The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God manifested in the sayings from the Cross. Part 3.
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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!
Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).
1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God manifested in the sayings from the Cross. Part 3.
We are now ready to complete the Seventh and final Saying of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross.
The first saying was found in Luk 23:34, But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Again, this reveals our Lord’s care for others and not Himself, in spite of what he had gone through and what He was going through.
The second saying was found in Luk 23:43, And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Again, this brought out the principle of Others.
The third saying is in John 19:26-27, When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
John 19:27, Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own {household}. Caring for the apostle John and His mother revealed His message was Others.
The fourth saying was found in Matt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He said this for us and therefore He wanted us to understand the principle of others.
The fifth saying, John 19:28, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
The sixth saying of the cross can be described by the word Tetelestai, translated it is finished.
John 19:30, When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”
However, it’s important to note that when the Lord Jesus Christ uttered the words “It is finished” , He revealed the fact that not only salvation was totally complete but also the work of God and the will of God AFTER salvation was totally completed. This is something that I have found that very few others have taught. So this leads us to the seventh and final saying on the Cross which is found in Luk 23:46, And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.” And having said this, He breathed His last.
When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross, it was voluntary meaning that He did it for us Himself.
In fact, the entire Trinity did it for us as taught in passages like Acts 2:22-23, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know this {Man}, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put {Him} to death.
Notice is was by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, that He was delivered up. This goes all the way back to Gen 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness… We were created in the image and in the likeness of God.
And, whether you believe it or not, this is why you have been created. The point is that when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross, it was voluntary.
John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
John 16:7-14, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear {them} now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose {it} to you.”
Upon His physical death, our Lord’s human spirit went into the presence of God the Father. His soul went into Hades to a compartment known as Paradise. His body went into the grave to wait for that glorious moment some three days later when the body would be rejoined by the soul and the Spirit. This is what is known as the trichotomous separation.
Therefore, the seventh cry or saying from the Cross was the beginning of the end; and yet in reality the end was a new beginning.
For Jesus Christ would arise from the grave in a resurrection body, walk among men for a short time, then ascend into the presence of the Father to sit at His right hand as our great High Priest and make intercession for us forever (Heb 1:3; 7:25).
I do know this because in 1Co 15:3-10, the apostle Paul said, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Now, I say all of this to bring up an amazing subject, which is what we call the Victorious Proclamation. Undoubtedly, the most startling event ever to be observed in the angelic realm was the creation of man. Here was an inferior form of creation who, unlike angels, could not travel through space, who was limited in power and vision and who was confined to one small planet, yet this creature was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:27).
Gen 1:27-28, And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
By the way, in spite of the fact that angels seem to be a superior creation, we never read that they were made in the image of God, as we are. Therefore, sometimes I wonder who the real superior creation is, angels or humans? Also, why is it that the Lord Jesus Christ became a member of the human race and not the angelic race?
Heb 1:3 really puts it like this from the original language: And He [Jesus Christ] is the radiance [flashing forth–which is a reference to the humanity of Christ being the flashing forth] of His [God the Father’s] glory, and the exact representation of His nature [deity of Christ]; and He upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
That’s when Jesus Christ received His third royal title, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and that’s when the angelic conflict shifted gears into its intensified stage.
Heb 1:4 Having become [meaning Jesus Christ in His humanity] as much better than the angels, as He has inherited an excellent or superior title to theirs [third royal title].” Our Lord became the victor of the angelic conflict as an inferior creature to angels, a member of the human race.
Heb 1:5, “For to which of the angels did He [God the Father] ever say, “You are My Son [deity of Christ], this day I have given birth to You [the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union] ?’ And again [2Sa 7:14], I will be His Father and He will be My Son.”
Which angel did God ever say that to? The answer of course is none. In fact, angels do not call God their Father.
In Heb 1:6, And when He again brings His First born into the world [Second Advent] He says, [from Psa 97:7], let all the angels of God worship Him.” Here we see the so-called higher creation, known as the angels, being told to worship a member of the lower creation, the humanity of Christ. The point is that the work God called Christ to finish is better than the angels and therefore the angels are to worship Him.
We are all in union with Christ. In fact, in Eph 2:6, we are told that we have been raised up with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly places, We are also told in 2Co 5:17 if we are in Christ, we are new creatures, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. And as members of the human race, it is said about us that in Rom 6:4, We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
There are a lot of privileges given to us that are not given to the angels because we are in union with Him. For example, Because we are in union with Christ, we share His: Eternal life,1Jo 5:11-12. Perfect righteousness, 2Co 5:21. Election, Eph 1:4. Destiny, Eph 1:5. Sonship, 2Ti 2:1. Heirship, Rom 8:16 17. Sanctification, 1Co 1:2. Priesthood, Heb 10:10-14. Royalty (Kingship), 2Pe 1:11. Angels do not share that and that is part of the victorious proclamations are Lord announced to the angels after He died and said Father into Your hands I commit My spirit.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
