Perfection
Gen. {6:9} These [are] the generations of Noah: Noah was a
just man [and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah
walked with God.
Gen. {17:1} And when Abram was ninety years old and nine,
the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I [am] the
Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Walk before me and be thou perfect.
If Abram didn't walk before God could he have been perfect?
Was it the walk to stand before God, was it the action of walking, the action Abram took by walking to stand before God, that made him perfect?
Was he perfect in and of himself?
That sort of perfection is impossible isn't it?
God makes us perfect we *can't* make ourselves perfect.
Can something that isn't complete be perfect?
If you have 3 quarters of a circle is it perfect? It is a perfect 3/4 of a circle, but can it be considered a perfect circle? No. Because to be a perfect circle it would need to be completely round not just 3/4's round. If you say something is perfect you are indicating that there is nothing missing from it, right?
If someone does something for you and you tell them they've done a perfect job, you mean they've done all you expected of them, their work is completely satisfactory. You would not say that if in fact their work was not perfect, if it didn't satisfy and meet your requirements.
Stand before God and be perfect- standing anywhere else are you perfect? No.
It was because Abram walked, that he moved himself from one place to another that he became perfect. Had Abram not moved, had Abram not walked to stand before God he could not have found the perfection God desired of Him.
Lev. {22:21} And
whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the
LORD to accomplish [his] vow, or a freewill offering in
beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there
shall be no blemish therein.
Could you bring a sickly sin offering to God? No. You could not bring anything less than what would be considered perfect. What does this say? This tells us that God wants what is best and only what is best. God wants a sacrifice befitting Him. If God wants the sin offering to be perfect it stands to reason for us to be acceptable to Him we too would need to be perfect in Him. It's because we are not perfect that we needed to bring a sin offering in the first place. Is it no wonder our sin offering needed to be perfect without any obvious blemish. God cannot accept anything less than perfection.
Jesus is perfection for us.
But we need Jesus for His perfection to be considered ours.
If we don't have Jesus standing before God as our perfect sacrifice we cannot walk with God.
We can beat ourselves totally senseless striving for perfection in and of ourselves. But what we really need to be doing is striving to be closer and closer to Christ so He can work in us.
James {1:4} But let patience have [her]
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing.
The word perfect here in the margin is defined as completeness.
Deut. {18:13} Thou shalt be perfect with the
LORD thy God.
The word perfect in the margin here is defined as entirely obedient.
Remember talking about the completeness of perfection? The circle?
Well now we have the obedience of perfection. If someone is less than entirely obedient are they perfect?
If we reward a child for behaving we are rewarding the time frame for which they were expected to behave within, not for just being a little bit perfect. There is NO such thing as a little perfection is there? Perfect indicates a whole, a completeness, and being entirely obedient.
For us to be perfect before God we have to be entirely obedient to Him, we have to possess the willingness to be entriely obedient to God. Seriously do we want to be entirely obedient to God? Do we?
If we don't have at least the willingness to be entirely obedient to God can we walk before Him in His perfection?
No, we don't have to be perfect to come to God, we have to have the willingness to be made perfect by Him.
2 Sam. {22:33} God [is] my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
He- God- makes our ways perfect. We don't make our own ways perfect.
John {17:23} I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Jesus in us.
God in Jesus.
We are made perfect in Jesus.
We are loved by Jesus as God loves Jesus.
God loves His son with a perfect love. Jesus loves us with a perfect love.
C.S. Lewis- From Mere Christianity Chapter- Counting the Cost
'I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said in the last
chapter about Our Lord's words, "Be ye perfect." Some people seem to think
this means "Unless you are perfect, I will not help you"; and as we cannot
be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not
think He did mean that. I think He meant "The only help I will give is help
to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing
less." '
It is not- Until you are perfect I will not help you.
But rather- The only help I will give you is help to become perfect.
If we were perfect in and of ourselves we would need no one to made us perfect and the truth is, we need Jesus and His perfection. We stand before God in the shadow of Jesus' perfection, He pleads our case for us. We have to be willing to be obedient to Him and even when we fall far short of that, we have to be will to cling to Him and constantly come to Him begging for forgiveness and seeking to be changed by Him, perfected by Him. He will perfect us in Him and only in Him, and that perfection will never have us able to boast of our perfection.
This makes sense doesn't it? Why would Jesus give us help for anything else?
If there will be trials and tribulations we are to go through it will be for our perfection in ways that are truly beyond our understanding, we just need to have FAITH IN GOD that all our upsets, all our anguish, all our pain and misunderstanding will work together for our good because we love Him and trust Him to get us through this perfecting process, because we yield ourselves to Him knowing that we can never be perfect on our own, never.
Only by faith will anything at all be accomplished in us. 'Without faith it is impossible to please Him.' Heb. 11:6
And no wonder, we have to believe that God WILL perfect us through our faith in Him to do so, not that we will perfect ourselves by faith in ourselves and our ability to obey, even that ability to obey comes from God and if we think it comes from anywhere else we are sadly mistaken.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, now and forever! It is my prayer- 'Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief.'
