Abel Saw A Better Way

Come Alive

We have passed from death to life through the work of Christ.  We must begin to view the commodities of the Kingdom of God as our birthright and no longer identify ourselves with the limited blessings of the world. God is limitless and in Him we are stretched and expanded to greatness. We must up our believing to a place of faith that releases the realities of Heaven into the Earth. We are born again from above and no longer should live as those subjected to the laws of nature, we are supernatural. The beauty of it all is that this is who God created you to be. He wants you so very much and wants to give you a trust in His Kingdom. He calls us out of sin into righteousness. This is more than just a positional statement. This is truth, in Christ we cannot sin. Let us cease from selling the gospel short by judging according to human standards; fix your eyes on what is unseen. If you have not yet seen a man walk without sin then set Your gaze onto Christ Jesus, the forerunner of faith, and allow Him to be your leader. Will He lead you into sin? No!! He is the way out. It’s is time to come alive in Christ. For the gospel is not just good words but power; it is the power that transforms your life into the image of Christ.

Proverbs 29:18 and the Testimony of Jesus

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law. - Pro 29:18 NASB

To be unrestrained is essentially to have no boundaries. We all have self defined boundaries, but in this case we must view this boundary line as the will of God, or the God defined boundary. God’s boundary lines can be best understood in the context of the law of God. When the people are unaware of the fixed law of God then we exercise our own will over and against the will of God and set ourselves as enemies of the prophetic revelation, the Divine utterance. It is said on many occasions in the writings of Moses that the people of Israel are to obey the Voice of God, or that which has been spoken. What makes the Scripture so very powerful is it is the voice of God written down, meaning that it cannot be broken, changed or altered on any point because God is unchanging. It is the equivalent of actually hearing His voice. The only thing that can happen is a deeper or clearer understanding of what is written can be revealed as we receive the testimony and the Spirit into our being and become born again. For it is written that God would put His law into our heart through the filling of the Spirit or implanted Word.

What shall we say then? We must hold fast to God’s will. The power of Divine revelation is a holy life, while the power of the law was only the knowledge of sin that needs cleansing. The more revelation the greater the holiness (or cleansing), for as we see God as He is we become like Him. And He has chosen to perfectly reveal Himself in the person of Jesus. In other words, as we look at Jesus we are transformed by the Spirit that testifies of Jesus, as He alone is the atoning sacrifice that makes us clean. We become new in every way. The written testimony of the law and prophets declare the coming Messiah and it is Jesus who fulfills that testimony. We must receive Him or be cut off. We find that there has been a cutting off of many already, and a grafting in as well. The good news is that which has been cut off can also be grafted in again, and the fearful thing is that which has been grafted in can be cut off. This is why we need desperately to stay very near to the prophetic vision of God found in Jesus, and receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.

The Greatest Command

Then one of the scribes ... asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments [is]: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This [is] the first commandment. "And the second, like [it, is] this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." - Mar 12:28-31 NKJV

One of the “scribes” asked this question after hearing Jesus reason with the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead. A scribe is morre than just a person who wrote things down but iin Jesus’ day they were the lawyers, who dtermined the meaning of Scripture (Law) and set the acceptable course of life for an observant Jew. In other words this person was no novice.

In Jesus answer we find the first, or greatest) command includes two parts; the first is to hear and the second is to love. From other Scripture we can ascertain that to obey God is the expression of love (Jhn 14:15,21,23; 15:10; 1 Jhn 2:3,5:3; 2 Jhn 1:6). We also cannot gain a faith in Him if we haven’t heard Him (Rom 10:17). So then it is reasonable to expect that hearing unto faith leads to obedience or it is not faith (Jam 1:22).

So then what are we to hear? That the Lord our God is one. This is the first step of hearing correctly. Now I ask you this; why would we need to hear that God is one? I believe this is a set-up for the understanding that Jesus is God (Jhn 5:17-18,23, 8:24,58, 10:30-33; 14:9-11). Think about the word the Jesus gave to the rich young ruler (Mat 19:16-22; Luk 18:18-23). After confessing adherance to many of the commands from youth, he still feels he is lacking something. Jesus answers by telling him to sell his possessions, give to the poor (in order to have treasure in heaven) and then follow Him. What right did Jesus have to demand this of anyone asking about eternal life?

