Partakers of the Divine Nature

We've all heard lots of teaching about 2 Peter 2:3-4, most of it good—there's really no bad way to translate this passage. Read if for yourself:

'Grace and peace by multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His Divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him Who called us by [to] His own glory and excellence. For by [Through which] these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.'

In fact, there's so much here that it's hard to know where to start!

Grace 
Grace, or charis [Gr] means good will, lovingkindness, favor. We usually hear it taught as 'unmerited favor,' meaning that, before we are reborn into the family of God, it is unmerited.

After, of course, we are One Spirit with the Lord, the Body of Christ. And He deserves everything.

Peace
Peace, or eirene [Gr] means many things. From a personal nature, these are the most relevant...security, safety, prosperity, felicity.

Remember—Peter was a Hebrew, which meant that the word 'peace' to him meant shalom [Heb]. As we've seen in earlier articles, shalom means the following:

• completeness
• soundness
• welfare
• peace
• completeness
• safety
• soundness (in body) 
• welfare
• health
• prosperity
• quiet
• tranquillity
• contentment
• friendship of human relationships with God, especially in covenant relationship
• peace (from war)

It is unlikely that Peter thought in Greek. When he said 'peace' he was thinking in Hebrew, no matter how many languages his writings were translated from/into. 

Multiply
Plethuno [Gr], meaning to increase, or multiply.

So far, this is pretty wonderful! God's good will, lovingkindness and favor, and His shalom peace—completeness, soundness in every area of life—increasing in our lives!

How do we access all of this wonderfulness? In the [true] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!

Read on...

His Divine Power
'Seeing that HIS Divine power...

Let's stop here for a minute. Power, or dunamis [Gr], means miracle-working power, strength, ability, even the the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth, or power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts. This is BIG power, the power of God Himself! Colossians 1:11 says that we've been strengthened with ALL very miracle-working power! 

And this Divine power '...has granted [past tense] to us everything pertaining to life and godliness...'

Everything, or pas [Gr], meaning each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything.

Life—zoe [Gr]—the life of God, or the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God.

How has this marvelous wonder been granted to us? '...through the true knowledge of Him who called us by [to] His own glory and excellence.'

Glory
These wonders have already been granted to us, and we access them through the knowledge of Him Who called us to His own glory and excellence! We're called to glory, and not just any glory...His OWN glory!

Sounds great...what exactly is the glory of God?

The Greek word is doxa, which means a lot of things...

• opinion, judgment, view
• opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
• in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory
• splendour, brightness, of the moon, sun, stars; magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
• majesty
• a thing belonging to God
• the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
• a thing belonging to Christ
• the kingly majesty of the Messiah
• the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ
• the majesty of the angels as apparent in their exterior brightness
• a most glorious condition, most exalted state, of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth
• the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour's return from heaven

And of course, all of the things that glory means are too wonderful for us to comprehend with our minds. These things must be perceived with our reborn spirits, which are one with the Lord. Called to glory...

But wait, we haven't even gotten to the good part yet!

Precious and Magnificent Promises
'For by [literally through which...which what? Through these--His own glory and excellence, or virtue] He has granted to us His PRECIOUS and MAGNIFICENT PROMISES so that by them [the promises] you may become partakers of the Divine nature...' [2 Peter 1:4]

He has granted us, THROUGH HIS OWN GLORY AND EXCELLENCE, precious and magnificent promises, by which we become partakers of the Divine nature.

PARTAKERS of the DIVINE NATURE! Yes, you read it correctly, right from the scripture. Through the wonderful promises He has already granted us, we become partakers of the Divine nature.

Called to His glory—His Divine power has granted us a way to partake of His Divine nature—through the knowledge of Him and through His Divine promises.

What promises? Pick one...they're all magnificent and precious, and they all belong to us! 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us 'For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the GLORY of God through us.' And, good news for us...there are no curses attached to these promises, as there were in the Old Covenant. Jesus bore all of the curse of the law for us! [see Galatians 3]

[A small digression...Amen is a great word. Transliterated directly from the Hebrew into Greek, it probably had no real Greek meaning of it's own until it was used in the New Testament. Paul, in this instance, was a Hebrew speaker and scholar, and would have surely thought 'Amen' in the Hebrew sense, which means 'so be it.' So be it...it is done.]