Amen
7/9/10
I don't know what it is, but sometimes we are led by the Spirit by being shown things repetitively, at least that's been my personal experience. Recently one message keeps being highlighted for me and that is the power in the tongue, in the mouth, in the lips.
Pro 18:21 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue…'
Death and life power exists in the tongue.
Rather than risk death how much better it would be not to speak at all, right? Or maybe not, think about it. The tongue can confess the name of Jesus and bring life, yes? With the tongue we can cry out for forgiveness. With the tongue we can preach Christ to others. Yet the tongue can also condemn us.
Are you someone, or do you know someone, who is notorious for speaking before they think? I think even if you're not someone who does this all the time, that at least you've been guilty of it a time or two in your life, right? When we speak before we take time to think our mouths will often get us into a world of trouble. How chagrined we are when we realized we took something someone else said to us all wrong because we didn't take time to really listen to them or hear them out fully and we went off running our mouths because we thought we understood and truly didn't take any time to think at all.
Instant response. We live in a world where want instant everything. It's no wonder we instantly respond during our conversations- some might even say it'd be rude to do otherwise. In fact you've probably heard this before- 'Well, answer me! I'm talking to you! Say something!' People might not want to hear the response- 'I'm just pondering what you said.' No, they want to know immediately what you're thinking. If we could crawl into another person's head at times we'd gladly do so, just to know what they REALLY think. Of course, the other side of that is NOT really wanting to know the truth of another's thoughts. Too many self-righteously blunt people hold up their banner waving it around saying they have the right to tell you like it is and who cares if you get hurt, they're only speaking what everybody is thinking.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
It's a scary thing to really consider.
The balance of your life hanging in the power of your tongue.
1Jn 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Luk 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God
Every tongue shall confess to God. EVERY tongue. Not some tongues….EVERY tongue…yours, mine, your friends and families, the strangers we see.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead….THOU SHALT BE SAVED! Being saved mean life eternal. The tongue - death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Confess Jesus before men!
So what about those who are mute- by sickness, or accident, or however it happens, they can't speak? God knows their hearts and actions are a confession as well. Most people however, can speak. Most people have a tongue.
I have to confess…tonight I made someone cry. Have you ever made someone cry with your words? It's painful, especially when you're talking and talking and they're crying and you just keep on talking! How horrible the tongue can be even if the intentions of it are good. The tongue is wicked. Did I mean to make someone cry? NO! NOOOOOOOOooooo! But my well-meaning words just spewed out of my mouth and didn't stop. Of course…. words of apology came as well by that same tongue. What I can't get out of my head is how powerful the tongue is. We can respond to others and be hurtful, we are a heartbeat away from saying hurtful things to others-- sometimes we do, sometimes we don't --by the grace of God. I think sometimes we feel that it's torture to hold our tongues, to NOT speak and respond as we want to. Yet how much peace could be garnered from holding our tongues? Others DON'T have to always hear what we want to tell them. The debates don't always need to be won. Our point of view won't fester in our mouths because we choose not to speak it because it's more LOVING not to speak it than to do so. We are sooooo incredibly selfish- wanting people to see things OUR way all the time. God's ways aren't OUR selfish, hurtful ways. God is love. And YES, I agree there are plenty of examples of an irate Biblical figure- justified in their ire. But the difference between them and us is that we are so quick to give responses that we aren't praying for God's words to be spoken through us, but we are pushing our thoughts out regardless of whether it's God' s will that we speak. Am I saying it's always wrong to hurt others with our words? No. I'm saying it's wrong to not have God guiding our mouths, because if God is guiding our words and they cause someone to cry then YOU know that it's out of the purest form of love, completely unselfish.
We really do need God to guide our mouths. I did a short study on our lips a week or so ago (not sure when) with this verse in mind --
Psa 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Knowing how powerful the tongue is we need this to be our prayer don't we? I know I sure do!
By the grace and mercy of our Lord, by the love of our Savior, may the door to our lips be kept by HIM now and always! May life be found in our tongues, not death. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Son of God!
Amen.
7/9/11
Dan 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand
and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
(KJV)
Lexicon--
be
cleansed
tsadaq
(tsaw-dak')
to
be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense) -- cleanse, clear
self, (be, do) just(-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be turn to) righteous(-ness).
Pasted
from <http://scripturetext.com/daniel/8-14.htm>
Made right.
Be justified.
Be turned to
righteous.
Shall be
cleansed.
On an earthly
level there had been set up a very special day to cleanse all the people and the
sanctuary. One day out of a year God's people were to afflict their souls while
the High Priest went about a very lengthy, very involved, very thorough
cleansing ritual that when all was said and done- all the people and all the
sins they'd committed throughout the entire year would be cleansed from the
sanctuary.
