Covering

My grandmother told me once of something what she did when she first married my grandfather a long time ago. She said that she was a virgin when they married and she was terrified about her wedding night. Because she had never been with a man before, and because they had been raised to dress very moderately, she was embarrassed to expose herself to my grandpa. She said that in order to make herself feel more comfortable about beginning that night with him, she wore two gowns to bed that night instead of one.

We might chuckle at her approach at intimacy with him, but in reality, the Bride of Christ does the same thing with her new Husband, Jesus Christ. Has anyone ever wondered why Jesus cursed the fig tree that day when He was traveling with His disciples? Remember that in the Garden of Eden, what did Adam and Eve cover themselves with when they sinned? Fig leaves, which happened to be the worst covering Adam could have chosen. In Adam’s Perfect state, he would never have chosen a fig leaf because he would have known that fig leaves shrink in the sun. However in his fallen state, he chose the worst covering that he could have, not realizing that through the Light of God he couldn’t hide himself from God anyway. Jesus cursed the fig tree that day because it was a simple of an improper covering for sin that would simply no do. Instead, He provided the Proper covering when He gave Himself for His Bride upon the Cross at Calvary.

Many believers have no problem coming to Christ and giving their entire past to Him, all of their former sins and faults. However, it’s come to our attention that there are generally three areas that Christ’s Bride struggles in her walk after she marries Him. Like my grandmother, she looks for a second covering, being embarrassed by her faults and insecurities, thinking that there must be some way to cover all of that up. If the Groom is intimate with His Bride, He already knows what is there and is not offended by any of it, rather He loves her in spite of them. This is the mark of a True Lover and Soul Provider.

Jesus doesn’t view us the way that we view ourselves. We see ourselves as blank and tattered piece of canvas material, He sees us as a finished work of art that is priceless and is not for sale. He calls us Precious and we can’t be snatched from His Capable Hands!

The Bride's Veil

This is the chapter that we have earnestly been awaiting, as there are so many things that we will be addressing. We’re going to refer back to our theme in the beginning of the book of being “the Bride of Christ” and Him being our “Husband.” We wanted to entitle this chapter, “The Deceived Bride,” just as Eve was deceived, because there are so many things that befall the Bride of Christ, keeping her from ever reaching her full potential in the Lord. We decided to go with the current title, realizing that the element behind the Bride being deceived, is that the Bride doesn’t know what she needs to know.

What Jesus has done for us at Calvary is more than just going to hang on a piece of wood, that we might have salvation. That is a great benefit of the Cross, but it definitely is not everything that He died to give us. When we identified ourselves with Christ and died, we became dead to everything that formerly kept us pained and bound when we were unbelievers. However, much of Christ’s Bride is not fully aware of what has really taken place on Her behalf. When we married Christ, He took away the “Veil” and kissed His Bride by giving her the Truth and Grace that would set her free and enable her to be the Chaste Virgin that He sees Her as being.

When we received Christ into our hearts, He became our Husband, we are now one with Him. Everything that Christ has, we have. He has become not only our Sole Provider, but also our Soul Provider.

Many Christians get saved, and think that the Cross of Christ was only meant to get them saved, and they believe that after their salvation experience, it is up to them to keep themselves clean, pure, and holy before God. This is not what Christ desires from His Bride. Christ’s desire is that His Bride come into the knowledge of what He has given Her, and that She will willingly receive His Gifts, using them along this journey.

In the Old Testament, the veil was seen as a separating wall between God and man. But in Hebrews, the Bible states that the veil was rent, giving us access to God and His Spirit through the broken flesh of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is good news for the Church!

If we could imagine the Bride of Christ standing adorned in the wedding ceremony, we might see something very odd looking at today’s Church.

There is a point in many wedding ceremonies where the bride is passed from the father to the new husband, and the father takes the veil from in front of her face and places it behind her as he lovingly kisses her cheek. At this point the groom is able to look romantically into his bride’s eyes while he exchanges his wedding vows with her.

Instead of removing the veil from her face, the Bride of Christ holds the veil fimly in front of her face, not allowing it to be removed. Wouldn’t this be awkward for everyone involved? Why would the she do such a thing? Perhaps she is embarrassed. Perhaps She thinks that He will not love her if He looks at Her and sees Her Imperfections. Perhaps she is unaware of His True Love for her.

Although this scenario may seem a bit silly, the truth is that this is how much of the Church treats Christ, her new Husband. We’re first going to describe the “Veils” that the Bride of Christ often uses to hide herself from her new Husband, keeping herself from ever really exposing her true self to the Lord.

The Word of Faith Doctrine

We like to call this doctrine the “what you say” doctrine. What it teaches is that since we were made in God’s Image, we must be “little gods,” as a result. “Since we are little gods,” we then must have the power to create with our words. Therefore, anything that we speak, we speak into existence and create all desired results and futuristic situations for ourselves.

There are many things wrong with this doctrine, but all stem from the same premise that any false doctrine does and that is: it excludes the Finished Work of Christ. The general rule of thumb for any believer should be, is to always look for Jesus and what He did at the Cross. It really only takes a simple twist or creasing of the Word of God to make it only partially true, instead of completely true. What is something that is only partially true? If something is partially true, then the statement being made is completely false.

What this doctrine states are some true things: We are made in the Image of God, but we are not the Creator, God is. Since the fall of man, every man has actually been made in the image of Fallen Adam, which is sinful. Sinful flesh can never make something good. Corruption breeds corruption, it does not breed incorruption. An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit on it’s own. For instance, look at anything that man creates: does any of it last forever? No, rather it all falters, fails, rusts, falls apart, and disintegrates. There is nothing that man has ever created that last and lives forever.
If we have received Christ into our hearts and have been born again, then we would be made in the Image of God, because Christ is God’s Expressed Image. But in no way are we like God without Christ. This may seem like it is incredibly too technical, but we must understand these things before we try to build our belief something on upon something that is man’s doctrine and not God’s doctrine. Otherwise what we wind up believing and proclaiming is not complete true, but a lie.

There are scriptures that the propagators of this doctrine use to support their doctrine:

The first is often “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Yes, this is true. The Word of God also states in Ja 3:8 that no man can tame the tongue, which should let man know that even when he wants to say something that could bring forth life, he has no ability to do so. Now in Christ, we can pray things and God says that He will do it, because we are doing the “will of the Father.” What is the Will of the Father? Christ coming to this earth, and exchanging His Perfect life for us. In Christ we can do anything, because God is with us and there is nothing that shall be impossible for God. The key is, always be sure that Christ is the one doing the creating, because we can’t do anything without the Lord’s help. Here’s another example: Ever find yourself getting a cold and decide that you are not getting a cold? Did you get the cold? Yes, chances are you did. But if you were steady in your rebuking the devil, proclaiming God’s Word over yourself, and believing that you were not going to get sick, then why did you get sick? Don’t you have the power? When we say that it our power is in our own spoken words and not in what Christ has done for us, we are setting ourselves up for failure. We are no match for the devil. But the devil is not match for Christ. Our faith should be anchored in the Finished Work of Christ, and not in our personal ability to quote scripture or the quantity of faith that we think we have to do things.

Next, church people love to say, “We need to call those things that be not as though they were!” This is great if you are desiring to see your family saved, because the scripture that they are quoting in Rom 4:17 speaks of the world being God’s children (even when we weren’t His Children yet), because to whomsoever will receive Jesus, will have Him and all He has to offer His Bride. Unfortunately, many Christians that use this scripture think that there is power in quoting scriptures, as though because they said it, it will happen. In using this scripture, they always leave out the most important part, which states that it is God that calls things into existence, not man. The part of the equation that is still missing in this “creative words” doctrine is that they are excluding the only One that can make such things happen, which is Jesus! Jesus was and always will be the Middle Man between God and us. He is called our Mediator. Without Christ between God and us, God will not accept us or anything that we do.

Another very commonly used scripture by “word of faith” preachers is Rom 10:8 which states, “But what do you say, the word is near to you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” The “word of faith” is talking about the “Finished Word of Christ” at Calvary, not the words that we speak.


There is another aspect of this doctrine that involves less scripture, but still the outward professions of faith. We were flipping through Christian television recently and stopped to hear what this female preacher had to say. She and her daughter pastor people and are constantly selling things on their show, claiming that because they have prayed a certain prayer of blessing over this blanket (or whatever product they are peddling), the purchaser will have certain blessings from God as a result of buying if from them. It is ludicrous what they are doing, because unsuspecting Christians that are not well grounded in the Word of God will buy that blanket, thinking somehow that either the blanket or the words of that woman will be the thing that brings them victory in their life. We can put our faith in that object or that woman, but the object doesn’t save and neither does that woman. All that this really does is destroy the faith of those that believe in what these preachers are peddling. It’s deceptive what they are doing, because in no way is Christ even mentioned in this transaction. The only blessings that we can receive, are through Christ and what He did at the Cross. There is no other method! If we need healing, we’re healed by His Stripes. If we need blessing, we have it because He became the Curse for us, (Gal 3:13).

During the same sermon, we heard this dear lady talking about sin and how to overcome the devil. Her idea of how to overcome the devil was to “not commit” certain acts of sin. Then at the end of her sermon, she had her church write down two of their re-occurring sins on a piece of paper, tear them up, throw them on the floor and stomp on them while proclaiming a certain scripture. Folks, this sort of thing does not give the child of God victory. Again, the most important person was left totally out of this summation of steps, which is Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross. If a person is born again, then they are Christ’s. If they are Christ’s, He bought for us all that we need and is our sole Provider. We don’t need these silly self-remedies, when we have the One with every answer to our every dilemma living inside of us. God is not some distant being up in the sky that we have to do stupid things outwardly in order that we get His attention. He has not left us here to our own devices, but rather gave us more than just a man when He gave us Christ. He gave us the Spirit of Life that comes to live in our hearts, which does all of the work that we need. If we are committing certain sins, we need to continue believing that Christ erased it all at the Cross and we have Him in our hearts. We shouldn’t love sin; in fact we should hate it. But when we see our constant failures, (and we will, because we are still human), we need to receive God’s Grace, that’s what it is for. We are to know that He loves us and accepts us, because He accepts Christ in us. God knows what we have need of, He will take that thing out eventually, we don’t need to get our hands involved in His Finished Work. God doesn’t need our help.