It's True...
Yes, we're partakers of the Divine nature—not a sin nature, barely excused from hell, but one Spirit with the Lord! We died with Christ and were made alive with Him: He is the only Spirit in these earthen vessels, and He has come with the through the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. [John 14:16-24]

Get over all the old false doctrines that explain how worthless we are. We were purchased, redeemed, with a great price, recreated in the very image and nature of God.

See it, confess it. It's who you are in Christ.

Read One Spirit with the Lord

Partakers of the Divine Nature

We've all heard lots of teaching about 2 Peter 2:3-4, most of it good—there's really no bad way to translate this passage. Read if for yourself:

'Grace and peace by multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His Divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him Who called us by [to] His own glory and excellence. For by [Through which] these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.'

In fact, there's so much here that it's hard to know where to start!

Grace 
Grace, or charis [Gr] means good will, lovingkindness, favor. We usually hear it taught as 'unmerited favor,' meaning that, before we are reborn into the family of God, it is unmerited.

After, of course, we are One Spirit with the Lord, the Body of Christ. And He deserves everything.

Peace
Peace, or eirene [Gr] means many things. From a personal nature, these are the most relevant...security, safety, prosperity, felicity.

Remember—Peter was a Hebrew, which meant that the word 'peace' to him meant shalom [Heb]. As we've seen in earlier articles, shalom means the following:

• completeness
• soundness
• welfare
• peace
• completeness
• safety
• soundness (in body) 
• welfare
• health
• prosperity
• quiet
• tranquillity
• contentment
• friendship of human relationships with God, especially in covenant relationship
• peace (from war)

It is unlikely that Peter thought in Greek. When he said 'peace' he was thinking in Hebrew, no matter how many languages his writings were translated from/into. 

Multiply
Plethuno [Gr], meaning to increase, or multiply.

So far, this is pretty wonderful! God's good will, lovingkindness and favor, and His shalom peace—completeness, soundness in every area of life—increasing in our lives!

How do we access all of this wonderfulness? In the [true] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!

Read on...

His Divine Power
'Seeing that HIS Divine power...

Let's stop here for a minute. Power, or dunamis [Gr], means miracle-working power, strength, ability, even the the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth, or power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts. This is BIG power, the power of God Himself! Colossians 1:11 says that we've been strengthened with ALL very miracle-working power! 

And this Divine power '...has granted [past tense] to us everything pertaining to life and godliness...'

Everything, or pas [Gr], meaning each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything.

Life—zoe [Gr]—the life of God, or the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God.

How has this marvelous wonder been granted to us? '...through the true knowledge of Him who called us by [to] His own glory and excellence.'

Glory
These wonders have already been granted to us, and we access them through the knowledge of Him Who called us to His own glory and excellence! We're called to glory, and not just any glory...His OWN glory!

Sounds great...what exactly is the glory of God?

The Greek word is doxa, which means a lot of things...

• opinion, judgment, view
• opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
• in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory
• splendour, brightness, of the moon, sun, stars; magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
• majesty
• a thing belonging to God
• the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
• a thing belonging to Christ
• the kingly majesty of the Messiah
• the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ
• the majesty of the angels as apparent in their exterior brightness
• a most glorious condition, most exalted state, of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth
• the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour's return from heaven

And of course, all of the things that glory means are too wonderful for us to comprehend with our minds. These things must be perceived with our reborn spirits, which are one with the Lord. Called to glory...

But wait, we haven't even gotten to the good part yet!

Precious and Magnificent Promises
'For by [literally through which...which what? Through these--His own glory and excellence, or virtue] He has granted to us His PRECIOUS and MAGNIFICENT PROMISES so that by them [the promises] you may become partakers of the Divine nature...' [2 Peter 1:4]

He has granted us, THROUGH HIS OWN GLORY AND EXCELLENCE, precious and magnificent promises, by which we become partakers of the Divine nature.

PARTAKERS of the DIVINE NATURE! Yes, you read it correctly, right from the scripture. Through the wonderful promises He has already granted us, we become partakers of the Divine nature.

Called to His glory—His Divine power has granted us a way to partake of His Divine nature—through the knowledge of Him and through His Divine promises.