Remember
this…
'Goat for Azazel
The Kohen Gadol left the Haichal and walked to the east side of the Azarah
(Israelite courtyard). Near the Nikanor Gate, he leaned his hands (Semikha) on
the goat “for Azazel” and confessed the sins of the entire people of Israel.
The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. While
he made a general confession, individuals in the crowd at the Temple would
confess privately. The Kohen Gadol then sent the goat off “to the
wilderness.”'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur>
Let's read it
directly from our Bibles-
Lev 16:5 And he shall take of the congregation
of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram
for a burnt offering.
Lev 16:6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of
the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and
for his house.
Lev 16:7 And he shall take the two goats, and
present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two
goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon
which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to
be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement
with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
First the High
Priest had to offer a sin offering from himself - making an atonement for
himself and his house.
Then there were
two goats. Lots were cast upon
them. One lot for the LORD's goat
and one for the scapegoat.
The LORD's goat
was offered for a sin offering.
The scapegoat was
sent into the wilderness alive.
Sin offerings,
the daily offerings for the people of Israel involved a sacrifice, the shedding
of blood. Where there is no shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Yet here we have
a scapegoat offered for an atonement. A scapegoat that would be left to live. A
scapegoat that would be led out into the wilderness far, far away never to
return. And that living sacrifice symbolized what exactly?
He was offered for an atonement, yet his blood wasn't shed. He was led
into the wilderness to wander but not required to be killed according to
scripture.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to
be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement
with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Presented alive
before the LORD.
Presented alive
to make an atonement WITH HIM.
To let him go for
a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Not
sacrificed. The whole entire
sacrificial service performed daily revolved around daily sin offerings. The
lambs would be killed. The lambs would be sacrificed. Never was a sin offering
made without the offering being sacrificed. A live offering was not allowed to
live- the live offering was sacrificed. And all this sacrificing symbolized the
fact that sin causes death.
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.
In the day of
disobedience to God's command death would enter. Flesh that had been made to be
incorruptible, immortal, was now subject to death- cut off from its source of
sustenance- the Tree of Life given by God.
Death entered
with sin. And death could only be
conquered by the death of the Innocent Lamb of God. Symbolically man was taught
this through the sacrificial system. Man offered animal sacrifices- innocent
animals were killed after the sin was symbolic transferred to them. God's people
knew that every day as sin offerings were brought to the temple they were
seeking the forgiveness of God.
The hope was one day all sin would be done away with and God's people
would be fully restored to Him. This would only occur through the greatest
sacrifice of all. Jesus Christ.
The day of
atonement had a LORD's goat and another goat - an escape goat, a scapegoat,
‛ăzâ'zêl.
The LORD's goat
would be offered as a sin offering- killed, it would die for the sins of all
the people.
The other goat
would be offered as an atonement and taken out into the wilderness no longer to
ever be a part of God's people. That goat would go off, left to live and die of
its own accord, but NEVER be reconciled to God's people.
There is a STARK contrast between the two goats.
Why the
wilderness?
Zep 2:13 And he will stretch out his hand
against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and
dry like a wilderness.
Mal 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet
ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the
LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Amo 2:10 Also I brought you up from the land of
Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of
the Amorite.
Led THROUGH
the wilderness, not LED to and left in the wilderness, but let THROUGH.
Hos 2:3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as
in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a
dry land, and slay her with thirst.
Make her as a
wilderness- dry, waterless- death inducing.
Eze 20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled
against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do
them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths:
then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against
them in the wilderness.
The wilderness is
NOT symbolic of God's love but rather being brought THROUGH the wilderness is
symbolic of God's love. Having the wilderness changed into something life
sustaining reveals God's love. Being condemned to the wilderness forever was a
death sentence. The wilderness
did not symbolize God. It did
symbolize a testing ground, even Jesus went into the wilderness.
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The wilderness is
NOT symbolic of good.
Psa 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a
solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted
in them.
Wilderness
wandering is NOT a good thing by any reckoning. So here we have a goat that is
used to make an atonement- making an atonement meant making a sacrifice, a blood
sacrifice, a death sacrifice, and yet another aspect to making an atonement was
what?
You couldn't make
an atonement if you didn't confess and repent of your sins. When sin offerings
were made, when daily sacrifices were offered they were made and offered with
the intention of a sin being forgiven, a confessed sin. Once the sin was
confessed and repented of and a sacrifice was slain for that sin it was
forgiven. We are only forgiven by the sacrifice that our Savior made for us. If
we don't confess and repent we are not forgiven of Jesus any more than a person
was forgiven of their sins when an animal sacrifice was made if they didn't
confess their sin putting it onto that animal.
They were
symbolically putting their sin on that animal and that animal would then die
for them so they could live in a forgiven state, an atonement was made by that
sacrifice. When we offer a living sacrifice we are doing so with our Savior as
our Sacrifice and He did not live, He was NOT symbolic of the goat led off to
the wilderness.