It’s all right to pray and speak the Word. There is nothing wrong with claiming certain scriptures to be special to us in our personal walk with Christ. But Christianity is not a self-help program. It is a place where we depend solely on Christ and what He has done for us. Child of God, know that you are not by yourself anymore, you can rest in Him now.

False Doctrines

One of the greatest tools of the enemy is to inject false doctrine into the spiritual diet of believers. If we were to begin to replace healthy goods in our diet with fast food, one might not think this could affect their health very much. Over the course of a month of eating three square meals a day of only fast food, instead of healthy home cooked meals, one would see a vast difference in their body mass, functions, mood and personality. We would probably even find that although our body still functions while eating this food, it is not functioning in the manner in which God created it to. When we eat what God has created, it’s easy to see that the Creator knows what works best for what He has made. The reason that we use this analogy is not to invoke our opinions about eating well or having a healthy lifestyle, but rather to explain something that we naturally understand to present a spiritual though.

God knew what we would spiritually need to eat in our daily life, that we might be able to function in Christ’s Body in the manner He designed. Instead, what man has done has created spiritual fast food and it is being fed to God’s children through the airwaves on a consistent basis. That’s why Satan is called the “Prince of the powers of the air” (Eph 2:2). He is skilled at getting preachers to mess up scriptures, evoking false ways to God by any means other than the Finished Work of Christ. We’re aware that we are using terminology that some might not be accustomed to, (the Finished Work of Christ), but we say that to prove a point. What we need to have in our spiritual diet, is preaching that explains the transaction that took place at Calvary, what it means, what it purchased us not only for the next life, but this life as well! Instead the food folks are devouring may appear to be keeping them spiritually alive, but in reality, Christians are suffering spiritual heart attacks, and some are malnourished.

In this day and age, many people put way more trust in a doctor than they do in God for their physical healing. As though that is not bad enough, we do the same thing spiritually. Instead of relying totally on Christ and what He has done for us, we’re looking for the fast food version to get the outward results that only the Holy Spirit can do inwardly in our hearts.

Christ died to give us everything back that we lost in the garden after the Fall of Man. Our goal is to expose the ways that we are always trying to earn what God has freely given us, and how we don’t have to earn what is a free gift.

Self-Righteousness

We don’t really like discussing this topic in our “righteousness” chapter, but feel as though we would do a great injustice to the reader if we left it out. While not a very positive subject, it is positively one of the biggest hindrances to mankind and his walk with the Lord.

Our desire is not to glorify the evil works that some might have in the world, but rather to show people what the true Way is to victory. We discussed earlier in our “blessed are they which do hunger” section about Phariseeism and how Christ’s righteousness is the type of righteousness we are to obtain. We are not going to revisit that angle of this topic, but rather to explain how self-righteousness will keep people from getting into the Kingdom of God and of Heaven.

We’re going to discuss the story of Cain and Abel from a perspective that is seldom taught. Many Christians have seen this story as one that is preached to teach people about how murder is wrong. While that could be true, that perhaps could be simply a surface understand of the scripture that requires more digging in the Word. The truth is, we don’t need a story like Cain and Abel to tell us that murder, hatred, and jealousy are wrong in the sight of God. Anyone can identify that those types of behavior are “ungodly.” So then what could God be trying to tell us through this story?

Let’s discuss the main characters and elements of this story and see if we can’t find what God could truly be attempting to reveal to His readers. First, we’ll discuss some of the similarities and differences between Cain and his younger brother Abel.

Both Cain and Abel are sons of our first parents, who have fallen from perfection in the Garden of Eden. They both have noble professions, bringing forth some sort of product of their labors. They also have openly confessed to God that they are sinners, hence the reason that they bring forth an offering unto the Lord. Each offering is brought before the Lord in hopes that God will accept what they have as a covering for their sins. Based on what is brought before Him, God decides whether to consume and accept the sacrifice or not. God loves them both equally, for He is not a respecter of persons, (Ac 10:34).

Now that we know that God isn’t playing favorites, we need to discuss the individual offerings that are brought before the Lord as a sacrifice for their sins. Allow us to paint a picture for each scenario:

Cain is a farmer and has set aside the very best of his crops to give to the Lord for his sacrifice today. As the altar stands in the distance, perhaps Cain prepares his fruit and vegetables before bringing them to the Lord. We can see Cain washing and shining each individual piece of his offering, in effort to impress the Lord with his sacrifice.

He brings his fruit of the land to the altar of the Lord. He thinks of all of those long hours laboring in the heat, feverishly working to bring forth something worth giving to God. We could even go so far as to say that maybe when he offered it, he cut the fruit open as he laid it out upon the pieces of wood, so as to show the Lord that the fruit was not rotten on the inside. As Cain steps away from the altar, he wipes the juice from his food off of his hands and waits to see if God will accept the works of his hands.

God does not accept it and Cain is wroth, not understanding why.

Abel stands afar off with his lamb tied to the rope that he holds. He has spent the day washing and grooming the first of his flock. Perhaps Abel has even named this loving little creature, as it is easy to get attached to such animals. Abel steps up to the altar. In one hand he holds this innocent victim that has done nothing wrong, of whom he loves very much. He thinks of all of the days and nights that he kept this little guy safe from the snare of wolves and such predators. In the other hand, he holds a knife in which to slay the friend that he has grown to love.

He cuts the throat of this innocent little animal, in horror by the blood that pours out upon the altar and possibly even squints as the lamb screams as he kills it. Abel then walks away sobbing, identifying that the lamb he has just slain was because of his own personal sins. As he stands waiting, he looks down to see his blood stained clothes and is sadly reminded of the price that was paid to cover his sin.

Fire came down from Heaven and consumes the lamb that Abel has offered. Abel is now accepted of God because the sacrifice has been received.

In case the reader has not realized by now why God accepted one and not the other, we will briefly explain what has just happened. Cain labored hard to bring forth something that he felt God would accept, but all of his hard work was woefully inadequate. He did many good works in God’s name, but instead the Lord said, “depart from me, ye who works iniquity, I never knew you,” (Mt 7:23). Why? Cain and Abel were no doubt shown he way to be able to have fellowship with God. The reason that we know this is because they are bringing an offering to the Lord. God laid out the foundation by which we might be accepted by Him way back in Genesis 3:21, when God killed an innocent animal to make a proper covering for man’s nakedness. Even though we are shown no evidence of Adam and Eve ever offering anything to the Lord for their sins, we see that Cain and Abel were taught what God would accept for sin.

Cain knew what was acceptable to God, but instead he wanted to offer what his own works and not something that required blood. In Cain’s offering of fruit, it required no innocent victim to die for his sins. The juice of his offering didn’t stain his clothes like that of Abel’s offering. By this we mean that there was no identification with his fruit that he offered to God. By Abel offering his animal, he showed that he had faith in God’s prescribed order for redemption, which one day would be Christ Jesus on the Cross.

God even approached Cain about his offering and gave him a chance to change his mind. All Cain had to do was offer up the blood of Jesus that was to come, but he thought that he could make his own way into Heaven. Because of the blood, not only was Abel’s offering respected by God, he was accepted by God as well. God doesn’t respect people, but he respects His “Beloved Son in Whom He is well pleased.”

The only way that we cannot make it into Heaven is to offer to God anything other than Christ and Him Crucified. Our works will never earn us anything in Heaven; rather it is our faith in Christ’s Finished Work that gives us access to God and Heaven.

Imputed Righteousness

What does all of this have to do with Imputed Righteousness? Without understand that Jesus is the Source by which we receive anything from God, we are attempting to biblically show how Abraham was “counted as righteous” before God.

What imputed righteousness is where we are “declared, reckoned, or considered” righteous in the sight of a Righteous and Holy God. Once we have received Christ into our hearts, we are now by that simple act of faith, declared righteous before God now. It’s not by our own righteousness, but by what God brought through the loins of Abraham and Isaac, which was Christ.

In Charles Lincoln’s, “Message of the Cross,” he refers to what we have just described as “positive righteousness” and defines it as; “the righteousness imputed to the believing sinner by the perfect, sinless life of Christ, who is our representative man.”

Lincoln then states that the next form of righteousness that we simultaneously receive from God is called “negative righteousness” and is explained as “the righteousness imputed to the believing sinner by the removal of the sin debt, which was paid for on the Cross.”

King David spoke of what this would be when he said, “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Ps 32:2). The Apostle Paul quotes this scripture a little differently when he says, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

This means that not only has God implanted His Spirit and His Righteousness in us; He has also taken out our sins. We are given a righteousness that was not our own, we are also cleansed of all of our unrighteousness! Understand that we cannot be a possessor of both righteousness and unrighteousness. We can’t be contrary to ourselves, because Christ is not divided. We are the Body of Christ, therefore we bare in our Body the righteousness of Christ and no longer the unrighteousness that we once did. This is how we are the “righteousness of God in Christ!”

Faithful Abraham

There are two biblical examples that God gives us pertaining to imputed righteousness.