What promises? Pick one...they're all magnificent and precious, and they all belong to us! 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us 'For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the GLORY of God through us.' And, good news for us...there are no curses attached to these promises, as there were in the Old Covenant. Jesus bore all of the curse of the law for us! [see Galatians 3]

[A small digression...Amen is a great word. Transliterated directly from the Hebrew into Greek, it probably had no real Greek meaning of it's own until it was used in the New Testament. Paul, in this instance, was a Hebrew speaker and scholar, and would have surely thought 'Amen' in the Hebrew sense, which means 'so be it.' So be it...it is done.]

It's True...
Yes, we're partakers of the Divine nature—not a sin nature, barely excused from hell, but one Spirit with the Lord! We died with Christ and were made alive with Him: He is the only Spirit in these earthen vessels, and He has come with the through the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. [John 14:16-24]

Get over all the old false doctrines that explain how worthless we are. We were purchased, redeemed, with a great price, recreated in the very image and nature of God.

See it, confess it. It's who you are in Christ.

Read One Spirit with the Lord

Enter His Rest Today

Read Hebrews 3, 4

Hebrews 3 and 4 have a lot to say about the rest of God. We know that He has rested from His works [4:10] and that those works were finished from the foundation of the world [4:3]

We were given the example of the Israelites, who were unable to enter the Promised Land—His covenant promise to them, His rest for them—because of disobedience [3:18]. And we see that disobedience stems from unbelief [3:19].

Paul further explains in verse 4:2 that '...the WORD they heard did NOT profit them, because it was not UNITED BY FAITH in those who heard.'

In other words, they had the promise of God, but did not accept it by faith. He had a specific rest for His natural people...a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of abundance and peace. But they just didn't believe His Word, and faith united with His Word is what brings spiritual blessings into manifestation in the earth.

Faith Is...
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the assurance—the substance, that which has actual existence—of things hoped for, the conviction, or proof, of things not seen.

In the case of Hebrews 4:2, God's Word is the unseen reality that Israel did not unite with their faith. They couldn't see it so they didn't believe it, and did not enter God's finished work prepared specifically for them!

We know from Psalm 119:89 that His Word is settled forever...Isaiah 40:8 says the Word of our God stands forever. What we see in Hebrews 4 is that His Word is in reality a finished work! A finished work that He has rested from, finished from the foundation of the world!

AND a finished work that He desires us to enter into by faith! This is the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world [Matthew 25:34], the place prepared for us by Jesus Himself [John 14:2].

In other words, His Word is a completed work, a rest for us to enter into...and Jesus IS the Word! In Jesus, all the promise of God are yes [2 Corinthians 2:20]

All Things
Consider these:

'He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?' [Romans 8:32]

'Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.' [Luke 12:32]

"...with God all things are possible." [Matthew 19:26

"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." [Matthew 21:22]

"All things are possible to him who believes." [Mark 9:23]

"All things are possible with God." [Mark 10:27]

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." [Mark 11:24]

'...and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be greed through the Law of Moses.' [Acts 13:39]

'But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through HIm Who loved us." [Romans 8:37]

'...all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.' [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]

'For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.' [2 Corinthians 1:20]

'I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me.' [Philippians 4:13]

'...God, Who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.' [1 Timothy 6:17]

So it would seem that our rest, the covenant promise prepared beforehand for us, is all things.

The Kingdom
Colossians 1 puts it this way:

'For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

'He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation.

'For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

'He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.' [Colossians 1:13-17]

We are in Him, and He is in us.

Jesus, the fulfillment of every promise, is our rest. He is the completed work...it is finished. Everything we need, all that we desire, every blessing is in Him and is finished for us.

Rest Now
So Hebrews 4:11,12 advises us 'For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.'

When we are diligent to enter the rest of God's already fulfilled promises for us, we rest from our works. We access our Promised Land by uniting His Word with our faith...and that faith is the faith of God Himself! We were crucified with Him—He was reborn in us! We are one Spirit with the Lord, and Jesus said that He and the Father would abide in us by the power of the Holy Spirit! [John 14]

So the faith that resides in our reborn spirit is that of the indwelling Trinity! We can't lose!