Our Savior died,
He was sacrificed for us and then He rose to life again and He was NEVER led off
to the wilderness, banished there to be seen no more, not ever. The goat wasn't
being taken to the wilderness temporarily, but permanently. The goat wasn't
being sent off as a testing period to see if it could survive the wilderness
onslaughts. The goat was once and for all, forever led to the wilderness to go
and perish, to die in the wilderness, left without any resources for survival.
A goat brought up and tended to by people. A goat given water and food so it
could live was now taken to the wilderness to fend for itself. And lest people
believe any animal could be taken to the wilderness and some how manage to
survive by instinct alone, that's a fallacy. An abandoned animal does NOT
always find a way to survive and it sickens me to think about it but…it's
true. This goat…
' But the goat,
on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the
LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the
wilderness. '
…this goat was
presented before the LORD to make an atonement with him --
yet where was the atonement? There was no sacrifice as there was with the
sin offering. Where was the atonement? Was it made?
It was to make an atonement with. The sins were confessed upon this goat
and then it was sent off into the wilderness. What was being symbolized here? That
sins live on? That sins that were placed over the year upon the temple- sins
that were confessed to God, sins that had been covered in the blood of
sacrifice, were being CLEANSED from the sanctuary, but truly if those sins for
all the entire year for all the people were being cleansed by just another
sacrifice aren't they being placed right back on the sanctuary?
So that they
aren't being placed right back on the sanctuary they have been placed on this
wilderness appointed goat so that symbolically the goat is taking the sins away
and EVERYTHING, everyone is pure in that moment. The sanctuary is pure in that
moment as all sin is taken away.
When in our
beliefs, in the word of God, is sin taken away completely from everyone to no
more rise again?
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Death- the result
of sin is gone forever and ever and ever, never more to be. Sin is gone. The
world is freed from sin and all its results. The devil is destroyed, burned up,
gone forever to be no more. All the sins that ever existed from the moment sin
entered the world by the father of lies is once and for all - gone.
All those sins that stem from the father of sin, all those sins that
resulted from Satan are wiped out. Sinners, sin, the father of sin all of it is
gone and forever more, for eternity, for a time without end there will never be
sin again- it's gone. That sin
hasn't been covered up by blood, but that sin has been destroyed. There is no
more a need for another sacrifice, the sacrifices made were sufficient and the
blood covered sins put upon Satan so that the world can be cleansed and made
perfect, were all destroyed- gone forever.
That goat that
was sent out into the wilderness to disappear forever, that goat had no
sacrifice made for it as it carried symbolically the sins of all God's
people. It was left to carry those
sins off into the wilderness and perish there. The sanctuary was cleansed and it was
cleansed through a day long process, not by one act. The cleansing took time.
And as we are told in Daniel 8:14- 2300 days (years) then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed… then shall that process of cleansing begin.
It didn't say 2300 years and then the sanctuary is cleansed.
It's -SHALL the sanctuary BE - denoting action to be taken- cleansed. The
final cleansing of sin was being made. The process by which sin will once and
for all be taken away was under way. This cleansing process was not being done
on earth in an earthly sanctuary but where did the temple stand? In heaven. The
temple that we would NO longer need ONLY when the earth is made new and new
Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth. Until that happens that temple is
there to serve a purpose- it is NEEDED.
If something is needed then it is serving a purpose beyond mere show. The
heavenly temple was not a mere symbolic place to gaze upon and think of Jesus
there with His Father. The temple
would NO longer be needed one day.
There had to be a reason it would be needed up until that point, to think
otherwise would be to believe that God is just a show man putting on a fancy
show and my God is not like that at all!
My God came up with a plan of salvation and that plan was enacted. That
plan included an earthly sanctuary based upon the heavenly sanctuary. When the
earthly sanctuary was no longer in effect the heavenly sanctuary became the
place we were to look to. In that heavenly sanctuary our Savior has ascended
from earth and for a purpose. If
all were accomplished- then there would have been NO need for earth to continue
on with sin ruling under Satan, but it did continue because all hadn't been
finished, that temple in heaven was still needed for a purpose.
Daniel was told
that His vision would be closed for a long, long time- but that it would be
opened. It's been opened for those who are not too blind to see, for those not
caught up in the deception of Satan.
In 1844 the
cleansing began and when that cleansing is finished, when sin is no more, when
death, hell, and Satan are destroyed never to be again, that is when our new
life begins without any need for a temple whatsoever!
We are told to
watch and pray. We are watching
and we are praying. We know that God sees the long view and offers us glimpses
into that view. Will we be alive
when it is finished? Only God knows. But we, as with all that are His,
understand that being prepared for Him whether or not we are privileged with
that blessing- that gift of immortality without tasting the first death- is a
must. That a life spent with our
gaze heavenward is the life we are called to.
By His amazing
grace and love!
More tomorrow on
that once a year cleansing of the sanctuary, and by the Lord's grace and
through the Holy Spirit's enlightenment may we see His plan for us more
clearly.
