Posted on 12/03/2017 5:51:40 AM PST by HarleyD
"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:1-2).
Man can’t discover God on his own; God must reveal Himself to man.
Since the beginning of time, man has deceived himself by thinking he can discover God through various religions. But in reality, man lives in a box enclosed within the walls of time and space. God is outside the box, and man senses He's there but can't get to Him. Each new religion is but another futile attempt to penetrate the walls of the box and catch a glimpse of God.
Man's only hope is for God to enter the box, which Hebrews 1:1-2 declares He did: first by letter (the Old Testament), then in person (in Jesus Christ). Regarding God's Word David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue" (2 Sam. 23:2). Jeremiah added, "The Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth'" (Jer. 1:9). Of Christ, the apostle John said, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him" (John 1:14, 18).
The irony of people thinking they can discover God on their own is that apart from the Holy Spirit's leading, no one really wants to find Him. They merely want to add a cosmic good luck charm to their lives or satiate their guilty consciences. Paul said, "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God" (Rom. 3:10-11, emphasis added).
God could have left us in our sin and ignorance, but He penetrated the box and revealed everything we need to know for redemption and fellowship with Him. What a privilege we have to study His Word and live by its principles! Be diligent to do so each day.
Suggestion for Prayer
Praise God for granting you the ability to appreciate His Word.
For Further Study
Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, noting how natural (unregenerate) people respond to divine revelation.
bkmk
“They merely want to add a cosmic good luck charm to their lives or satiate their guilty consciences.”
BUMP
We accept our finiteness with regard to space (you can only be in one place at a time) but we are often entirely blinded by the constraints of time. God invented time. He lives outside of it. Jesus knew Peter would betray him three times before the cock crowed on the night of His betrayal. That wasn’t a prediction. Jesus knew it because, outside of time, it had already happened.
In the same way, I believe when we are saved and have confessed our sins, Jesus is aware of every one of them - past, present AND FUTURE - and accepts us anyway and has already covered these at Calvary.
When we sin, we should confess and thank Jesus for His supreme sacrifice and then move forward - not dwell in it. Our sin nature got left with us and so is the struggle against sin. It’s understood we will lose sometimes and Jesus is not surprised by it at all.
Some fear such an attitude will lead to wanton sinning by believers but confession does not absolve us from the consequences. God is not mocked. All these celebrities and politicians probably believed they had completely buried their sexual sins until these past few weeks. Now, everyone knows and many are living with shame and grief at their misdeeds.
Nonetheless, the believer’s sins are already covered at the Cross. God, again, reaches out to us so our reaching to Him need not be beyond our grasp.
Without space, a thing does not exist in the created Universe; without time, events do not occur in any of the created Universe.
Thanks for giving us something to think about in these troubling times.
Although, I cannot quote or fully interpret Chapter and verse as many claim to do, I can testify to the Parable of the Lost Sheep. All I know is that HE found me when I was lost and wandering in sin in this world inhabited by Satan and his demons.
When HE knocked at my doorstep, I opened the door to my heart and let HIM in. I believe HE now dwells in this mortal box and will guide me the rest of the way home.
Simply put, Jesus is all I need now and forever. HE is he way.
“In the same way, I believe when we are saved and have confessed our sins, Jesus is aware of every one of them - past, present AND FUTURE - and accepts us anyway and has already covered these at Calvary.”
Period. End of item. If anything can deliver the final, fatal blow to demonic religion in a person’s life, it is this awesome truth. All Satanic counterfeits take the focus off Jesus Christ and put in on the self or other selves/systems.
AMEN ... brilliant condensation of the Truth.
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