The commands Jesus first asked the youn ruler about would be the final 6 of the 10 commandments given to Moses. He left out the first four which are, have no other god’s before Me, do not make any graven images to bow down to, keep the sabbath, and do not use the Lord’s name in vain. What all of these commands have in common is that they pertain to loving God (while the final 6 pertain to loving your neighbor). Jesus equates forsaking all and following Him with these first four. In other words forsaking all and following Jesus equal having no other gods, making no idols, keeping the sabbath and not using the Lord’s name in vain. The only way that could be true is if Jesus is both Lord and God. This agrees with Thomas’ testimony upon seeing the resurrected Jesus (Jhn 20:28).

The writer of the book of Hebrews testifies at the very beginning that previously God spoke to the fathers through the prophets (including Moses) now speaks to us all through His Son. (Heb 1:1-4). Scripture also tells us that Jesus is greater than the angels (Heb 1:4), greater than Moses (Heb 3:3-6),greater than the sabbath (Luk 6:50), greater than Solomon (Mat 12:42), greater than the temple (Mat 12:6), greater than the Levitical priesthood (Heb 7) and Jesus received worship (Mat 2:11,8:2,9:18,14:33,15:25,28:9,17;Jhn 9:38).

In all of this we can begin to hear that the Lord and God are one as the testimony of Isaiah agrees with in chapter 9 verse 6 when he prophesies the coming of Jesus “...And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This is how the Father wants to be worshiped; through His Son.

The lesson from the rich young ruler is that it is not enough to love our neighbor, we must forsake everything and follow Jesus. The Father is drawing you right now into the revelation of His Son Jesus through the Spirit. If you could only turn and receive it you would be saved. In this you will fulfill all the law and the prophets.

A Kingdom of Priests

A priest in the generic sense is one who offers service and sacrifice to god on behalf of another. In Judaism the true priests were sons of Levi and were set in  office by God. Even within the sons of Levi were certain divisions and only the sons of Aaron could hold the office of high priest. Yet even in such a rigid priestly systems of \sacrifice and worship we read that Israel was a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6). A clue into God’s desire to be near all of His people. We also find this inclusiveness in the response to the two elders who were prophesying within the camp of Israel in the desert when it is said “I wish all my people would prophets and that God would put His Spirit upon all of them.” (Num 11:29) And in the very beginning God walked with Adam in the garden, even bringing the animals to him to see what he would name them. Bottom line, God is a Father who desires nearness to His children, and we are all His children in the sense that we are of His creation.

Now a strange thing has happened. We have changed the desire of God and set our minds against Him. All of God’s reaching back toward His people has been met with resistance and is still met with resistance today. How so today? Our institutional systems of religion reserve the power, presence and love of God to a select few who mediate on behalf of the people. The people then are lulled to sleep, only aroused enough to periodically offer a monetary gift or good deed to satisfy their conscience, all the while living as strangers to a God who desires to be their Father. Your Father. One of the greatest detriments to our relationship with God is the clergy/layman mentality. No individual is closer to God than another by position or birthright, it is only by faith in the work of Christ. No other way is provided to enter into the presence of God, and no other way is needed. There is to be no separation between man and God and there is to be no priesthood offering sacrifices on our behalf. The only sacrifice is the body and blood of Jesus and the only priest is also Jesus, who mediates a glorious covenant that allows the believer to receive the very Spirit of God, the thing Moses desired in Numbers 11:29.

We have all agreed that the “church” is not the building, and many have agreed for the death of the “one man show” we call a church service, but we need the release of revelation and power within the church to set at liberty all those who name the name of Christ. Every voice is important to God, every person is a priest. We must reject the confining and controlling systems of “religion” that constrict and confine through fear those who desire to enter in. We are shutting up the way for ourselves and others who desire to come in. All who are thirsty come and drink of the waters of life, God is not far off nor is He holding you back, He is calling you near and if you caught a glimpse of Him you would repent.