Amen!
just man [and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah
walked with God.
Gen. {17:1} And when Abram was ninety years old and nine,
the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I [am] the
Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Walk before me and be thou perfect.
If Abram didn't walk before God could he have been perfect?
Was it the walk to stand before God, was it the action of walking, the action Abram took by walking to stand before God, that made him perfect?
Was he perfect in and of himself?
That sort of perfection is impossible isn't it?
God makes us perfect we *can't* make ourselves perfect.
Can something that isn't complete be perfect?
If you have 3 quarters of a circle is it perfect? It is a perfect 3/4 of a circle, but can it be considered a perfect circle? No. Because to be a perfect circle it would need to be completely round not just 3/4's round. If you say something is perfect you are indicating that there is nothing missing from it, right?
If someone does something for you and you tell them they've done a perfect job, you mean they've done all you expected of them, their work is completely satisfactory. You would not say that if in fact their work was not perfect, if it didn't satisfy and meet your requirements.
Stand before God and be perfect- standing anywhere else are you perfect? No.
It was because Abram walked, that he moved himself from one place to another that he became perfect. Had Abram not moved, had Abram not walked to stand before God he could not have found the perfection God desired of Him.
Lev. {22:21} And
whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the
LORD to accomplish [his] vow, or a freewill offering in
beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there
shall be no blemish therein.
Could you bring a sickly sin offering to God? No. You could not bring anything less than what would be considered perfect. What does this say? This tells us that God wants what is best and only what is best. God wants a sacrifice befitting Him. If God wants the sin offering to be perfect it stands to reason for us to be acceptable to Him we too would need to be perfect in Him. It's because we are not perfect that we needed to bring a sin offering in the first place. Is it no wonder our sin offering needed to be perfect without any obvious blemish. God cannot accept anything less than perfection.
Jesus is perfection for us.
But we need Jesus for His perfection to be considered ours.
If we don't have Jesus standing before God as our perfect sacrifice we cannot walk with God.
We can beat ourselves totally senseless striving for perfection in and of ourselves. But what we really need to be doing is striving to be closer and closer to Christ so He can work in us.
James {1:4} But let patience have [her]
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing.
The word perfect here in the margin is defined as completeness.
Deut. {18:13} Thou shalt be perfect with the
LORD thy God.
The word perfect in the margin here is defined as entirely obedient.
Remember talking about the completeness of perfection? The circle?
Well now we have the obedience of perfection. If someone is less than entirely obedient are they perfect?
If we reward a child for behaving we are rewarding the time frame for which they were expected to behave within, not for just being a little bit perfect. There is NO such thing as a little perfection is there? Perfect indicates a whole, a completeness, and being entirely obedient.
For us to be perfect before God we have to be entirely obedient to Him, we have to possess the willingness to be entriely obedient to God. Seriously do we want to be entirely obedient to God? Do we?
If we don't have at least the willingness to be entirely obedient to God can we walk before Him in His perfection?
No, we don't have to be perfect to come to God, we have to have the willingness to be made perfect by Him.
2 Sam. {22:33} God [is] my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
He- God- makes our ways perfect. We don't make our own ways perfect.
John {17:23} I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Jesus in us.
God in Jesus.
We are made perfect in Jesus.
We are loved by Jesus as God loves Jesus.
God loves His son with a perfect love. Jesus loves us with a perfect love.
C.S. Lewis- From Mere Christianity Chapter- Counting the Cost
'I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said in the last
chapter about Our Lord's words, "Be ye perfect." Some people seem to think
this means "Unless you are perfect, I will not help you"; and as we cannot
be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not
think He did mean that. I think He meant "The only help I will give is help
to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing
less." '
It is not- Until you are perfect I will not help you.
But rather- The only help I will give you is help to become perfect.
If we were perfect in and of ourselves we would need no one to made us perfect and the truth is, we need Jesus and His perfection. We stand before God in the shadow of Jesus' perfection, He pleads our case for us. We have to be willing to be obedient to Him and even when we fall far short of that, we have to be will to cling to Him and constantly come to Him begging for forgiveness and seeking to be changed by Him, perfected by Him. He will perfect us in Him and only in Him, and that perfection will never have us able to boast of our perfection.
This makes sense doesn't it? Why would Jesus give us help for anything else?
If there will be trials and tribulations we are to go through it will be for our perfection in ways that are truly beyond our understanding, we just need to have FAITH IN GOD that all our upsets, all our anguish, all our pain and misunderstanding will work together for our good because we love Him and trust Him to get us through this perfecting process, because we yield ourselves to Him knowing that we can never be perfect on our own, never.
Only by faith will anything at all be accomplished in us. 'Without faith it is impossible to please Him.' Heb. 11:6
And no wonder, we have to believe that God WILL perfect us through our faith in Him to do so, not that we will perfect ourselves by faith in ourselves and our ability to obey, even that ability to obey comes from God and if we think it comes from anywhere else we are sadly mistaken.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, now and forever! It is my prayer- 'Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief.'
