There is a glorious relationship!
Are you resting in these troubled times or are you constantly in a flap? Flapping in the wind of ever-changing circumstances. Jesus told us (Matthew 11:28-30) to come to Him and He will give us rest but this is based on our realization of Who He is. Only Jesus (Matthew 11:27) has full, complete power, authority and knowledge of God because He is God. When everything seems topsy-turvy, does your faith give way to fear? Don’t look around in fear (Isaiah 41:10) grasping at straws. Focus on God and His Sovereign control. Our safety is equal to God’s Sovereignty and God’s Sovereignty is effective medication for worry. We know that God has set a right time for everything and within His timing (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11) everything is beautiful. This Scripture also says that God has put eternity in their hearts. This is an O.T. promise of a N.T. revelation. Jesus is the Light of all humans (John 1:4, 9) and the true illumination of every person. Therefore, everyone born into this world has a built-in sense of eternity and an awareness of God.
When we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and are born again into God’s family, immediately we are saints. That is our position and we are set apart for God. But sadly, our conduct often does not match our position. Jesus took the sinners’ baptism of repentance (Mark 1:9) because He knew (John 1:29) that he would become the sacrificial Lamb and take on Himself all the sin and guilt of the whole world of sinners and become that very sin. Knowing the agony that was coming, what was Jesus doing on that dark night, (1 Corinthians 11:23-24) when He was treacherously betrayed? He was giving thanks! Jesus was thanking God for that terrible night because He knew that (Hebrews 2:9, Revelation 13:8) God’s ordained purpose for them was about to be fulfilled by Him. Jesus would pay our sin debt in full and he Himself would bring Light and Hope for this fallen, broken world in His victorious Resurrection. In the O.T. (Exodus 29:15-18) when a man brought a lamb to the priest as a sin offering, he would place his hand on the animal’s head. God accepted that as a transfer of the man’s sin from him to the animal and the animal became that man’s sin. The priest would kill the lamb, shed its blood and the body of the animal-made-sin would be consumed in the fire. But the animal sacrifices could never fully and eternally remove sin. When Jesus said (Matthew 26:38) keep watch with Me, My soul is so sad that I am almost dying of sorrow, the pressure was so great that the blood vessels in His forehead burst. That was when God began to transfer the sin of the whole world to Jesus. His Blood poured down into the ground in a Blood-covenant with the earth for redemption. With the transfer, Jesus became our sin and so He bore the sin the guilt and the full penalty of holy God’s furious wrath. When He screamed in intense agony (Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46) “My God, why have You forsaken ME?” We can see the answer to that heart-breaking question when we look in the mirror. That was when God began to transfer all the sin of all the world to Jesus and Jesus became that very sin. Holy God had no choice but to abandon Him to full judgment and the loneliness of hell (can we read this without tears?) It was for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) that the sacrificial sin-bearing Lamb of God became sin SO THAT we might become the righteousness of God in Him and to fully surrender ourselves as living sacrifices to Him for God’s purposes.
Nowhere in the N.T. does it say that Jesus ever worried or hurried. He rested in God, no matter what was going on - - and so can we. Taking the yoke of Jesus upon us means for us to be in full surrender to Him and His yoke is a good and easy fit and we enjoy sweet companionship with Him. (Gideon Levatam) “When we say” – Jesus Christ – we emphasize His Humanity, when we call Him – Christ Jesus – we emphasize His Deity,” He is the anointed One, the only Messiah, the only Saviour. If we truly rest and trust in the Lord (Psalms 37:4) the very desires of our heart will be God-given desires. We can rest confidently in the assurance that all our God-given desires will be fulfilled by the God Who gave them to us for His purpose.
I think that the DNA of all sin is Pride along with its twin brother Greed. When I sin it is pride because, when I sin it is all about me, total self-focus. When I sin it is all about greed because it is all about what I want. Sin is self-deification because “I” is on the throne. Salvation is not self-improvement but (1 Corinthians 15:31) death to self.
I’m praying that the Lord will give me the growing desire and the insight into His purpose for the place where He has placed me so that I can be an instrument in the hand of God to fulfill His desires, the very desires, of the heart of God.
I am prostrate and trembling before Him and I can only say - -
What great salvation!
What holy privilege!
What glorious relationship