Choose life. Choose faith. Choose to believe His Word and enter His rest. Enter into the works finished for you from the foundation of the world.

Merry Christmas...God Loves You!

I was in the unfortunate circumstance of having to brave the supermarket on the day before Christmas. I normally avoid this at all costs, but not this year.

I got my cart and wheeled into the fray. It was chaos...jaw-clenching, wild-eyed, fierce women with anxious children trailing behind. Everyone was rushing, rushing, rushing with that get-out-of-my-way-or-else look in their eyes.

Feeling a little testy myself, I plugged in The Three Tenors Christmas album. As the beautiful music filled my ears, I began to relax and really look at the people around me. And I started to feel the stirrings of Christmas! Impatience was replaced by what I can only describe as love! Surely this was not from me...I felt like Scrooge after he awakened from his dream. I was about a minute away from leaping in the air...and I am definitely NOT one to leap.

And when José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and  Luciano Pavarotti, in heavily accented English, began to sing Amazing Grace, I immediately understood evangelism. I wanted to jump up on the self-serv checkout and cry "God loves you! God loves you! Christmas is good news!"

I'm not talking about the angry, red-faced men screaming-about-hell type of evangelism, but the kind of evangelism where people just can't help telling others about Jesus.

Really, it was a transformational moment. I found myself wandering around the store with what I'm sure was a goofy, it's-a wonderful-life grin on my face. 

I had a great time at the supermarket on the day before Christmas. Of course, the Three Tenors helped. But mostly I think it was the Holy Spirit, whispering "I love you."

God so loved the world, so LOVED THE WORLD, that He GAVE His only Son. And He loves me! And He loves you, too!

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!

Dunamis 2

Read Dumanis before reading this article...

I've often said that, while the New Testament was written in Greek [or Aramaic, as some believe], the writers were Hebrew...and they thought in Hebrew!

We've seen that the Greek word dunamis was translated power in the New Testament. And not just any power—power, strength, power for performing miracles, the power and influence that belongs to riches and wealth. Commonly understood as miracle-working power. The power with which Jesus is upholding all things. [Hebrews 1:3]

And we've seen that the Holy Spirit prayed that we might be strengthened with ALL POWER in our inner man.

A Hebrew would associate the word power with Old Testament concepts...like the splitting of the Red Sea.

'When Israel saw the great POWER which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.' [Exodus 14:31]

What was the Hebrew word used for power here? Our old friend YAD!!

The Hebrew word yad is translated several ways: hand, power, strength...when you research how it is used in the Old Testament, it is obvious that it is the powerful, strong hand which accomplishes things in the earth.

And we know from Proverbs 18:21 that the POWER [yad] of death and life are in the TONGUE!

We were created in His image...we are like Him! He has YAD, we have YAD.

Proverbs 3:19,20 explains that God used wisdom, knowledge and understanding to create the  earth...and we see in Genesis 1 that He spoke it into existence! But wait...Proverbs 24 says that we also use wisdom, knowledge and understanding to create things in our lives!

We are like Him!

[Read Yad, The Yad of God, The Yad of God 2, Strength in Your Mouth...if you search for 'yad' in the search box on the right side of the blog, it'll bring up lots of other related articles as well.]

Now I'm pretty sure Paul, or the other authors of the New Testament, didn't translate from Hebrew to English, then from English to Greek! They thought yad and wrote dunamis!

Strengthened with ALL DUNAMIS in our inner man. As Jesus said, "...the Father abiding in Me, He does the works." [John 14:10]

Then of course there's Ephesians 3:20...

'Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the POWER [dunamis] that works within us...'

Think about it. Could it be that the same power that split the Rea Sea is in the inner man of every believer?

What did God say to Moses at the edge of the Red Sea, with Pharoah's army breathing down his neck and millions of Hebrews complaining that he had brought them out of Egypt to die?

'Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? TELL the sons of Israel to go forward. 

"As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go forward through the midst of the sea on dry land."' [Exodus 14:15,16]

We know it wasn't Moses' own strength that split the sea...IT WAS THE YAD OF THE FATHER!!

Then there's Romans 8:11...

'But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.'

The power that raised Jesus from the dead, dwelling in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

There's More...
Now this will really bake your noodle.

Luke 1:35 says:

'The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the POWER of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."'