Amen
7/9/10
I don't know what it is, but sometimes we are led by the Spirit by being shown things repetitively, at least that's been my personal experience. Recently one message keeps being highlighted for me and that is the power in the tongue, in the mouth, in the lips.
Pro 18:21 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue…'
Death and life power exists in the tongue.
Rather than risk death how much better it would be not to speak at all, right? Or maybe not, think about it. The tongue can confess the name of Jesus and bring life, yes? With the tongue we can cry out for forgiveness. With the tongue we can preach Christ to others. Yet the tongue can also condemn us.
Are you someone, or do you know someone, who is notorious for speaking before they think? I think even if you're not someone who does this all the time, that at least you've been guilty of it a time or two in your life, right? When we speak before we take time to think our mouths will often get us into a world of trouble. How chagrined we are when we realized we took something someone else said to us all wrong because we didn't take time to really listen to them or hear them out fully and we went off running our mouths because we thought we understood and truly didn't take any time to think at all.
Instant response. We live in a world where want instant everything. It's no wonder we instantly respond during our conversations- some might even say it'd be rude to do otherwise. In fact you've probably heard this before- 'Well, answer me! I'm talking to you! Say something!' People might not want to hear the response- 'I'm just pondering what you said.' No, they want to know immediately what you're thinking. If we could crawl into another person's head at times we'd gladly do so, just to know what they REALLY think. Of course, the other side of that is NOT really wanting to know the truth of another's thoughts. Too many self-righteously blunt people hold up their banner waving it around saying they have the right to tell you like it is and who cares if you get hurt, they're only speaking what everybody is thinking.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
It's a scary thing to really consider.
The balance of your life hanging in the power of your tongue.
1Jn 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Luk 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God
Every tongue shall confess to God. EVERY tongue. Not some tongues….EVERY tongue…yours, mine, your friends and families, the strangers we see.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead….THOU SHALT BE SAVED! Being saved mean life eternal. The tongue - death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Confess Jesus before men!
So what about those who are mute- by sickness, or accident, or however it happens, they can't speak? God knows their hearts and actions are a confession as well. Most people however, can speak. Most people have a tongue.
I have to confess…tonight I made someone cry. Have you ever made someone cry with your words? It's painful, especially when you're talking and talking and they're crying and you just keep on talking! How horrible the tongue can be even if the intentions of it are good. The tongue is wicked. Did I mean to make someone cry? NO! NOOOOOOOOooooo! But my well-meaning words just spewed out of my mouth and didn't stop. Of course…. words of apology came as well by that same tongue. What I can't get out of my head is how powerful the tongue is. We can respond to others and be hurtful, we are a heartbeat away from saying hurtful things to others-- sometimes we do, sometimes we don't --by the grace of God. I think sometimes we feel that it's torture to hold our tongues, to NOT speak and respond as we want to. Yet how much peace could be garnered from holding our tongues? Others DON'T have to always hear what we want to tell them. The debates don't always need to be won. Our point of view won't fester in our mouths because we choose not to speak it because it's more LOVING not to speak it than to do so. We are sooooo incredibly selfish- wanting people to see things OUR way all the time. God's ways aren't OUR selfish, hurtful ways. God is love. And YES, I agree there are plenty of examples of an irate Biblical figure- justified in their ire. But the difference between them and us is that we are so quick to give responses that we aren't praying for God's words to be spoken through us, but we are pushing our thoughts out regardless of whether it's God' s will that we speak. Am I saying it's always wrong to hurt others with our words? No. I'm saying it's wrong to not have God guiding our mouths, because if God is guiding our words and they cause someone to cry then YOU know that it's out of the purest form of love, completely unselfish.
We really do need God to guide our mouths. I did a short study on our lips a week or so ago (not sure when) with this verse in mind --
Psa 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Knowing how powerful the tongue is we need this to be our prayer don't we? I know I sure do!
By the grace and mercy of our Lord, by the love of our Savior, may the door to our lips be kept by HIM now and always! May life be found in our tongues, not death. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Son of God!
Amen.
7/9/11
Dan 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand
and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
(KJV)
Lexicon--
be
cleansed
tsadaq
(tsaw-dak')
to
be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense) -- cleanse, clear
self, (be, do) just(-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be turn to) righteous(-ness).
Pasted
from <http://scripturetext.com/daniel/8-14.htm>
Made right.
Be justified.
Be turned to
righteous.
Shall be
cleansed.
On an earthly
level there had been set up a very special day to cleanse all the people and the
sanctuary. One day out of a year God's people were to afflict their souls while
the High Priest went about a very lengthy, very involved, very thorough
cleansing ritual that when all was said and done- all the people and all the
sins they'd committed throughout the entire year would be cleansed from the
sanctuary.