Rom 4:22-24 Abraham receives righteousness because he “believed God.” It’s important to understand what Abraham believed God for, because that simple statement really doesn’t mean much within itself. What we mean is that anyone can believe God, just like anyone can pray to God, or speak openly about God, there is really no power in our relationship to God alone. With every scripture that we use in professing our faith, we need to be sure that within that profession we also possess Christ. It is through Christ that we receive God’s Power, Authority, Righteousness, and virtually every blessing that comes from above. We can’t even approach God without Christ.

The first place that the word “righteousness” appears in the Bible is in Gen 15:6: “And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and he (God) counted it to him (Abraham) for righteousness.” If we read the whole story, we find that Abraham was told by God that his seed that was to come through Isaac would bring forth children that were as many as the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky.

Jesus wasn’t even born at the time that this promise was given to Abraham, and yet Jesus is present! Jesus makes reference to this event when we told the Pharisees, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw and was glad” (Jn 8:56). Abraham was looking for the promised Messiah that was to come and redeem mankind. What God was promising Abraham as not only that He would bless him with Isaac, but that through the lineage of this promised seed, God would bring forth the Jesus Christ, the world’s Redeemer.

If we trace back through the genealogy of Christ in both gospel accounts, guess whom we will find listed in both records? None other than faithful Abraham! In Mt 1:1, Abraham is referred to as “the Son of David,” why? David was a King, and Jesus is the Messiah and it was known by the Jews that the Messiah would be a King like David was. Now let’s look to Lk 3:34, in the middle of this plethora of names is mentioned faithful Abraham. It was through this lineage by which Jesus is made a “Priest,” this is significant because He is referred to as our High Priest in the book of Hebrews. The reader may be wondering why the boring details about the lineage of Christ. The answer is simple; without Christ Abraham would have no promise at all! God could have promised Abraham a child that would come by faith, but if God had left the promise at that without bringing Christ through the loins of Isaac, we would have no portal to a place of “reigning and ruling with 4Christ” in the millennium (The Kingship of Christ Mt 1:1), and no High Priest to make the atoning offering and Final Sacrifice on our behalf (Lk 3:34).

When we sing songs in church and jump around to words like “the blessing of Abraham,” it should be by this knowledge that we can now use to more fully understand that this “blessing of Abraham” is about more than the widely promoted gospel of greed. Christ came to do more than just give us a house, car, and fame! In fact, those things should fall to the bottom of a huge list of better promises offered to us through this Beautiful Sacrifice.

So when we read, “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness,” we now know that Abraham didn’t receive the promises of God because his faith was perfect, or great, or because of his perfect works. Abraham was just as messed up as one of us! His faith wasn’t perfect in his focus on God’s promise; remember that he had Ishmael before Isaac came along. So the promise didn’t become real based upon his perfect object of faith. Remember also that “faithful Abraham” also was a liar. He lied and said that his wife was really his sister, because he was really worried that some strange man was going to want his old, feeble, barren wife! The promised didn’t come based upon his doing of perfect works before God. How then did this promise come to Abraham?

Abraham is known as the “altar builder” of the Old Testament. Are we saying that God blessed Abraham because he built altars and made sacrifices? The reader should note that if Abraham as building altars before the Lord, there was something that he was going to be putting on that altar to offer to God for his sins. Abraham’s “faith” that is spoken of, was his faith in the sacrifice he was offering to God. This “sacrifice” typified the world’s Redeemer that would be the final sacrifice for all of humanity. Therefore, every time that Abraham built an altar and sacrifice to his God, he was outwardly showing God that his faith was in the lamb that “God will provide,” (Gen 22:8).

We are the “seed” that we as many as the “sands of the sea and stars of the sky.” God promised us a Redeemer, just like He promised Him to Abraham. It is by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus that anyone is able to receive the “blessings of Abraham.”

Justification By Faith

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH & IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS


What is “imputed righteousness?” It is a doctrine that has been nearly forgotten and is seldom taught in today’s churches. Jay Wegter said the following about a well-known “Cross Preacher” in the early 1900’s named A.W. Tozer:

“Tozer understood the value of justification for daily living. He extolled the liberty God supplies in justification. He reminds us that when justification is appropriated, the believer is liberated from sterile legalism, from unavailing self-effort and from the paralyzing fear of condemnation. Tozer adds that the doctrine of justification in Christ is not simply a legal declaration, it is an ongoing revealer of the infinite riches of the Godhead.”

It partners with another doctrine that is rarely mentioned as well called Justification by Faith.” When either of these two titles is mentioned, there seems to be some sort of recognition of the latter, because we hear the words “justification” and “faith” spoken in churches. What do these terms mean?

Let’s discuss “justification by faith” briefly, because it lays the foundation for which we will need to explain, “imputed righteousness.” The doctrine of Justification by Faith seems to be taught far more than imputed righteousness, both are synonymous with each other but each can be explained in a slightly different manner.

Justification by faith can be generalized by these statements observations:

1. It says that there is a need for all of humanity to be justified (Eph 1:1-3; Rom 3:23; 5:12), since all are Adam’s sinful descendents. As Adam’s fallen offspring, the entire human race would be pronounced “condemned” or “guilty” before God on Judgment Day.


Mankind has absolutely no way to redeem himself, being there is nothing that a fallen creation can produce that God will accept. Imperfection cannot produce perfection, no matter how hard it tries.

2. This need was fulfilled in Christ Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. Upon our receiving Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross, we are able to attain that which we could not earn or merit on our own (Mk 16:16; Jn 3:36; Rom 5:16).

3. Justification is a verdict to those who believe in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:22-28). By this Heavenly Declaration of us being made “righteous” in Christ, we can now become a resident of Heaven by our identification and Oneness with Christ Jesus (Rom 5:18-19; 3:26; 4:5; 8:33; Phil 3:9).

4. Only those that relinquish claims to their own right standing in the sight of God are eligible candidates for justification by faith (Eph 2:8-9; Lk 5:32). Justification is a gift from God from the Father of all fathers, to all of mankind (Rom 4:5).

5. “God justifies us by FAITH alone (Gal. 2:15-21). God justifies the person who looks away from himself and trusts in CHRIST ALONE for righteousness (Titus 3:5-7; Rom. 4:4-5), “ (Jay Wegter).

6. That faith by which we receive can become a “work” if the believer is not totally aware of the fact that this justification that we receive is not by any work of our own, but by Christ’s Finished Work alone.

Arthur W. Pink states that “faith” is merely the instrument that God uses to hand us the gift of justification in His Sight. Faith is not to be viewed as though by some merit we are owed this gracious gift on God’s behalf.

Someone has given this perfect example when they described a man drowning alone in the ocean. This man had no life rafts, nothing to cling to, no floating devices, he is doomed and going to drown if someone doesn’t save him. Then a boat gloriously appeared and a hand reached down to rescue him from his pitiful condition.
This is how we should view our redemption by Christ’s substitution, and not by any merit of our own. We should never look at our salvation as though the proverbial hand that reached down to save us was because we were able to hold it well enough to pull ourselves out of the abyss.

7. By this unmerited favor that God has given us, we are gloriously given a righteousness that will last forever.

The only way that we can lose anything that Jesus died to give us, is if we renounce our faith in Christ forever. This means that only if we were to profess that we deny the Christian faith and the expiation of Christ will we burn eternally in hell.

And that in a nutshell is justification by faith. What is different about imputed righteousness is that through this teaching we learn that not only we given God’s righteousness back through Christ, but we were also alleviated of our sin. It is important that we understand this in detail because when we are empowered with this knowledge, it’s much easier to know where we stand in Christ.

Hunger & Thirst

Mt 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and do thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

One should note that in order for anyone to “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” they must first be able to come to the realization that they are void the righteousness that God will accept. This is a huge obstacle for many in the world today, and unfortunately for many in the church as well.

As a result of the fall, man is faced with the consequences of the curse that we inherited from our first parents thousands of years ago. We’ll remind the reader that Adam was cast out and separated from God’s presence, his work would now be hard labor and not mere leisure. He would also bring forth corrupt fruit, as well as having lost dominion over the earth. If we re-examine the first curse mentioned, this is the one that is so closely linked to righteousness. What this "separation by sin" from the Lord means, is that the death that sin brought with it stripped away our Oneness with God. Along with that separation came a loss of God's Righteousness in our own lives too. So we’re separated from God and void of righteousness.

What is righteousness? Righteousness is the exact opposite of sin. Sin is the reciprocal of righteousness. One cannot be partially sinful and partially righteous. We’re either sinful or we are righteous, there is no gray area and no in between. This seems to be an area that the church gets very confused about. There are many Christians that are saved, but they are not sure if they are considered "righteous" before God. On the other side, there are many unsaved people that believe that they are "righteous," but only by their own definition of righteousness. A sinner's self-proclaimed righteousness would actually vary from person to person, so the "definition" of righteousness would not remain a constant, but would be a changing variable. This is obviously not a standard that anyone can live by. Therefore, we can conclude that the only true definition of righteous, should be what God calls righteous and by His standard. Our next question should be then, “What does God call Righteous, and by what standard are we able to measure ourselves?”



OUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Moral Law is also known as the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses by God in the desert at Mt. Sinai. This is the only “moral code” that has stood the test of thousands of years. We’re not going to get into an in depth discussion about the Law right now, but we will be covering some things later, regarding believers and the Law. We brought it up for this reason: The Moral Law was sent to show us the standard of Righteousness in the sight of a Just and Holy God. It could not be broken, not in thought, word, or deed. Not only was it never to be broken, one could not offend in even one area. So if someone in their entire lifetime had ever even thought about lying, by God’s standard of righteousness, they broke it. It was designed to define God’s stardard and then to show us that we don’t measure up. This way, we would see that we can’t in our own selves obey it and we would look for the one who had, (Jesus). What this means is that all men are naturally "guilty," of not living up to God’s prestine standard of righteousness. Some folks have a hard time grasping what we have just shared, so we have provided some scriptures that define all of “unsaved” men:

Rom 3:10 “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

Ps 14:1-3 “There is none that does good…..They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.”