The Greek word for power in this verse? You guessed it...DUNAMIS!! 

The power that conceived Jesus in a virgin's womb also raised Him from the dead...and according to Hebrews 1:3 is upholding all things.

And we are strengthened with ALL DUNAMIS in our inner man.

Why? Because the Triune God lives within. Because we have died, crucified with Christ, and now we are one Spirit with the Lord. 

Because the Holy Spirit prayed it through Paul.

Because He says so.

Dunamis.

Grace

The Greek word charis, or grace, is used 148 times in the NT. Ask any Christian what grace is and they will probably parrot ‘God’s unmerited favor.’
Yes, this is part of it, but if you look at a NT lexicon or dictionary, you will find that it is so much more!
It also means that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness; good will, loving-kindness, favor; benefit, bounty, recompense, reward.
John 1:14 says that Jesus was full of grace and truth…John 1:16 tells ‘For of HIS FULLNESS we have ALL received, and grace upon grace.’ No second-class Christians here, just temples of God, full of HIS fullness and grace! Meditate on THAT for awhile…
Paul's Thorn
When Paul asks to be delivered from the demon sent to torment him, God tells him “My grace is sufficient for you, for power [dunamis] is perfected [fulfilled, finished, completed, paid] in weakness.’ [2 Corinthians 12:9]
Prevailing heresies tell us that this means he had to live with some disease or affliction, even though the Word clearly says it was a MESSENGER of Satan…a demon sent to torment him. And according to Luke 10:19, we have authority over ALL the power of the enemy and nothing will injure us! Psalm 91 says we will tread upon the lion and cobra and TRAMPLE THEM DOWN.
This lie has been repeated over and over again to keep us in bondage—if God wouldn’t deliver Paul and wanted him to continue to suffer with some sort of mystical band aid to help him bear it, then there’s a good chance we won’t be healed or delivered either.
Sufficient
Another interesting word in this verse is the Greek word for sufficient…arkeo. We think it means ‘that’s good enough for you’ or ‘learn to live with it, you’ll get by.’
Back to the lexicon! Arkeo means TO BE POSSESSED OF UNFAILING STRENGTH! To be strong, to suffice, to be enough, to defend, ward off, to be SATISFIED or CONTENTED!
God was telling Paul that His GRACE—joy, pleasure, favor, delight, loveliness, good will, benefit, bounty, reward—was sufficient, or possessed of UNFAILING STRENGTH! For POWER, or dunamis [the miracle-working power that upholds the world] is perfected [complete, finished, fulfilled—TO CARRY OUT THE CONTENTS OF A COMMAND] in weakness.
In other words, where Paul was weak, the miracle working power was full of unfailing strength to do whatever needed to be done, to overcome in any situation.
Hallelujah!
His grace—that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness; good will, loving-kindness, favor; benefit, bounty, recompense, reward—possesses unfailing strength for us! Because His power—the miracle-working power, the power with which Jesus UPHOLDS ALL THINGS [Hebrews 1:3]—is made perfect or complete in our weakness.
Don’t forget…according to Colossians 1:11 the Holy Spirit prayed that we would be strengthened with ALL POWER! The very same dunamis with which Jesus is upholding all things. Not just a drop or two…ALL POWER! [read Dumanis]
And we have this treasure IN EARTHEN VESSELS! So that the surpassing greatness of the POWER [dunamis] will be of God and not from ourselves...[2 Corinthians 4:7]
There’s another prayer, prayed for us by the Holy Spirit though Paul, in Ephesians 3.
'For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with POWER [dunamis] through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints [most holy ones], what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be FILLED UP TO ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.
'Now to Him Who is able to do FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY beyond ALL that we ask or think, according to the POWER [dunamis] that WORKS WITHIN US, to Him be the glory [splendor magnificence, most glorious condition or exalted state] in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen—so be it, may it be fulfilled, truly.'
Now that’s grace!
Full of God, full of His power, one Spirit with the Lord. Not some hackneyed phrase that nobody stops to think about, not some meaningless church buzzword.
Grace.

That Which Has Been Will Be...

 

A few months ago, I came across some wild, quantum verses is Ecclesiastes...