Remember
this…
'Goat for Azazel
The Kohen Gadol left the Haichal and walked to the east side of the Azarah
(Israelite courtyard). Near the Nikanor Gate, he leaned his hands (Semikha) on
the goat “for Azazel” and confessed the sins of the entire people of Israel.
The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. While
he made a general confession, individuals in the crowd at the Temple would
confess privately. The Kohen Gadol then sent the goat off “to the
wilderness.”'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur>
Let's read it
directly from our Bibles-
Lev 16:5 And he shall take of the congregation
of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram
for a burnt offering.
Lev 16:6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of
the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and
for his house.
Lev 16:7 And he shall take the two goats, and
present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two
goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon
which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to
be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement
with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
First the High
Priest had to offer a sin offering from himself - making an atonement for
himself and his house.
Then there were
two goats. Lots were cast upon
them. One lot for the LORD's goat
and one for the scapegoat.
The LORD's goat
was offered for a sin offering.
The scapegoat was
sent into the wilderness alive.
Sin offerings,
the daily offerings for the people of Israel involved a sacrifice, the shedding
of blood. Where there is no shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Yet here we have
a scapegoat offered for an atonement. A scapegoat that would be left to live. A
scapegoat that would be led out into the wilderness far, far away never to
return. And that living sacrifice symbolized what exactly?
He was offered for an atonement, yet his blood wasn't shed. He was led
into the wilderness to wander but not required to be killed according to
scripture.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to
be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement
with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Presented alive
before the LORD.
Presented alive
to make an atonement WITH HIM.
To let him go for
a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Not
sacrificed. The whole entire
sacrificial service performed daily revolved around daily sin offerings. The
lambs would be killed. The lambs would be sacrificed. Never was a sin offering
made without the offering being sacrificed. A live offering was not allowed to
live- the live offering was sacrificed. And all this sacrificing symbolized the
fact that sin causes death.
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.
In the day of
disobedience to God's command death would enter. Flesh that had been made to be
incorruptible, immortal, was now subject to death- cut off from its source of
sustenance- the Tree of Life given by God.
Death entered
with sin. And death could only be
conquered by the death of the Innocent Lamb of God. Symbolically man was taught
this through the sacrificial system. Man offered animal sacrifices- innocent
animals were killed after the sin was symbolic transferred to them. God's people
knew that every day as sin offerings were brought to the temple they were
seeking the forgiveness of God.
The hope was one day all sin would be done away with and God's people
would be fully restored to Him. This would only occur through the greatest
sacrifice of all. Jesus Christ.
The day of
atonement had a LORD's goat and another goat - an escape goat, a scapegoat,
‛ăzâ'zêl.
The LORD's goat
would be offered as a sin offering- killed, it would die for the sins of all
the people.
The other goat
would be offered as an atonement and taken out into the wilderness no longer to
ever be a part of God's people. That goat would go off, left to live and die of
its own accord, but NEVER be reconciled to God's people.
There is a STARK contrast between the two goats.
Why the
wilderness?
Zep 2:13 And he will stretch out his hand
against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and
dry like a wilderness.
Mal 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet
ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the
LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Amo 2:10 Also I brought you up from the land of
Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of
the Amorite.
Led THROUGH
the wilderness, not LED to and left in the wilderness, but let THROUGH.
Hos 2:3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as
in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a
dry land, and slay her with thirst.
Make her as a
wilderness- dry, waterless- death inducing.
Eze 20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled
against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do
them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths:
then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against
them in the wilderness.
The wilderness is
NOT symbolic of God's love but rather being brought THROUGH the wilderness is
symbolic of God's love. Having the wilderness changed into something life
sustaining reveals God's love. Being condemned to the wilderness forever was a
death sentence. The wilderness
did not symbolize God. It did
symbolize a testing ground, even Jesus went into the wilderness.
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The wilderness is
NOT symbolic of good.
Psa 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a
solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted
in them.
Wilderness
wandering is NOT a good thing by any reckoning. So here we have a goat that is
used to make an atonement- making an atonement meant making a sacrifice, a blood
sacrifice, a death sacrifice, and yet another aspect to making an atonement was
what?
You couldn't make
an atonement if you didn't confess and repent of your sins. When sin offerings
were made, when daily sacrifices were offered they were made and offered with
the intention of a sin being forgiven, a confessed sin. Once the sin was
confessed and repented of and a sacrifice was slain for that sin it was
forgiven. We are only forgiven by the sacrifice that our Savior made for us. If
we don't confess and repent we are not forgiven of Jesus any more than a person
was forgiven of their sins when an animal sacrifice was made if they didn't
confess their sin putting it onto that animal.
They were
symbolically putting their sin on that animal and that animal would then die
for them so they could live in a forgiven state, an atonement was made by that
sacrifice. When we offer a living sacrifice we are doing so with our Savior as
our Sacrifice and He did not live, He was NOT symbolic of the goat led off to
the wilderness.