Jer 17:9 “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it.”

Mt 19:17 & Mk 10:18 “There is none good but God.”

These are not the most favorable accusations that have been made upon the human race, however distasteful they may be, the truth still remains that there is nothing good in unregenerate man. He seeks his own, not the will of God. In fact, unsaved man doesn’t care about anyone or anything, but himself. The well-known phrase that states, “looking out for number one,” that is the motto of one that has never been truly touched by God.

In referring back to the words of Jesus when He said, “...they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,” it is when we get to this place where our lives is when we are able to resolve that there is internal dilemma that only God can fix, it is then that we reach for our only possible solution: Jesus Christ and what He did at Calvary.

Jesus also stated that, “the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17). We found it amazing that the Lord has lead us to these scriptures that spoke about righteousness, while also mentioning “meat and drink;” of which we just covered in our last chapter on communion and identification with Christ.

In Mt 6, Jesus speaks makes mention in verse 31, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” The most familiar interpretation that we hear on this scripture pertains to our basic needs in life such as food, shelter, clothing, etc. What if perhaps there is an even deeper meaning hidden within this simple sentence? What would it mean if we interpreted another way, so that we could understand what Christ is saying in a natural way about spiritual things? What if Christ isn’t just speaking pertaining to our natural body, but rather to our spiritual man, which is Him alive in us? It could then read:

“Take no thought for your life (for your life is hidden in Christ, you are dead, but He is alive in you). Think not about what you should put in your belly (because His Body being broken for us is our meat), or what we shall drink (for our refreshing comes in knowing that all of our sins, even the ones we are committing and might commit in the future are washed away by the blood of the Lamb). Or what shall we be clothed with (what we physically wear on our bodies is only the outward appearance, but since we now wear His Righteousness, we are no longer naked before God).

In Mt 6:32 Jesus speaks regarding our physical food, drink and clothing are “what the Gentiles seek,” He is using the term “Gentiles” to describe those that are unsaved, not only those that were not Jewish at the time in which He spoke. We know that Christ is not talking here about natural needs, but rather spiritual needs because he then makes this statement in verse 33, “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness (that which belongs to Christ, given to us when we believe on Him and are saved); and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Through this entire chapter, Christ is making reference to who we are “in Christ,” once we have received Him into our hearts and lives. If we are continually fed the Message of Christ’s “Finished Work,” then we are able to walk through life spiritually satisfied, knowing that through Calvary Christ fulfilled all righteousness and then placed it within us when we got saved.



WWJD?

Most of us have seen the bracelets and read the writings on the “What Would Jesus Do,” campaign that has been going around the world. We present this thought to the reader and it goes along with what we discussed a few moments ago when we mentioned the sinner’s definition of righteousness. Just as each and every person that has never known what the Ten Commandments are would have their own idea as to what God would call “righteous” in His sight, the same is true for every believer that has never understood what the Finished Work of Christ is and how it is to work in their life. What we mean by that statement is this: We cannot try to behave in the manner in which we think that Christ would, which is the way that most Christians approach having right behavior. If that were the case then the Christian that thinks that God hates them would treat people more hatefully than one that understands His love for them. The definition of ”what Jesus would do” would vary from person to person.

Jesus also stated in Mt 6:27 that we cannot add to our length of life simply by thinking about it. In Jer 23:6 the prophet refers to Christ as, “The Lord our Righteousness.” This should be the standard by which we live, that He is the only and yet capable “Fulfiller” of all righteousness in us.

Let’s return back to our original piece of scripture that we started this chapter with: Mt 5:6 “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” We want to talk now about the parts that say, “blessed” and “for they shall be filled.” These are crucial for every believer to understand, without a proper understanding of what we are about to share it will be very difficult to live the overcoming and victorious life that Jesus died to give us.

We first need to ask this question of the reader: “Have you since your salvation experience longed for the Lord in such a way that it hurt like you were dying of hunger and thirst?” The answer of any true believer should be “Yes!” Even David cried in the Psalm that as the deer pants after the water brook, so his soul does long after the Lord.” The answer is most likely yes to our question, but did the reader know that the feeling of hungering and thirsting after Him is not actually living a victorious life in Christ?

In Jn 6:35, Jesus exclaimed, “I am the Bread of Life, he that comes to Me, shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst.” Is the reader confused? We were, as sought the Lord as to why we have felt void of Him, when He clearly states here that we never should feel that way!

The problem is that most of us hunger and thirst for righteousness after we come to Christ, because we aren’t honestly aware of what God really handed us when we got saved. If we don’t know what we have, then we can’t access it in a way that it will work properly for us. It’s like someone calling us on the phone and congradulating us on the million dollars they have put into our account for us. If we never think to ask where this account is located, then we can’t access the money that someone gave us to bless us with. If we can’t access it, then the blessing becomes a frustration rather than a blessing.

In the back of every failing Christian’s mind is the thought that what they are experiencing in their daily life should actually be better than what they have. We all know that Jesus doesn’t want us to fail and that we perhaps should not be missing the mark of perfection, yet when we miss it we can become increasingly discouraged. Some get so discouraged that they actually give up altogether, realizing that they do not have the power to live the life that they should be.

But what if we told you not only where this “account” is, and that it contains multiple endless blessings in it! Your answer to where the account full of blessings, is in the Finished Work of Christ and the way to access this account is to have proper identification. The identification that we hold up in front of the bank teller, is the one that says, “The Bride of Christ.”

We’re re-introducing the themes of being Christ’s Bride and the identification with Him because therein is the key to a life full of joy and victory. The Word says that the “Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17).

We began this chapter by stating and scripturally proving that we are not righteous within ourselves. Along with our depravity with being morally accepted by God, we find that there is one that came that did meet that mark of perfection. It is then by our understanding that when we received Christ, we died. Our old man, the one who sins and is prone to sinful acts is dead. But not only did we die, Christ is alive. It was in the grave of our endless attempts at earning our way into God’s perfection that we learned it wasn’t a grave, but rather a womb. Out of that womb we were born into the world as a New Creation in Christ Jesus. We are now identified as “in Christ” and no longer “your name goes here”.

When we find ourselves faced with our own unrighteousness and sinful acts, we must realize that the old man is dead, It’s hard to believe this when we are forced to see his/her horrifying ungodliness. We don’t want to behave in an ungodly manner because we love the Lord. This is the place in which we deny that the old man is alive and look unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. We are no longer forced to earn God’s love by our own merit, but by the work that Christ did in our stead. When we realize that our filthy rags of righteousness are forever thrown away and replaced with His white robe of righteousness, we are better able to wear the garment in which we died to give us. He traded our sinful self for His Perfects Self. Though our sins be red as scarlet, we are now made white as snow.

Communion

Many people view the sacrament that we call “communion” to be a ritual where we come to church and perhaps partake in once a month. Many of us are familiar with those dry crackers that taste like air, accompanied by the tiny cups that lack the proper amount of grape juice to help choke down the dry cracker. And thus, when we have finally endured it, we’re done “communing” with the Lord. While presenting a rather humorous description to this ordinance, please do not think that we are demeaning this necessary ordinance. We are merely presenting the monotony that can be associated with such a sacrament if not properly understood. There are others that view this as a way to attain some sort of Righteousness and esteem this as such a holy work, while never fully grasping the fullness of what is taking place through such an ordinance. We hope to break down walls of ignorance and traditions of men to explain the true meaning of this ritual that commemorates what man calls the “Last Supper.”

The word, “communion,” means: fellowship, association, community, joint participation, and intercourse. The writer’s personal favorite is this last word, not because it is a “sensual” word, but rather for the reason that it implies a level of intimacy with a God that we should not be allowed to experience with our God because of sin. We remind the reader of the words of Christ Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

In all ordinances that we may have partaken, (especially religious ones), we should always ask ourselves this question, “Why am I doing this, does it make sense to me.” For those things in which we don’t have understanding, we need to seek the Lord to show us the meaning in it and if it is even biblical. The act of taking communion is much like that of water baptism, it doesn’t save us, but there is an identification with Christ that should be taking place while we partake of it. The other question one should always ask is, “Does Christ and His Sacrifice for me fit into this somehow,” because if it doesn’t, it’s not the gospel of Christ, it’s some other gospel. “That I may know Him (like Adam “knew” Eve, which is intimately), and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil 3:10). We’ll discuss more about this scripture in chapters to come; as it is imperative to understand what part the death and resurrection play for us in our lives.

Just as we explained water baptism as though we were witnessing it ourselves, we’ll approach our visualization of the Last Supper as though we are actually there as well.

THE BREAD

We sit down at the table that has been prepared by the Lord for us. He stands and holds a piece of bread up, blesses it, then breaks it, and passes it out to us and says, “Take, eat; this is my Body,” (Mt 26:26), another account says, “This is my Body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” What is Christ saying here when He does this?

Let us stop and travel further back into the Old Testament story of the book of Exodus where God created “Passover?” As we arrive we see that Moses and Aaron have been going continually before Pharaoh, requesting that he might free the children of Israel from their enslavement to him. God told the Children of Israel to slay a lamb and smear it’s blood upon the doorposts and upper portion of the doorway of their homes (Exo 12). When the death angel is to come by each house, he will pass over their home if he sees the blood. Because of the blood, no one in the house will die.

Pharaoh in this story is supposed to be a prefigurment of Satan. Israel’s slavery is a symbol for our being in bondage to sin and death. The Lamb’s blood that was applied to the door was Christ’s Precious Blood. That’s why John the Baptist called Him, “The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29). When we receive Christ into our heart, He takes His blood and puts it upon the “door of our heart.” It is then that we are saved. When the Day of Judgment arrives, we will be passed over and will live forever in the Light of Life! Israel was also instructed to eat of this lamb that night. Christ is making a reference to this particular story, so that we might understand that He is the Lamb that is spoken of here.