'That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. 'Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new?" Already it has existed for ages which were before us.' [Ecclesiastes 1:9,10]

'I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear [be in awe before] Him. That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.' [Ecclesiastes 3:14,15]

'Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with Him who is stronger than he is.' [Ecclesiastes 6:10]

The writer, Solomon, was the wisest man on the earth in his time. Although He was not born again, He had an anointing for wisdom from God. When reading Ecclesiastes, one gets the feeling that the author sees something but can't quite explain it...like he's got it right on the tip of his tongue but can't quite get it out.

From these passages it seems likely that he is seeing eternity and trying to describe it from a human point of view. It comes across a little like the concept of fixed destiny, or 'whatever will be, will be.'

But if there's one thing we know about God, He is a respecter of the free will of man. So what can this mean?

Seeing the End From the Beginning
I believe Solomon was seeing eternity and trying to put it in a linear, human perspective. What he was really seeing was what Paul describes in Hebrews 4:3, '...although His works were finished from the foundation of the world' and again in 4:10—'For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.'

God was showing him things from His point of view. In eternity, everything is already complete, not because of some locked-in, fatalistic destiny, but because time is not linear in eternity. Time is bound to the physical earth, dependent on the earth's cycles around the sun as well as her daily rotations. But in that other plane of existence, the realm of the Spirit, everything is already complete.

But it's not complete in a 'your-destiny-is-predetermined-by-God-so-why-fight-it' kind of way. It's just already happened and He can see the end from the beginning. He knows what you're going to do before you do it...if you change your mind, He sees that too! He sees the finished work, whatever you decide that will be.

Yes, His plan is also complete, finished, from before the foundation of the world. In Numbers 14:21 He says "...indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord." His works were finished from the foundation of the world [Hebrews 4:3] and He has already rested from His works [Hebrews 4:10] His plan is complete...whether you have chosen to fulfill your role in it or not. If you choose not to participate, it will get done some other way, but make no mistake about it, it is finished.

Forever Settled
Psalm 118:89 states 'Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.' Isaiah 40:8 puts it this way: 'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.'

Why is this good news? Because He said, eternally, that by His stripes, we were healed! [Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24] He said, eternally, that the well-being of our children would be great, that they would be taught of the Lord! [Isaiah 54:13] He said, eternally, that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! [Romans 8:1]

He even said, eternally, that all things belong to us, and we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God! [1 Corinthians 3:22,23]

Everything He has ever said is summed up in Jesus, The Word Who became flesh, forever—for us, to us, through us!

Jesus died once for your sin [1 Peter 3:18]—the ones you've already committed, the ones you're about to commit, and the ones you'll commit 20 years from now. That sacrifice is eternal—the sprinkled blood that speaks forever! [Hebrews 12:24] And He died for all—the saved, the about-to-be-saved, and those who will not receive Him. All is all, not only in quantitative measure, but in comprehensive, eternal reality.

Keys of the Kingdom
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." [Matthew 16:19]

I always wondered about the tenses in this verse. The phrase 'shall have been' is a future perfect tense in Greek and stumped me, until I understood the implications from a Quantum Physics point of view.

Einstein is often quoted as saying 'Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.' We know that there is much discussion about the past, present and future residing in parallel, and that there is no time or space in the Spirit.

I think Jesus was confirming this. What we bind [or forbid] on earth shall have been bound [already] in heaven...what we loose [or allow] on earth shall have been bound [already] in heaven. These are definitely quantum ideas.

What does it mean? Well, consider this: we're already seated with Him in heavenly places [Ephesians 2:6]; we've already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ [Ephesians 1:3]; and His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. [2 Peter 1:3]

Plus, we know that His works were finished from before the foundation of the world. From a quantum perspective, He told us to reign in life, and whatever that takes, He has already backed. It's sort of a quantum blank check...whatever it takes to perfom His word in our lives on the earth has already been accomplished in heaven! Hallelujah!!

The Eternal Perspective
God declares Himself to be I AM. In specific instances, He would follow that with a relevant attribute of His...I AM the One Who sees ahead and provides, I AM the Lord your righteousness, I AM the Lord your healer, etc.

Notice that He IS, eternally, in the present tense. In the ages before, HE IS. In the ages to come, HE IS. Not was, or will be...HE IS! And we are One with Him, in Him, and He's in us! Zoe—the life of God!

