Malachi
3:7, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine
ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return
unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we
return?”
We
find numerous passages in the Bible where God instructed His people
to repent and return to Him. How can that be relevant to the Body of
Christ? Because our attention can be easily diverted from the vision
we have of God's work and our mission. We are easily distracted from
God's business so we need Him to remind us often of where we are and
what we need to be doing. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal where we
have slipped away and to where we need to return.
Enabled
by the Holy Ghost, go back to the inception of the vision. Go back to
where you started. Examine anew your decision to follow Christ, your
mission and purpose. What was your perception of your relationship
then and where are you now? What has changed? What about the vision
needs your attention? In the beginning it was all about Jesus, the
truth of God's Word and His commission. We must allow the Holy Spirit
to open the windows of our soul to the revelation of His perfect
truth and how that will be implemented through our lives.
John
1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the focus here. The Word was
made flesh and lived among mortal flesh. The Greek term for “word”
is “logos.” Revelation is the idea contained in the perception of
“logos.” The Word is the revelation of the Triune God. Triune
being three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit.
1
John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2(For the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you
that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us;) 3That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye
also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with
the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4And these things write we
unto you, that your joy may be full.” Therefore we can conclude
that the essence of God is fully accessible by mortal flesh through
Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost.
What
does that mean to us? It is important for us to understand that God,
in all his awesomeness, is fully approachable through Jesus Christ.
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.” Ryrie says that the logos concept,
“here is applied to Jesus who is all that God is and an expression
of Him. The Word is said to be with God (IE., in communion with and
yet distinct from God) and to be God (IE., identical in essence with
God).” Sounds awesome, right? That believers have full access to
such a magnanimous person. But, we do in Jesus Christ. God wants us
to know Him that we can fully know ourselves in Him.
We
don't need to back away from the mountain of God in fear of His
presence. He wants us to not only be aware of Him but to share His
presence in our daily walk with Him. The Israelites recoiled in fear
at the manifest presence of God on Mt. Sinai. They had witnessed the
power of God, but without faith to trust Him, God's presence created
fear. They had seen with their own eyes what He could do. So, God
placed a boundary at the foot of the mountain and they were
instructed not to approach the mountain. The Israelites had to
communicate with God through a mediator. God gave His instructions to
the Israelites through Moses. What made Moses different from the
rest? He trusted God! He was willing to leave the things that he
didn't understand in the hands of God.
We
have no need to be fearful and afraid. Jesus became our mediator with
God when we accepted His sacrifice at Calvary. Because of the shed
blood of Jesus Christ we have the boldness to draw near to God and
through our mediator, Jesus, we bring our petitions to Him. He
invites us to come boldly before the throne of grace and make our
petitions know to Him. This is a very important attribute of our
relationship with God. In the presence of God, we will discovery who
we are in Jesus Christ. He will define the terms and boundaries of
our mission by the revelation and leading of the Holy Spirit in our
daily lives.
His
presence is absolutely indispensable if we are to understand who we
are in Jesus Christ and what that means to us and to a lost and dying
world. God help us to be receptive to the illumination of His Spirit!
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