For us to “eat” of this Body that was given for us and doing it in “remembrance” of Him, is to understand that we daily reap the spiritual benefits of what Christ has done for us at Calvary. It is like food for our soul, knowing that He took the beating in His Body that all sinners deserved, so that we wouldn’t have to. When we evidenced faith in Christ, through our initial salvation experience, we received something that God can feed us with everyday, all day long! We’re now saved and alive with Christ!

Many people like to argue that the “eating” would imply that we are to put our constant faith in the Cross-as our object of Faith. They would also imply that there is constant work that would be needed in order to maintain our position of saved or “in Christ,” and that is incorrect. Nothing that God does is dependent upon us. The only condition for salvation is that we receive the gift that God has sent by faith. There are not other requirements of God. The price that Christ paid was “once and for all.” It wasn’t a sacrifice that has to be made 3 times a day, nor is it only for some people, but it is for the entire world! Christ was the Sacrifice of all sacrifices. There is no need for Him to die again. If there is no need for Him to die again, then there is no need for us to have to depend on our workings of faith to keep us in good standing with God. We came into right standing with God when we accepted Christ into our hearts. Now, we are reminded daily that He is the Fulfiller of all that we could not do. Jesus is the Just One that God sees when He looks at us, He’s not looking at our own personal “right doing,” therefore, our salvation is secure in Christ and is Finished Work. All we have to do is trust that what Christ has done for us is enough! That should be food that satisfies our soul everyday, all day long!

Also, there is a term that we in America use that says, “You are what you eat.” The Word of God is filled with tons of spiritual meat, proclaiming over and over again in every story that we read of Christ, His Redemptive Power, God’s foreknowledge of our need for Christ’s Sacrifice, and the need for each of us to receive it. We can daily be filled and blessed by God’s Goodness and His Love for us through Christ. The more we become aware of the fact that we are seen before God as “In Christ,” and not by our own merit or behavior, the more we are able to be the sons and daughters that God has called us to be.

THE CUP

As Christ is still standing before us, He is holding up a cup. He’s given thanks for it and says to us, “Drink ye all of it” (Mt 26:27-28). This is another unfortunate translation that can make this verse read in a very confusing way. A Greek scholar named Kenneth Wuest translates this verse to read as, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the New Testament which in behalf of many is poured out for the putting away of sins” (Mt 27-28 translated). Basically, what Jesus is saying is that His blood will be poured out so that the entire human race will be reconciled unto God.

This “cup” that is spoken of could be described as the cup of wrath or indignation (Rev 14:10; 16:19) and the cup of blessing. It is the cup of God’s wrath poured out upon Christ, as the sins of the world enter into Him on the Cross. However, as we drink of this cup, it becomes the cup of blessing to us. He drank of the wrath that would have had to drink of. Instead, Christ exchanged with us so that we could reap the blessings of Salvation.

It’s awesome that Christ chooses something that we should “drink.” After we “eat” of the knowledge that we are saved through His broken body, then we can be refreshed in washing His vicarious death down with the understanding that we are sealed forever by His blood until the day of redemption (Eph 1:13).

There is an unending list of wonderful types and shadows throughout the Old Testament that foreshadow this very subject we are addressing. The Old Testament mentions the five offerings, two of which are the meat and drink offering. These were offered to God for forgiveness of sins, all of which spoke of what Christ would do for us, thereby putting an end to any further need of animal sacrifices (Lev 23:13, 18, 37; Num Chapters 6, 15, 28, 29, the list goes on). “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Heb 10:4).

Something else that is important to know about this “Eating and Drinking,” is that many covenants in the Old Testament were confirmed and sealed often times with eating, drinking, and blood (Exo 24:8-12). We’ll talk more about covenants soon, but it is imperative that we understand that what Christ is offering us in this “Supper” is a “Heavenly transaction.” He gives us in advance the receipt for a deposit that He is making into our account, before we even knew that we had an account with God. He hasn’t even gone to the Cross yet, but is stating that if we drink this blood, we will be receiving this “New Covenant.” These are very rich statements that Christ is proclaiming to us through this “Last Supper!”

There is so much that we could share about the communion “eating and drinking,” Christ, and what He has done for us. In effort to remain simplistic in explanation, we will refrain from sharing everything. We desire simply to show that when we received Christ into our heart, we received His salvation and preservation. When we take communion, we are being reminded of the intimacy we have with Christ as our Savior. He wasn’t asking us to simply “wear” what He had done, but rather to take it into ourselves and digest it. This speaks not of personal application of Christ, but digesting it and trusting that the Holy Spirit will give us the nourishment that we need to keep going in this life. We’ll get more into this later, but it’s imperative that we mention why Christ used the “eating and drinking” metaphor. Let us look to a portion of scripture that explains exactly what we are trying to present to the reader here. 1 Pet 2:24 says, “Who (Christ) His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, (what we are when we died with Him and are baptized into Him), should live unto righteousness (Christ’s Righteousness put into us), by whose stripes we are healed.” So Christ is seeking to show us that there is more than just a surface knowledge to have of Him. Our God is an intimate God that wants not to only be with us, He desires through Christ to be in us!

Finally, we’ll just cover a few more important verses on this subject. The Apostle Paul spoke about this, making mention of those who might eat and drink “unworthily,” that they “shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” This does not mean that if one has taken communion and not known all of the things that we have shared with you, that they were “eating and drinking damnation” unto yourself and are hell-bound. What Paul is stating here is that if someone doesn’t receive Christ into his or her own heart, then they are attempting to approach God on their own merit, of which is woefully inadequate and will never be received by God. This is Paul’s way of reaching out to the sinner and bidding them to partake of the One that can save them. Jesus said it like this, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you” (Jn 6:53). Translation: if one doesn’t receive what Christ has done for them on the Cross or they reject His Vicarious Death, they are going to be damned and cursed forever and forever.

Someone said it so well when they gave this scenario:

There is a man that lived his life the best way that he knew how. He never stole from anyone, always tried to be honest and loving to others. He gave to the poor and helped old ladies across the road when they needed it. He bought a local family that was poor a huge brand new wardrobe of clothing and set them up with a month’s worth of groceries to help them out. He had a family and treated his wife and kids well. However, this man rejected Christ and did not think that he needed Him to get to Heaven.

Another man lived a despicable life. He was a drug addict and a drunkard. He abused his wife and children. He never did a thing for anyone other than himself. In fact, everything that he did in his life was for selfish reasons. His life was lived solely for himself and no one else. Just before this man died, he accepted Christ into his heart.

Which man made it into Heaven? The one who accepted Christ and what He had done for him. It’s not about what we do; it’s about what He did for us!

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost

This is a subject that if never experienced or properly taught, it might very well confuse people. Many churches and teachers have erroneously taught that water baptism saves and is the only baptism. People from “Pentacostal” denominations teach that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is what saves and if you don’t speak in tongues then you are not saved. We were taught growing up that when we were baptized in water is when we received the Holy Spirit. This is partially true and partially false, but we would like to qualify that statement. If when you were baptized in water, you in your heart asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior at the same time, you may have been born again at that moment. However, someone that watched you get baptized at the very same moment could have asked the Lord into their heart as well, while they were not baptized in water and never have been. Both are saved, as we established in our last portion of teaching, water baptism is not what saves, Jesus is.

When it comes to the Holy Ghost, people seem to freak out over the Word, “Ghost” because they might not be accustomed to hearing that particular term. It is nothing to be afraid of. He’s not some mystical “being” like in “Ghost Busters,” or anything fictitious like that. It is real and it is of God. “Ghost” just means “Spirit or Spirit of God.”

There is a scripture that seems to cause confusion when there is teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit; “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, One faith, One baptism…” It is always the “one baptism” part that has thrown so many believers off. If the Word says that there is one baptism, how can there be another?

When we are baptized into Christ, it is like we are given a glass that we drink water from. This is how one could visualize being saved. That is no small thing, for we have been given water to drink when before we were depraved and dying of thirst, (like a flower wilting in a dry and barren land). But when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues, it is as though we have just taken a dive into a pool of water! Again, when saved, it’s like we drank, but when we receive the Holy Ghost and speak in an unknown language as evidence, we are consumed and submerged into Him in a much greater capacity. It could be referred to as a “greater manifestation” of the Spirit of God in our lives.

Some preachers like to state that one cannot be saved without it. That is incorrect and leads many people to a works-based religion, rather than into a deeper relationship with the Lover of their soul. One can be saved and never speak in tongues, but we will state that their life is not what it could be in Christ, than if they had received it.


What it’s not:

1. The baptism of the Holy Ghost with initial evidence of speaking in tongues is not of the devil. A lot of “dry” denominations like to either shy away from tongues or teach that it is “of the devil,” simply because they are either afraid of what they don’t understand or they are ignorant as to why God gave it to us.

Let’s address the “of the devil” accusations first. John the Baptist was chosen of God and set apart for the Lord’s use. The Bible says of John the Baptist that there was none greater among men than he was, (Mt 11:11, Lk 7:28).

We think we could also agree that Jesus was from God? What did the religious men of that day say of Him? The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out devils by the help of Satan! (Mt 12:24) Obviously, their accusation was false, since Jesus is God and not Satan.

Not everything that comes from Heaven is what we are able to understand with our intellect. In fact, often times it is our intellect that gets in God’s way. He says that the carnal mind is His enemy, He also states that His ways are Higher than our earthly ways. (Rom 8:7, Is 55:9) God says that no man can tame a man’s tongue, and yet God chooses something like that little member of our body, (the tongue) and uses it to bring forth praise and a prayer language that the human mind cannot translate without the help of the Holy Spirit.