That which is has been already and that which will be has already been...As He said in Isaiah 55:11, "So will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." In the Spirit, His Word—His commands or decrees—have already returned to Him fulfilled, because they are His Word. Every promise is fulfilled for you, now, according to 2 Corinthians 1:20. Even the seemingly far-fetched words that tell us to speak to inanimate physical objects like trees and mountains that they should obey us!

Believe God. Believe the Word. It is finished.

 

Grace

The Greek word charis, or grace, is used 148 times in the NT. Ask any Christian what grace is and they will probably parrot ‘God’s unmerited favor.’

Yes, this is part of it, but if you look at a NT lexicon or dictionary, you will find that it is so much more!

It also means that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness; good will, loving-kindness, favor; benefit, bounty, recompense, reward.

John 1:14 says that Jesus was full of grace and truth…John 1:16 tells ‘For of HIS FULLNESS we have ALL received, and grace upon grace.’ No second-class Christians here, just temples of God, full of HIS fullness and grace! Meditate  on THAT for awhile…

Paul's Thorn
When Paul asks to be delivered from the demon sent to torment him, God tells him “My grace is sufficient for you, for power [dunamis] is perfected [fulfilled, finished, completed, paid] in weakness.’ [2 Corinthians 12:9]

Prevailing heresies tell us that this means he had to live with some disease or affliction, even though the Word clearly says it was a MESSENGER of Satan…a demon sent to torment him. And according to Luke 10:19, we have authority over ALL the power of the enemy and nothing will injure us! Psalm 91 says we will tread upon the lion and cobra and TRAMPLE THEM DOWN.

This lie has been repeated over and over again to keep us in bondage—if God wouldn’t deliver Paul and wanted him to continue to suffer with some sort of mystical band aid to help him bear it, then there’s a good chance we won’t be healed or delivered either.

Sufficient
Another interesting word in this verse is the Greek word for sufficient…arkeo. We think it means ‘that’s good enough for you’ or ‘learn to live with it, you’ll get by.’

Back to the lexicon! Arkeo means TO BE POSSESSED OF UNFAILING STRENGTH! To be strong, to suffice, to be enough, to defend, ward off, to be SATISFIED or CONTENTED!

God was telling Paul that His GRACE—joy, pleasure, favor, delight, loveliness, good will, benefit, bounty, reward—was sufficient, or possessed of UNFAILING STRENGTH! For POWER, or dunamis [the miracle-working power that upholds the world] is perfected [complete, finished, fulfilled—TO CARRY OUT THE CONTENTS OF A COMMAND] in weakness.

In other words, where Paul was weak, the miracle working power was full of unfailing strength to do whatever needed to be done, to overcome in any situation.

Hallelujah!

His grace—that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness; good will, loving-kindness, favor; benefit, bounty, recompense, reward—possesses unfailing strength for us! Because His power—the miracle-working power, the power with which Jesus UPHOLDS ALL THINGS [Hebrews 1:3]—is made perfect or complete in our weakness.

Don’t forget…according to Colossians 1:11 the Holy Spirit prayed that we would be strengthened with ALL POWER! The very same dunamis with which Jesus is upholding all things. Not just a drop or two…ALL POWER! [read Dumanis]

And we have this treasure IN EARTHEN VESSELS! So that the surpassing greatness of the POWER [dunamis] will be of God and not from ourselves...[2 Corinthians 4:7]

There’s another prayer, prayed for us by the Holy Spirit though Paul, in Ephesians 3.

'For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with POWER [dunamis] through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints [most holy ones], what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be FILLED UP TO ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.

'Now to Him Who is able to do FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY beyond ALL that we ask or think, according to the POWER [dunamis] that WORKS WITHIN US, to Him be the glory [splendor magnificence, most glorious condition or exalted state] in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen—so be it, may it be fulfilled, truly.'

Now that’s grace!

Full of God, full of His power, one Spirit with the Lord. Not some hackneyed phrase that nobody stops to think about, not some meaningless church buzzword.

HALLELUJAH!!

Dunamis

He UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER

...and we do, too, in our lives!