Our Savior died,
He was sacrificed for us and then He rose to life again and He was NEVER led off
to the wilderness, banished there to be seen no more, not ever. The goat wasn't
being taken to the wilderness temporarily, but permanently. The goat wasn't
being sent off as a testing period to see if it could survive the wilderness
onslaughts. The goat was once and for all, forever led to the wilderness to go
and perish, to die in the wilderness, left without any resources for survival.
A goat brought up and tended to by people. A goat given water and food so it
could live was now taken to the wilderness to fend for itself. And lest people
believe any animal could be taken to the wilderness and some how manage to
survive by instinct alone, that's a fallacy. An abandoned animal does NOT
always find a way to survive and it sickens me to think about it but…it's
true. This goat…
' But the goat,
on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the
LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the
wilderness. '
…this goat was
presented before the LORD to make an atonement with him --
yet where was the atonement? There was no sacrifice as there was with the
sin offering. Where was the atonement? Was it made?
It was to make an atonement with. The sins were confessed upon this goat
and then it was sent off into the wilderness. What was being symbolized here? That
sins live on? That sins that were placed over the year upon the temple- sins
that were confessed to God, sins that had been covered in the blood of
sacrifice, were being CLEANSED from the sanctuary, but truly if those sins for
all the entire year for all the people were being cleansed by just another
sacrifice aren't they being placed right back on the sanctuary?
So that they
aren't being placed right back on the sanctuary they have been placed on this
wilderness appointed goat so that symbolically the goat is taking the sins away
and EVERYTHING, everyone is pure in that moment. The sanctuary is pure in that
moment as all sin is taken away.
When in our
beliefs, in the word of God, is sin taken away completely from everyone to no
more rise again?
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Death- the result
of sin is gone forever and ever and ever, never more to be. Sin is gone. The
world is freed from sin and all its results. The devil is destroyed, burned up,
gone forever to be no more. All the sins that ever existed from the moment sin
entered the world by the father of lies is once and for all - gone.
All those sins that stem from the father of sin, all those sins that
resulted from Satan are wiped out. Sinners, sin, the father of sin all of it is
gone and forever more, for eternity, for a time without end there will never be
sin again- it's gone. That sin
hasn't been covered up by blood, but that sin has been destroyed. There is no
more a need for another sacrifice, the sacrifices made were sufficient and the
blood covered sins put upon Satan so that the world can be cleansed and made
perfect, were all destroyed- gone forever.
That goat that
was sent out into the wilderness to disappear forever, that goat had no
sacrifice made for it as it carried symbolically the sins of all God's
people. It was left to carry those
sins off into the wilderness and perish there. The sanctuary was cleansed and it was
cleansed through a day long process, not by one act. The cleansing took time.
And as we are told in Daniel 8:14- 2300 days (years) then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed… then shall that process of cleansing begin.
It didn't say 2300 years and then the sanctuary is cleansed.
It's -SHALL the sanctuary BE - denoting action to be taken- cleansed. The
final cleansing of sin was being made. The process by which sin will once and
for all be taken away was under way. This cleansing process was not being done
on earth in an earthly sanctuary but where did the temple stand? In heaven. The
temple that we would NO longer need ONLY when the earth is made new and new
Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth. Until that happens that temple is
there to serve a purpose- it is NEEDED.
If something is needed then it is serving a purpose beyond mere show. The
heavenly temple was not a mere symbolic place to gaze upon and think of Jesus
there with His Father. The temple
would NO longer be needed one day.
There had to be a reason it would be needed up until that point, to think
otherwise would be to believe that God is just a show man putting on a fancy
show and my God is not like that at all!
My God came up with a plan of salvation and that plan was enacted. That
plan included an earthly sanctuary based upon the heavenly sanctuary. When the
earthly sanctuary was no longer in effect the heavenly sanctuary became the
place we were to look to. In that heavenly sanctuary our Savior has ascended
from earth and for a purpose. If
all were accomplished- then there would have been NO need for earth to continue
on with sin ruling under Satan, but it did continue because all hadn't been
finished, that temple in heaven was still needed for a purpose.
Daniel was told
that His vision would be closed for a long, long time- but that it would be
opened. It's been opened for those who are not too blind to see, for those not
caught up in the deception of Satan.
In 1844 the
cleansing began and when that cleansing is finished, when sin is no more, when
death, hell, and Satan are destroyed never to be again, that is when our new
life begins without any need for a temple whatsoever!
We are told to
watch and pray. We are watching
and we are praying. We know that God sees the long view and offers us glimpses
into that view. Will we be alive
when it is finished? Only God knows. But we, as with all that are His,
understand that being prepared for Him whether or not we are privileged with
that blessing- that gift of immortality without tasting the first death- is a
must. That a life spent with our
gaze heavenward is the life we are called to.
By His amazing
grace and love!
More tomorrow on
that once a year cleansing of the sanctuary, and by the Lord's grace and
through the Holy Spirit's enlightenment may we see His plan for us more
clearly.
Amen!