What is the Holy Ghost baptism used for?

It is given to comfort and leading, bring rest, edify, and build up in faith:

In John 16 Jesus says that He would send us the “Comforter” which is the Holy Ghost, and we are told that He will comfort us and lead us into all truth. The Greek Word, “Comforter” means to summon or call to ones side to help. Christ says that when He went away to the Father that He would not leave us comfortless, but that He will come unto us.

He brings us the rest and refreshing that Isaiah prophesied of when he said, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to his this people. To whom he said, This is the rest ye may cause the weary to rest: and this is the refreshing:” and it is also stated at the end of that verse, that there were some that would not hear this saying from the Lord. There are many people today that for one reason or another have not sought to receive this very treasured gift that God has given, which is a true tragedy. Why wouldn’t we want to have everything that Jesus died to give us?

In the book of Jude, he says that we are to “build up our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost.” This edifies us as an believer and it builds up our faith. There are times that we don’t know what to say to God, what to pray, or what we need. But the Holy Spirit knows what it is that is needed in every situation. In Rom 8:26 we read that, “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We can be dependent upon the Lord through this gift that He can pray through us or others His precise will for our lives and situations. That is a good thing to know.

Is it just for the Apostles?

No, that is what a lot of unbelieving believers would say, because they are usually ignorant of what it is and how He works through this gift. We can see that it was poured out upon more than just the apostles, (Acts 2:2-4, 11). Peter also went to Cornelius’ house in Acts 10 and Cornelius (a gentile) was baptized and everyone that was with them. In fact, the only apostle mentioned there is Peter. When Paul addresses the church of Corinth about the use of this gifting, he urges them to do all things in order because in the middle of a service, someone would stand up and give a tongue, then another, and another. There would be no interpretation brought forth and it was not edifying to the body, since no one knew what was being said, so Paul urged them to be in order, but not to forbid speaking in tongues. None of these people were so called “apostles,” yet they had the gift. Then there is Apollos who was saved and preached the good news of Jesus Christ, (Acts 19:1-6) was asked by Paul, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” The man said that he didn’t know what it was. He then told Paul that he was water baptized (“John’s baptism”), and Paul told him to believe on Christ and he would receive the Holy Ghost. He received it and spoke with other tongues.

In continuing to use the example of Apollos, we would like to bring up something important. We stated in the last paragraph that Apollos was saved when Paul met him, but how would we know that? In Acts 18:25, the Bible states that he was, “fervent in the spirit,” and that he had been instructed in the ways of the Lord. We looked up the word, “fervent” and it means “boiling hot,” let the reader understand that anyone that is truly born again will be “on fire” for the Lord, desiring to share this new found love with anything that has ears. Sinners do not do this. Unsaved people are not fervent about sharing the things of the Lord with anyone, in effect, unbelievers are usually very uncomfortable and disinterested when it comes to talking about the Gospel of Christ. Just because he didn’t necessarily understand everything that happened when he got saved, it doesn’t mean that he wasn’t saved. We bring this up because there is no evidence that anyone received the baptism of the Holy Spirit without first being saved. They could have “believed on Him” for the first time ever, gotten saved and simultaneously been filled with the Holy Ghost. But we’ve never seen where someone received the Holy Ghost that was not either previously or simultaneously born again. You can’t receive the Holy Ghost and not be a believer in Christ, it’s just not possible.

Who is it for?

Anyone can receive it! One can receive salvation and/or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the same manner we would receive anything from God, by simple faith in Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice for us on Calvary.

How do I receive this gift?

First of all, one would need to believe. We can’t receive anything from God that we don’t believe in. There’s really not a whole lot to do accept ask Him for it, thank Him for this gift, and allow Him to have His way. Yielding to the Holy Spirit is probably one of the hardest things for humans to do, but in our submission, God can bring forth excellent blessings that we could never have imagined.

Some people teach that someone must lay hands on the one desiring this gift, but that is not true. God can fill someone with the Holy Ghost, while they are driving down the road in their car, standing in line at a store, or walking the dog down the road. Being in a church setting or at an altar with others is not required, although for some people it is more comforting. The truth is, God will respond to our hunger. If we truly desire this gift in our lives, God can fill the person right away! Everyone’s experience in receiving it is a personal and individual experience for them, because we serve a personal God.

How do I know if I have it?

There are some that are confused and may feel like they already have this gift, but they really are not sure. The easiest way to know is this: “I don’t know, would be a no.”

We’re sure that there might be other questions that people might have regarding this gift, but the real answer will always come from the Lord Himself. Even after reading all of this, there might still be some few that are skeptical about “tongues,” feel that they don’t want it, or are just unsure. We pray that the Lord begin to move on your hearts where this is concerned though. Don’t totally rule it out, just because you are unsure of it. Seek the Lord and ask Him to show you more about it. We pray whether the reader wants it or doesn’t want it, that God fill you anyway because “every good gift comes from above,” and anything that God would have to give us we want, that it might bless our lives.

Identified with our Groom

"Where we first met"

Often times, when talking with other people and “the Lord” might come up in our conversations, we are all reluctant to think that we know all that there is to know about our salvation experience. However, my husband and I have learned through our years in serving the Lord that all too often these are what we find: either people think that they are going to Heaven when it could be obvious they are not Christ’s, or they are truly saved but are not actually secure in that position. Both would be a huge tragedy, on one hand the sinner dies believing they will be granted Heaven, only to burn in eternal darkness and anguish forever. On the other hand the believer lives a life on earth of total defeat, not every laying hold on the truth that could have forever set them free and enabled them to have the victory over sin. Why is it that both are deceived? One reason is because no one has ever explained to them the mechanics of their salvation. In this chapter, we aim to explain the truths and some fallacies about the salvation experience, in hopes to shine some light and make clear what has possibly been a confusing and jagged journey of life.

Wouldn’t it be great if when folks get saved there was just some outward sign that could just let everyone know, “Hey, I’m saved?” Like, a red mark in our foreheads, or perhaps we all walked a certain way, or maybe we could just have this little golden halo that would just hover above our heads. Then we would know for sure, especially those Christians that might have or could be doubting their salvation. One could be hearing the insistent, discouraging voice of our enemy slandering us in our minds, telling us that we aren’t saved. If we had that outward sign, we could just run to the mirror and wham, there’s the answer, “Golden halo above my head, yep, I’m still saved.” Unfortunately we aren’t afforded such obvious evidences of our faith. Then how exactly do we know (to those of you whom are sure about your faith and where you stand with God, just bare with us as we try to help others). This may not seem like such a problem to those that are completely certain, but for those of us that have been tried with fire, tempted, beaten down, depressed, oppressed by the devil, (having not lived the kind of life that we always thought we could have in Christ), we’re the group that needs a little more explanation in this area.

Let’s start with the subject of baptism. Some people have been told that if they were water baptized, then that means that they are saved. There are others that teach that you’re not really saved until you get baptized in the Holy Ghost, with the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. Both are wrong and we’ll explain why through scripture.

Water baptism is an ordinance that the church uses, and we could safely say that it is in fact something that each believer should do, but it isn’t what saves one from sin. If it were, then all we would need to do is go dunk ourselves in the bathtub or a pool and we’d be saved. Have we forgotten one very important subject in this equation if this is the case? What need then would we have for Jesus in all of this? The next refute we usually hear at this point is “Well, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and we’re supposed to follow Him, so that proves it, right? Wrong again, we as Christians need to be able to effectively explain these things to people so that they understand what their Bible truly says. If we don’t know what it says then why do we do these things? We give the devil a foothold to come in and get folks really off track when we erroneously teach things that have not been revealed by the Holy Spirit to us personally. Ignorance is one of the biggest hindrances to God’s children, as well as those who are soon to become His children.

As we turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 3, let’s begin in verse 11 and go through verse 17. John the Baptist is the forerunner of Jesus, and was sent particularly for two major purposes: First, to baptize Jesus Christ, and secondly to formerly announce Christ’s purpose as He comes on the scene to officially enter into His ministry. Has anyone ever wondered why Jesus was baptized? It’s imperative that we establish who Jesus actually is in more detail before we can answer that question.

Jesus Christ is not just an ordinary man. He is actually the God-man, the Creator disguised as a mere man, Whom is all of the fullness of the Godhead in every manner. He is Righteousness lived out for all men to see, He literally defines Perfection in every way. At Mt. Sinai, when God gave the Ten Commandments, (and later when the 613 laws were also written), God defined what He expected man to do in order to be “right” in His sight. However, mere man could have never kept all of those laws, let alone one of them for a lifetime. Jesus is the ONLY fulfiller of those laws! In every way, He walked perfect and holy before God, (in word, thought, and in deed), because He was God. Even though He was God, having all power, He didn’t use that power (Jn 1(:11). If Christ had used His power and acted as God and not man, then it would have disqualified Him from being the perfect sacrifice for man’s sins. He was never to step outside of the boundaries of being man. This is why the devil tempted Him in the desert by saying “If thou be the son of God…” (Mt 4:3, 6). Satan’s true intention was to get Christ to act as God and not as man. That word “If” is actually an unfortunate translation, for how it really should read is, “Since you be the Son of God…” A mere man (Adam) sinned and brought all of humanity under the domination of sin, therefore Christ had to come, live, and behave in the same manner, (although sinless) that the entire world could be saved.

