I have not written in a long time, and I do apologize. The Lord has been moving me into a new era in my life. I feel as though I am walking through a massive tornado - but safely held in the eye of the storm while events swirl crazily around me. Events - ideas - new ways of thinking - wrongs being turned right - impossible heartache being redeemed. There is so much to learn! So much I need to study! So many questions to ask!
As I begin to understand more and more about the sacrifice of Jesus and His cleansing blood, there is a cascading effect on my thinking patterns. Everything is inter-connected.
If it is the blood that saves me and not my own works, how does that effect the doctrine of resurrection? What I was taught was very complicated. I was taught there was a heavenly body waiting for those who reached perfection, and an earthly body waiting for those who did not. However, there is no record in the New Testament that anyone has ever reached Jesus-level perfection in this life. There are, however, many references to being covered bythe righteousness of Christ.
Romans is particularly eloquent on the subject. In chapter three, for example, Paul makes it clear that we cannot be righteous in our selves:
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
And,
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight...
Therefore I can only rely on a righteousness given by God - which is provided through faith in His Son:
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Did you notice that verse 24 says that we are justified freely? That word denotes generosity - open handedness. It also denotes a complete lack of attached requirements for those who will believe.
So if it is the righteousness of God and not our own that saves us, how would it be decided who received an earthly resurrection and who gets a heavenly one? (Assuming there are two different resurrections, which I now doubt.) The answer I was given, and that I find curiously comforting, is Colossians 3:3
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Somehow, that is enough. I can leave the question in the hands of my Saviour.
In the doctrine of perfection, I was taught that Christ paid for my past sins, but my present and future sins were my responsibility.
Here's the problem: Sin can only be atoned for with a spotless sacrifice. As soon as I sin, my soul is stained, and I am no longer qualified as a sacrifice.
How in the world could I then cleanse myself from my present and future sins? I cannot. Nor can I find anything in the New Testament that tells me I should. The scriptures are very clear about what I should do with my sins.
I John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Again, it is Jesus that washes us clean.
How?
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Through His blood, shed for me at Calvary.
Do you know what is really wonderful about all of this? The blood was shed so that we could have access to the Father. I was raised to ignore the Father. Somehow, once I learned that it is through the blood of the Son that we come to the Father, I delight in doing exactly that.
There is such a beautiful picture of this found in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. I have recently joined
Bible Study International, an organization founded in 1959 by a woman who believed women should be better acquainted with their Bibles. We are studying the life of Moses, and therefore, the Tabernacle. What a beautiful walk-through of the Gospel this is! There is only one entrance into the courtyard of the Tabernacle. In John 14:6, Jesus said,
6 ...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Not clear enough? There's another verse in John 10:9,
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.
We begin our journey into God's presence by coming through His Son, Jesus. Once we have entered the outer court, the first thing we see is the brazen altar, where all the sacrifices were brought. Over and over again it is made clear that the need of every one of these sacrifices was fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus. Hebrews 10:9 states it quite clearly:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
But you know the verse I really like?
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
It is through His sacrifice that we are perfected. Funny thing. The only place we are asked to sacrifice ourselves is in Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Here, we are called a living sacrifice, offered as the only reasonable response to His perfect sacrifice.
Once the sacrifice is made, we come to the brazen laver, where we are washed and made clean. Ephesians 5:26
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it (the church) with the washing of water by the word
Why do we need to be washed with the word? How else will we find out what needs to be cleansed? Jesus atones for our sins, but we do need to bring them to Him. Revelation 7:14
14 ... And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Note, it is the blood of the Lamb that makes the robes white. Not our own efforts.
Once clean, we can take the sweet incense of our prayers,
Revelation 8:4
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
light that incense with the coals from the sacrifice of Jesus, and come boldly into the Tabernacle itself, where the veil has been rent, from top to bottom, giving us full access to our Heavenly Father.
Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Isn't that a beautiful picture?
I am grateful - deliriously, rapturously, supremely grateful that my precious Saviour did not leave me to rot in the sins I could not cleanse, struggling to pay a price He had already paid. I was completely oblivious to what His sacrifice meant for me, and He could have left me there.
I am afraid I have caused Him no end of trouble with my "Julie do it!" attitude. Like a four-year-old who wants to do everything for themselves and cannot understand why they fail. I was not looking for answers. I accepted my failure and expected to die in my sin. But the Lord was gracious. He sent me person after person to tell me the message of grace. And when I still could not believe, He sent me a special friend to be an example of His grace. Never underestimate what can happen when you let Jesus love through you!
Eight years. Eight long years of me struggling and screaming and accusing my loving Saviour of all sorts of terrible things. He endured it all. Patiently blocking me from going here, opening a door for me to go there, sneaking a lesson in during the rare times I was calm enough to listen.
I stand today, washed clean, basking in my Saviour's amazing grace, and able to daily kneel at my Father's feet because of one thing: I have a God who does not fail and would not give up.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance unto you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
Jules