The Greek word for power in this verse is dunamis….power, strength, power for performing miracles, the power and influence that belongs to riches and wealth. Commonly translated as ‘miracle-working power.’

He upholds all things by the [rhema = spoken] word of His power.

But wait…in Colossians 1:11, the Holy Spirit prays that we be ‘…strengthened with ALL POWER [dunamis] in our inner man…’ The Greek word for power is DUNAMIS!!! And not just some dunamis, but ALL DUNAMIS!

The same power that Jesus upholds all things with.

How about Ephesians 3?

‘…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with POWER [dunamis] through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. Now to Him who is able to do FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY BEYOND ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, according to the POWER [dunamis] that works WITHIN us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.’

We’ve got ALL-THINGS-UPHOLDING-POWER inside us! No wonder He told us to speak to trees and mountains! 

HALLELUJAH!!! 

Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled 2

As we saw in my earlier post, Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled, fear is a spirit that attacks from the outside...it is not coming from within!

And fear is insidious...let down your guard, start enjoying your freedom, and wham! You get blindsided!

When this happens, remember this: fear attacks the mind, and you are not your mind. You are a spirit, you have a mind, wherein lives your will, your thoughts, your emotions...and you live in a clay vessel we call a body.

And the Spirit within is all God, all the time.

Dead
Romans 6:6,7 says '...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is feed from sin.'

Paul understood this completely, and said of himself "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

Need more proof?

'Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him...' [Romans 6:8]

'But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.' [Romans 7:6]

'For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.' [Colossians 3:3]

'It is a trustworthy statement: for if we died with Him, we will also live with Him...' [2 Timothy 2:11]

Look at it this way...Ephesians 1 and Colossians 2 both explain that we were buried with Him and raised up together with Him. Was that our bodies, 2000 years ago, resulting in a race of some kind of zombie Christians? [GREAT movie title, by the way...]

No! Our act of faith in His sacrifice joins us to that sacrifice...we died with Him, 2000 years ago [actually, before the foundation of the world], now, today, whenever we accept His sacrifice! It's a quantum reality, but reality nonetheless. And we were raised up together with Him and seated with Him in heavenly places! [Ephesians 2:6] There are lots of articles about that on this blog...use the search function to find them.

Yes, we are in two places at once...in the Spirit, we are seated in Him in heavenly places, in the city of the living God, with all the church, angels, and the sprinkled blood of Jesus! {Hebrews 12:22-24] On earth, we're walking around in these earthen vessels! Someone once called it an earth suit!

But I Digress...
Ok, back to fear. You are not your mind, and fear comes against the mind. Oh, your mind thinks it's you, but it's not...it's something you possess and can control! Psalm 94:11 says 'The Lord knows the thought of man, that they are a mere breath.'

Psalm 146:4 tell us that when we die, 'His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.' Of course, that was from an Old Covenant perspective...as we've seen, our spirits have already departed! Hallelujah! And now we are One Spirit with the Lord! [1 Corinthians 6:17] Filled up to all the fulness of God! [Ephesians 3:19] Strengthened with ALL miracle working power! [Colossians 1:11]

Hallelujah!

How do I know I can control my thought? Because Romans 12:2 tells me to renew my mind. Unfortunately, modern psychology has brainwashed into believing that our thoughts are uncontrollable...they are just who we are.

NO! My thoughts are not who I am, and I will purpose to do what David did in Psalm 94:19: 'When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.' I will choose to meditate on His consolations rather than the lies and deception of the evil one.

Take Charge of Your Thoughts
The Bible calls us vessels...think of your body as a container, filled up with God [Ephesians 3:19] Mediate on that, day and night, until you start to believe it.

If you know who you are in Christ Jesus, and understand the spiritual reality of the New Birth, you will realize that you have authority, not only over the physical world and evil spirits, but over your own mind, as well. [I've written lots on these subjects, please refer to relevant blog articles...there's not enough room here to go into it all again]

Take charge, or control, of your mind. Renew to the Word of God. You are what the Word says you are, in Jesus...'For in Him ALL THE FULLNESS OF DEITY DWELLS IN BODILY FORM, and in Him YOU have been made COMPLETE...' [Colossians 2:9,10]

You can do it because He says you can...all things are possible to him who believes, remember? How? Through the power that works in you!