Hebrews says there "remains" a Sabbath rest, it is saying that the rest that began in Eden is a constant, it never ended, it is still there and we can enter into it now because God made a way for us to get back in. If we are to ever partake in it again we must believe in the Word of Truth, the gospel of our salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14), and be spiritually regenerated (John 3:5,6) which places us IN Jesus, God the Son (Eph. 1:13, 2:6, 1 Cor. 15:22, 2 Cor. 5:17) so that we can partake in *God's rest* that followed *His* finished work, both at Eden and at the cross. It's not all that different I suppose, but I thought of this New Covenant Sabbath rest as being a new rest all together that we enter because we cease from our works of working our way to salvation. This may still be accurate, I am just seeing it differently today. I see it as the perpetual rest of God that never ended and that we can enter into and partake in only if we are IN HIM. It is STILL about *Him ceasing from His work*, and not about me ceasing from mine. I have nothing to do with it- which is a relief because truthfully, I haven't ceased from my pathetic work; I still find myself struggling to "be good enough". All it has to do with me is whether I am IN HIM or not- period. The *finished* work of salvation allowed us to enter the life of God the Son, Jesus Christ through spiritual regeneration. Had it not been finished then all authority in Heaven and on Earth would not yet belong to Jesus and we would not be able to be regenerated. IT *IS* FINISHED!! We *are* covered by the sacrifice of Jesus and brought to life IN Him and Him alone because of *HIS FINISHED* work, not mine. The Word became flesh, dwelt among us, died for us, was buried in a tomb, raised on the third day, appeared to many, and ascended to the right hand of God according to scripture. This is the gospel we *must* believe. Jesus Christ said on the cross, "It Is Finished!" I truly believe that in order to believe the word of truth about the gospel of our salvation we MUST believe that God does not lie and it is indeed finished! This is a part of the story and it is a very significant part of the story. To deny this, is to re-write the story and deliberately choose to NOT BELIEVE the word of truth. Sabbath rest followed the *finished* work of God. There is not a *new* Sabbath rest for us now in the new covenant. It is the same Sabbath rest that always was with God. “There *remains* a Sabbath rest for the people of God” isn't pointing to a continuation of "Mosaic Saturday labor laws" either. It is speaking of the rest God entered into and remained in at Eden. Because of the finished work of creation God entered perpetual Sabbath rest. Because of the finished work of salvation, we can re-enter that perpetual rest. Thanking Jesus today for this rest. I never want to take it for granted. (Message edited by free2dance on August 22, 2011) | ||
| Mjcmcook Registered user Username: Mjcmcook Post Number: 93 Registered: 2-2011 |
~Thank-you, free2dance~ Yes, Yes, Yes, Jesus spoken words while on the cross~ "It is FINISHED"~ are True! and only GOD, who could not sin when He came into this world, could give life to those words~ not a 'god-man' that could have sinned if he had chosen to~Along with you, I am thankful for the sacrifice that was made on my behalf on the cross so that I may REST in JESUS~ ~*~mj~*~ | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 12881 Registered: 12-2003  |
Free, that is so true. We enter His rest...we enter Him, and He enters us. When we are in Him, we rest. His work is DONE! I just read an article from The Gospel Coalition website entitled "Canon As Tradition: The New Covenant and the Hermeneutical Question". It's a sorta difficult article, but it really is good. There is a spot on page 11 where the author says,
I loved that...the new covenant is a heavenly resurrected order. It's about Jesus destroying the bondage of death that holds us all in slavery and restoring our life. Restoring...resurrecting. We were created to be alive eternally! Jesus restored that! We enter His rest; we receive Life. Amazing! Colleen | ||
| Free2dance Registered user Username: Free2dance Post Number: 448 Registered: 2-2010 |
Colleen, thank you for that quote! I love it! "The new salvation order established in the atoning blood of the superior high priest is a heavenly resurrected order." It says in one sentence what I came to realize! It's not new, it's what it was always supposed to be. I love it. It makes it more about Him and less about us somehow. I like it when that happens.  | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 7481 Registered: 9-2006  |
Free, Thank you for the wonderful post, it helped me to see deeper into the word of God. I love those aha moments when things dawn on me that I never thought about. River |