We now know that Jesus = God. In Mt 3:11, John says, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but one mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Not all of the accounts state it exactly this way, some say with fire, some do not (Mt 3:11, Mk 1:8, Lk 3:16, Jn 1:26). The point we are trying to make is this: John states that he is baptizing people in water “unto repentance,” and then speaks of the One to come that we shall all need to be baptized of. Then in verses 14 and 15 John tells Jesus that he can’t baptize Him, rather that he (John the Baptist) needs to be baptized of Jesus. And Jesus tells him that they need to do this so they can “fulfill all Righteousness.” Has anyone ever questioned the Lord about this wording and sought to know why He would choose to do such a thing? This doesn’t make sense, does it? We should ask ourselves this very important question, “Does Jesus need to repent for anything?” No, because He is Righteousness in all it’s visual and invisible fashion!

This became a dilemma to the writer, as it was a struggle to understand the true importance of such an action (water baptism). We’re going to step back from this scene, as though we are bystanders on the side of the Jordan watching these events unfold, so let’s hit the pause button for a moment:

If we think back to what happened at the fall in Eden, what transpired there that day we find that because of sin, man was officially separated from the presence of God. Can we visualize the distance that now would exist between God and man? We can’t be with God, (due to our sin) and He can’t be near us for the same reason. We find ourselves faced with a huge problem, where do we meet? It’s like marrying a bird and a fish, where do they build their home? How do you merge a Holy, Righteous, Pure, Powerful, Omnipotent God with lowly, dung covered, grave clothed, depraved and utterly pathetic sinners. How do two such unlikely groups become one?

It is in the person of Jesus Christ that we become one. But not by Him alone, for it is not in the powerful and yet humbled Jesus that we find our meeting place with God. There was a place that was foreordained and it was on a hill in Jerusalem called “Golgotha,” where Heavenly Worhsip was postponed, that God might take time out and free the sinning slaves that He calls His children.

Many people believe the empty tomb to be the place of victory for the believer, but that is woefully incorrect and only a small part of the Gospel of Christ. For when we look ahead to the book of Revelation we find that our Blessed Savior is not referred to as “the One that rose from the dead, not even as the First Fruits unto God, but as “the Lamb” (Rev 5:6; 7:10; 14:10; 19:9; 21:22-23; 22:1,3).

As we push play again on the player, we’re standing along the banks of the Jordan, we see the Hope from Heaven has come down to meet us, in order than He might die for His beloved bride.

To better explain the significance of water baptism, we’d like to give an example of what it truly represents. Let’s use the wedding ring as an example, shall we? When a man and woman get married, (in our culture), they usually present each other with rings as a symbol of their marriage. It is something that is worn on our person to remind them of the covenant they’ve made between each other. It also shows others that they have entered into covenant. The same is what we see with water baptism. Although Jesus had not yet married His Bride, by His submersion in water, He was making an outward statement, (as though to present His Bride with the ring), stating that He is going to make this covenant with us. In turn, we receive our ring when we do the same. This is not the actual covenant that we make with Christ, for it is only a symbol of our marriage with Him. Just as the wedding ring that we wear is not the literal marriage to our earthly spouse, but rather a mere symbol of the marriage.

Christ displayed outwardly through water baptism what He would do for us at Calvary. It was as though He were preaching the gospel without words! As He stood there waiting to be immersed in water, He was a tangible expression of Total Perfection. When He passed down into the water and was fully submerged, it was a type of death. He was forced to hold His breath while there, (just as when we are in our mother’s womb), we were alive with no breath in our lungs yet. As Christ immerged from the “figurative” grave / womb, He demonstrated His resurrection from the dead.

Likewise, upon our immersion in water, we would be openly professing outwardly what we desire for Him to do inwardly in our lives. As we stand, waiting to be immersed, begin as a total sinner .Upon full submergence into the water, we identify with what Christ did for us at Calvary. This would be, our “death with Him.” When we come out of the water, it typifies our being raised in the Newness of Christ’s life, not our own. We’ll explain more on this here shortly.

So then, are we saved by water baptism, not hardly!, We are however doing so that we may identify publically with Christ while reciprocating an outward showing (like a wedding ring exchange) with our Wonderful Savior who died and paid the sin debt for us. What an awesome God that we serve!

Mysterious Narrative of Adam & Eve

As we address the events transpiring between Adam and Eve, we have beautiful treasures hidden within this little story, one that involves the Christ and His beautiful Bride.

Imagine Adam as a prefiguring of Jesus Christ, and Eve to be a typology of Christ’s Bride. If we go back, reexamining this story we’ll find where we fit into this story, and be able to apply this to a spiritual aspect of our lives. In unfolding some of the dynamics of the Word of God, we hope that the Holy Spirit will reveal to the hearts the true value of God’s impeccable wording and illustrations given, in order that His Love for us might be gleaned by us, His Bride.

Let us once again journey back to the garden and envision ourselves as His Bride and not as mere Christian believers. Let’s see our Christ not only as our God and Savior, but as the knight in shining armor, sent to sweep His Bride off of her feet, (this is not just to women, but men and women alike).

Adam was created from the dirt of the earth, as we have read in Genesis 2. Christ was God, coming to earth in the likeness of flesh like every human being before Him (John 1:14). One could describe the incarnated Christ as God’s Spirit of Life robed in flesh, for God is a Spirit (John 4:24). If there were ever a face to put on God, it would be Jesus, who is Love revealed and published openly for all to see.

In Genesis 2:21, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, so also was Christ after what transpired on the Cross (His death could be seen as a "deep sleep"). He was buried in a tomb for 3 days before He was raised in resurrection power. Here is one great portrayal of Christ that’s been hidden in this series of events.

When we look at how God created Eve , she is built from Adam’s rib, and in the original Hebrew the word “rib” actually means: rib or side. If we look at Christ upon the Cross of Calvary, the Apostle John tells us that one of the soldiers used a spear to pierce Christ’s side and out poured blood and water. In seeking the answer as to why the Holy Spirit mentioned this particular occurrence, the Lord showed us that just as man is born by blood and water from his mother’s womb, Christ’s bride was born from his side. For it is through His Sacrifice that we are “born of the water and of the Spirit.” For it is through our faith in this sacrifice on our behalf that we are cleansed from our sins while continuing to drink of Him. Only through the shedding of His Precious blood do we have the right to receive His Spirit of Life, (John 19:34,J Jn 3:5, 1 Jn 5:3-8). Christ actually is the Living water for us to drink of, and the Life, as Leviticus 17:11 informs us that the “life of the flesh is in the blood,” in reference to Christ’s Life giving blood. If we have believed on Him that God has sent and received Him into our hearts, then we are officially made His Bride.

With further examination, we can see that our sin made us aware of our nakedness before God, that’s why Adam hid in the garden after he ate of the forbidden tree (Gen 3:7). The Bible stated in Genesis 2:25 that they were both (Adam and Eve) naked and unashamed, why would God put that there? God wanted us to see that Christ took the shame of our nakedness upon the Cross. Christ was stripped naked for the whole world to see (Mt 27:35), and took that shame for us instead (Heb 12:2). At the very moment that one believes on this Jesus that died at Calvary, they are united with Christ, becoming one with Him. In becoming one with Christ, our hearts like all things, are naked and exposed to Him. However, in the presence of our Beloved Groom, they are covered because of the nakedness that He bore on our behalf, our sins being washed away forever. And walking in God’s Grace, we will continue to remain naked before our Savior, but we will always be unashamed. Instead of hiding like Adam did, it is a pleasure to bear our lives and hearts like an opened book before the Lover or our Soul.

Now let’s look at Eve: we’ve already established that she was birthed (born again) from her husband’s side, (Through the sacrifice on Golgotha’s Hill). She came from the man’s side (Christ’s Sacrifice), and by no other way. Anyone that says that they are going to Heaven but has not put their faith in Christ’s sacrificial death for them on the Cross, is no Bride of Christ’s. The Bible describes Christ as the one that must first be partaker of the fruits he labors for (2 Tim 2:6), it’s no coincidence that the Lord is referred to in this verse as the “Husbandman,” but more on that later. Just as Adam was Eve’s leader, so Christ is the Head of the Church, because Christ was made first (1 Cor 15:23, 1 Tim 2:13, Eph 5:23, Col 1:18).

Next, we can see that since Christ had to die for us before we could live spiritually, 1 Tim 2:14 tells us that it was not Adam that was deceived, but rather it was Eve that was “in the transgression.” Women generally dislike these scriptures that we are mentioning, (the ones that mention that the man is the head of the woman as Christ is the Head of the Church, and it was the woman that was in the transgression and not the man), and the truth is, the reason that we get offended at this, is because we do not truly understand the part that the Cross plays in our marriages and relationships. If we could seek God to know more about Him and His sacrifice for us, as we gain revelation of this Lost Message in our own lives and we will find that every relationship will work and flow smoothly. We also should note that the aforementioned scripture clearly states that Adam was not deceived, why is this important? If Adam is a type of Christ, then we can see that Christ was not in sin, nor had He ever sinned in His life of thirty-three and a half years, but rather, He took upon Himself all of our sin. The reason that Adam took of the forbidden fruit was two-fold: first of all, he and his bride were “one flesh”, if she partook of it then he was obligated to take part as well. Secondly, he ate the fruit because he couldn’t leave his bride alone, he loved her so much that he couldn’t bare to be separated from her. See, if Adam (Christ) had never eaten of it, Eve (We) would have been cast forth into eternal darkness and he (Christ) would have lived forever without his bride (us). Sin cannot exist where God and His Holiness abode. Adam (Christ) suffered with his wife (us), taking the punishment upon himself, because of the deep love that he had for her. (2 Cor 5:21)

In Adam

In a closer examination of Adam, we need to assess what Adam possessed within himself, (for it is through Adam that the human race was born.) First of all, Adam’s purpose in life was four-fold:

1. He was created to have fellowship with and be in Oneness with God, his Father and Creator.

We must understand that Adam had full fellowship with God when he began, God talked with him, he heard God’s voice and instruction, he was not afraid of God but rather could be considered to be his son and friend. Fellowship with God required no effort on Adam’s part, but rather, it was simply given to him as a gift. This relationship actually became part of who he was, and his complete consciousness of God was consistent and ongoing.

