Blog In Audio:
Greetings;
Last week I began with a theme of leading others in a path of life and salvation in our journey as children of God and overcoming sons and daughters growing in maturity. Our salvation is not merely a matter of going to heaven when we die. It is a matter of bringing the influence of heaven into our lives in this earth. The internal kingdom of God within each of us causes our external kingdoms to be expressions of the kingdom of God in character, nature, way, power, and authority. As we saw last week, Paul’s words in Romans chapter 10 were not merely words of receiving Jesus into our lives. They were words concerning living our lives as sons and daughters of God with Jesus as Lord of all that we are and do. They were words of God’s salvation in every situation of our lives. Paul was quoting the Old Testament word of Moses as a shadow of our walk in life in Christ.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
God’s words were to His people in regard to their possession of, and their testimony in, the Promised Land. As I have written, I believe that the true Promised Land is to know righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit in our hearts (Rom. 14:17). The mystery of the word of God being in our hearts and mouths is only made known through the power of Christ within us. It is not some mystery. It is a revelation of Christ within us. It is not a matter of good and evil, it is a matter of life and death. God has always desired to give mankind the option of choosing life in all things. That life inspires a love for God with all of our hearts, souls, and lives. It is a testimony of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles in the lives of those who believe. The New Covenant is the means by which Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles finally become a reality among men.
Jesus said that when the seed of His word falls on good soil it can bring a harvest that is one hundred, sixty, or thirty fold (Mt. 13:8). I believe that these measures are symbolic of Tabernacles, Pentecost, and Passover. Passover is the testimony of loving God with all of our hearts. To have a Passover confession of Christ in our hearts is a ‘God did it’ thing! It is the testimony of Christ within us that inspires us to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. The shedding of the blood of Christ has granted us the grace of God’s Spirit within us. God’s mercy justifies us to live and His grace empowers us to come alive in Him (Rom. 5:9-10). Like a blade of wheat that breaks through the soil, we have a testimony of being alive in Christ. Jesus has passed over our sins and empowered us to confess our love for God from within. We have been granted a revelation of God’s love for us in Christ and by this we have become empowered from within to confess that God is our God. If 3 is a prophetic symbol of God (Trinity) and 10 is a prophetic symbol of God’s judgment of love (as 10 commandments is a completion of the law with a testimony of loving God and loving others) a thirty fold harvest (3 x 10) is at least a confession of the human heart that declares we are alive in Him. He is our God! 1
As leaders, we must embrace a path of being an overcomer and we must lead others into that same destiny. Death is not something that God puts upon anyone; it is the result of not choosing the path of life that God has set before us. The internal kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is the life-force of destiny in our journey as sons and daughters of God in this world. God has established the truth of life and death in the very fabric of creation. In Christ we become the body of Christ that exhibits the characteristics of being sons and daughters of God. Creation honors the likeness and image of God in the earth when the likeness and image of God honors God. When those who are meant to be the likeness and image of God honor a lesser likeness and image than God they bind the earth from being a life-giving resource to men. The land will eject men and women who are not true to who God made them to be. Only in our true identity as sons and daughters of God can we release the life and liberty of God in creation.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
1 Ted J. Hanson, The Now Covenant – Christ In You The Hope of Glory, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, 2015), pp. 108-109.
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