Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
No doubt there is a cry in the heart of humanity for revolution and true freedom. This was the case in the day that Jesus opened the door to the tree of life for all men. This was the time when Jesus justified all to live by giving His life as the tree of life for all mankind upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil tree was summed up in the cross, the wood of scourging for all of humanity. Love proved to be more powerful than all the scourging of mankind and Love destroyed the power of disconnection and shame that bound mankind from seeing God for who He truly is. The sacrifice of Jesus offered a different family tree for all of mankind. It is not a family tree of personal opinions, personal objectives, personal identities, or personal prejudices. It is a family tree of the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ for all of mankind. It is a tree of unity where many grafted branches reveal a diversity of the goodness of the life of God within the hearts and minds of all men. The life-sap of this tree is the blood of grace and it is found in the throne room of God’s grace.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus made a way for all to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace. The mercy is the justification for all to live because the life of the flesh has been given once for all in the body of Jesus Christ the man full of grace and truth. Jesus died once for all so that no one is bound to seek their life in the power of the flesh. God has a better plan for a better revolution in the hearts and minds of men. The grace of God is the power of the manifest presence of God’s Spirit working a power of life transformation in the hearts and minds of all who believe. This is the blood of grace, the blood of the Spirit of God in the people of God as the body of Christ. The revolution that Jesus offered then, and eternally offers to us all, is a revolution of the human heart. It is more powerful than external actions but seems less promising to those who look to weapons of the flesh to obtain their freedom.
When Jesus stood as the door to a personal relationship with God as our Father, the crowds shouted for a deliverer who promised weapons of the flesh. They shouted for the release of Barabbas. Barabbas was a murder and thief in his day, but he was also a zealot. He was a man who challenged the oppressive government of Rome and the crowd saw him as a more promising hope than Jesus. A week earlier they payed homage and honor to Jesus as the king of revolution in their shouts of praise as He rode into Jerusalem upon the back of a donkey. The crowds saw Him as the hope and the promise of freedom, but upon His arrest a week later He stood as a Lamb to the slaughter and the crowd could no longer see how He could possibly free them from their oppression. Although Barabbas was a criminal and a man of carnal character, they considered him a better option than the silent man of peace. The name Barabbas has its roots in the Aramaic and Hebrew. His name means “son of a father or master”, perhaps an indication that most often men see freedom can only come from power. A father who seeks to be a master can seem more promising that a Father who calls for sons to manifest as overcomers by an internal power of grace that brings about true change. The name Barabbas finds it roots in the Hebrew word which means arrogancy, excellency (-lent), majesty, pomp, pride, proud and swelling. It implies a rising up in pride and arrogance. It invokes a power to rise up in triumph over another. It inspires one to be exalted with an implication of haughtiness, highness, and pride. The shout for Barabbas is the shout for a thief and not a shout for the true gift of life and life-giving.
In this present time there is a grassroots revolution in the earth for the Spirit of Knowing to empower us to become the people of God. The headship of legalism and the headship of lawlessness are being removed by a greater power, the power of a life-giving Father and a life-sacrificing Son. We must consider the cry of our own hearts. Legalism will be willing to shout for a deliverer that rises up to oppress all that cry for freedom. Lawlessness will also be willing to shout for a deliver that rises up to oppress all that oppose what their heart cries out to see. Oppression cannot be destroyed by oppression. Oppression is a spirit and only God’s Spirit breaks the chains by the power of life within. Understand that I am writing to you as the people of God, I am not writing to the peoples still embracing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
I am not presenting a word for the governmental change of the nations; I am calling out to us as the people of God. I am challenging us all to see the internal change of our own hearts as the only revolution that can lead to true life. We must be the light in the midst of darkness. Law and conscience are only teachers that can inform men of their need for true life. That true life can only come through a personal relationship with God as our Father and Jesus Christ the Son by the fellowship of Holy Spirit in our hearts. We need the teachers of law and conscience in the world of sin, but we can only bring about a true revolution of life by being a testimony of the people of God. Our teacher is the One who submerges us from the inside out to overflowing, like the pickle brine of true transformation. The people of God are the people whose hearts and minds are transformed by the Spirit of Life within. The fruit will be seen in being givers of life in all things.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