Being made in the Image of God, he was created to be perfect, beautiful, sinless, with total God consciousness, and the full knowledge that he is loved, in total freedom, knowing he is complete and in Oneness with God. What could be better than that?


2.God gave Adam a job and that was to dress the garden – Genesis 2:15.

God put the desire in Adam to work, but it was effortless work, the yoke was easy and to “dress” and keep the garden God had given him was meant to be a pleasurable task for him.

When God gave Adam the land, he gave him a job to “dress it and keep it.” The word “dress” here in the Hebrew means to labour, work, serve. The next word we would like to look at is “keep” : to guard, observe, protect, treasure, and preserve. In effect Adam was to take care of this garden as if it were precious to him.


3. To bring forth sons and daughters unto God, (of course with Eve’s help – Genesis 2:18).

Procreation was a great purpose for Adam, for it included the help of his wife Eve in order to do so, and they were to fill the entire earth with sons and daughters that were to grow up in the image of God and for the purpose of God.

With Adam being given the ability to procreate, (which was a gift from God to man), for it gave him the ability to bring forth something, like God had. God created man in His Image, now man would have this “god-like” attribute, bringing forth children of God. At this point, Adam and Eve have not been intimate yet, the bible is clear about that, for it wasn’t until Genesis 4:1 that they begin to procreate. At the time in which we refer to before the Fall of man, Adam held in his loins the seeds to all of humanity. At this point, the entirety of the human race was going to be perfect, sinless, and living in the same manner that Adam and his wife were.

4. Have dominion (rule) over every bird of the air and everything that moves upon the earth (Genesis 2:18).

Everything that Adam could see, he was to have dominion or rule over. That means that all things were to obey him, it was all created for his use and purpose. One could say that as all things were brought into subjection to Adam (mankind), that since he was in fact living for the purposes that God created him for, he was doing the will of his Father.

Adam and Eve were to rule over all of the aforementioned things: birds of the air and everything that moves upon the earth. That was huge! That means that God basically created the entire planet and just gave it to this man and his wife!! Since man was at total oneness with God, this would be no difficult feat though. Man had God’s voice and Divine assistance if at all needed. He had nothing to worry about.

Everything was going great, as we all know, life is NOT what we have just read. What caused such a thing to occur? Most of us know what happens next. The serpent, (which typifies the devil) tempts Eve to eat from the tree in which God commanded them not to, he twists God’s words that God spoke, she doesn’t remember the exact wording of God’s command. The serpent tells her that she and Adam will become like gods and know good and evil like God does if she eats of it. She partakes, shares with her husband, they both fall into sin, (having disobeyed God’s only rule), and it’s downhill from there!

Now their eyes are opened, they both realize that they are naked, but they don’t want God to know that they are naked so they find the worst possible leaf to cover themselves with. With fig leafs sown together, they also hide behind a bush from God when they hear His Voice, God gets Adam to admit what has happened and starts handing out the consequences of their actions. God kills an innocent animal in order that they might be properly covered and casts them out of Paradise, not allowing them back in the garden.

Man loses everything that he had known previously: He lost his oneness with God and is now separated from a Holy God by his sin. Now the garden that he once kept effortlessly has become hard labor and work that has to be done on his own, for his former father will not provide those things for him anymore. His children will now be made in the likeness of sinful Adam and Eve instead of after the perfect image of a Holy God. Now, since in his loins existed every human being that would ever live, we are all in a fallen and sinful nature at birth. Because of one man’s offense toward God, we are now damned and cursed, cast out of God’s presence forever and forever. The dominion that they had over the earth, is gone. God is no longer their Heavenly Father, they are now a father of the devil, we are all satan’s spawn so to speak. We have no blessings following us, our lives are hard, our morals corrupt and when we are born, we are born dying instead of living forever.

This is the revised version of events, all of which we come back to in a while and examine in more detail, but we want the reader to notice the turn of events that has occurred.

It wouldn’t seem as though eating of that silly little tree would have been something that would have created such havoc as it did. Do we really and truly understand how very deep the fall really was? Can the human mind actually fathom the eternal greatness that God had originally intended for us?

Adam was created to live forever, but after the fall he lived to be 930 years old. The average life for a United States citizen is not to exceed 75 years of age. Adam’s acquaintance with perfection gave him many years of life. When speaking to anyone over 20 years of age these days, we can all safely admit that life is not presently like it was “when we were kids.” When we look around the world, it seems to be getting worse and worse. Violence, murders, abuse, pain, suffering, poverty, sickness and disease, hate crimes, addictions and vices, sexual lifestyles and habits, and so many other things seem to be getting increasingly more sinful. When we look around, we don’t see much of anything in the behavior of the majority that reflect the perfection what we all visualize Heaven to be like in our minds.

Fortunately for us, God was so in love with His creation that He made provision for mans' tangled web of mistakes.

Laying the Foundation

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

There are many things that we strive to examine, in order that the foundation for which the entire Gospel of Christ is built upon. In this chapter, we’ll backtrack to the beginning of time and the creation of man, revealing and discussing the occurrences that took place, what was spawned, and where we go from there. We generally use the King James Version of the Bible for our references that we will be making, perhaps any verse by verse translation will be of help to any reader, (American Standard Version, or Young's Literal Translation are good). We have found that all paraphrase versions of the Bible only lead believers to confusion instead of truth.

In the beginning was God. He was, is, and always will be. He is independent of us, although we are not independent of Him. He had need of nothing, and yet created all He did for His pleasure and because He could.

A popular question that is often asked not only by Christians, but also by those that are not yet in relationship with the Lord, is “why did God create us.” My husband’s answer to this question has always made me smile, “Because God wanted a family.

” If there is a God, why is there so much evil? If there is not a God, why is there so much good?” –St. Augustine

These are healthy questions that deserve to be answered. We address such questions because there are not only many unbelievers that pose such things, but also doubting Christians.

God did not create this present world to be filled with the evil, deceit, pain, sufferings, plagues, railings, etc as we witness daily. What He originally created was Paradise, what we would consider to be Heaven in our own thought processes, (no bills, no pain, no tears, no death, no poverty or sickness, no hate crimes or murders), but a life where everything was beautiful, more colorful than our eyes can behold, utter perfection and hearts filled with total contentment, comfort and peace, joy unspeakable and full of glory, bigger and better, higher and more elaborate than the human mind could ever begin to fathom.

When He created this earth, it was spun into orbit along with everything else, for the shear purpose of providing an atmosphere that we could live, breathe and have our being in, complete with not only everything we could need, think, or ask for, but also giving us total Oneness with Him as our Creator. If we stop and ponder that for a moment, none of it was created for His needs, remember that He is independent from all things and yet Creator of all. He made it all for us, not Him. He not only created us to exist IN HIM, but also to be in relationship with Him as well.

It is mind boggling to think of such things, for we have never been able to experience such peace, brightness, glory and utter completeness. We can attribute all of the pain, suffering and aforementioned cons to our first parents for messing it all up for us. God created them perfectly as well, sinless and in His Image.

Let us travel over to the Garden of Eden where man was created and see if we can paint the picture for the reader, that they too might be able to comprehend the scripture:

God has just taken the first 6 Days of Creation and made all that man’s environment and living quarters for eternity. Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Man is made and given breath, he is now alive and aware of his surroundings. As he looks around, God has made Heaven and Earth, clouds, the Sun and Moon, the earth and seas have been named and separated, man has groundwater and the atmosphere above him, along with mist that comes up from the ground every day. He has every seed that is brought forth and is able to see grass, trees of every kind as he looks around, full of every fruit, nut, all of the “meats of trees and plants” imaginable. Every animal is there for his naming pleasure and companionship. Not only does God give him all of it to rule over, God also decides to give him a companion that is like man, in man’s image.

God tells Adam that he can eat of any tree that is in the garden, except this one that is called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Then God puts Adam in a deep sleep and takes out one of his ribs from his side, that He might build him a woman. Then when God is done, He closes up Adam’s side and presents to him the woman, one that is in Adam’s likeness.

Adam looks at her and says, “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”

Then the Bible states, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:23-25).

If we look at the image in which Adam was created, it was God’s. God has attributes about Himself, He has personality, feelings and emotions, God is a Person. He displays anger, wrath, love, He can be grieved at times, and He even pities us as His children. The reason we bring this up, is a lot of people like to think of God as this untouchable “being,” way up in the sky that lacks emotion, but nothing could be further from the truth. He is a Person and created us to be in His Image, (other than sinful attributes, of which He has none), we are like Him in many respects.

Eve, Adam’s wife however, was made in the likeness of Adam. She too, was made in the image of God, but she came from Adam, (not from Heaven, not from the dirt like Adam had), but from the his side or rib. There is something more intimate about the creation of Eve, in comparison to that of Adam. When we study the language of the old testament, which is Hebrew, it even bears out that Adam was formed or fashioned, where Eve was built up, more on that in a moment.

Adam looks at his wife and notices that she is like him, acknowledges that she came out of him, that’s how he recognizes her, as his. Then the Word of God very interestingly states that Adam will leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, then they two will become one. Also interesting that God says that they were both naked and were unashamed. These statements are pregnant with meaning, of which we will try to elaborate on as we continue.

With Adam being made in God’s Image, and Eve being made in Adam’s image, we see that these three are one. If God is in and with Adam, and Eve is of and with Adam, then both Adam and Eve are One, and together all three have become One in this manner. By this we are able to see that in the beginning there is total oneness with God.