Exploring our Roots

“Where do you come from?” is a great questions. A boy of five or so came home from school and asked his mom, “Where did I come from, Mom?” The mother, though prepared for this moment, dreaded it, but began the long tale of the “Birds and the Bees.” An hour later, her son was well versed on conception and birth, on how babies get to be, well, babies. His only response was something like, “Oh,” followed with, “Jack said he came from Erie, Pennsylvania.”

As we see here, there are a couple ways to look at the question, “Where do you come from?” The mom thought of a biological response. The boy thought of a geographical response. If I ask you, as a Christian, what you believe, you might answer that you believe in Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of G-d. Right you are. We look at Jesus as the Son of G-d, as our Savior, as our Lord. Jesus is also the Son of Man. The other side of the Spiritual is the contextual: Jesus as a young Jewish man, raised in a Jewish home, in a Jewish town, in a Jewish country under domination by the Roman Empire.

That’s why I use the term Y’shuaJesus. Our Christian roots are also the roots of Y’shuaJesus as the Son of G-d AND the Son of Man.

So, I want to introduce you to a website I found this morning that I think valuable in understanding our common roots in Judaism; our Hebrew Roots.

Please take a look at: Hebrew for Christians.

It’s more than the study of Hebrew as a Biblical language. As stated on the home page, Hebrew for Christians “provides information about common Hebrew blessings and Jewish prayers, the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh), the Jewish holidays, and weekly Torah portions from a Messianic point of view. The Hebrew Names of God, as well as an online glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms is also provided. Be sure to check out the online store for some excellent study materials!”

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 4:24-26

When the water warms. . .

. . . the fish seem so much more active.

Lately it feels like that for me, at least mentally. And that’s not a good thing, really. I’m not talking about great mental activity, great productive writing or thinking or praying. I’m talking about thoughts swimming around too fast, feeling like attention deficit. I’m talking about focus.

Summer finally arrived here in north Georgia. And with it an odd anxiety. It’s all in my head.

I began a study looking at “Rights” and “Justice.” I quickly got overwhelmed, moved on, and haven’t returned. Perhaps it’s just not the time to write about it. Perhaps it’s “the enemy” attacking me. Perhaps it’s just too many fish in the warm water of my mind.

It’s also that several things lately have reminded me of the “End Times.” I recalled that Y’shuaJesus said we need to be vigilant for we don’t know the time of the coming wrath. And I am encouraged by the Apostle Paul, who, guided by the Spirit of G-d, wrote:

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:9

Relax, I tell myself. There’s nothing to be anxious about. Anxious. Anxiety. Y’shuaJesus comforts us with words meant to sooth us, to let us know that we need not be anxious. When I think about being anxious about nothing, I remember I once attended in which it was somehow inappropriate to be anxious or concerned or upset. I remember how the preacher led praise and the congregation danced in procession around the auditorium. I remember the faces that held tight their anguish, forcing smiles. It was as if some one might let out a brief display of sadness and an Elder coming around saying, “Your not. . .” this or that or some other thing or another. “Let go, Let G-d,” he or she might say.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s alright to feel sad, or blue, or anxious, or distracted. Maybe that’s what makes us human. It makes me wonder just how far we’ve come to trying to be emotionless robots, flesh-covered computers. Adverts on the television tell us to ask our doctors about this drug or that drug to make us feel better. Preachers tell us we need to get right with G-d, and we’ll feel better. The best one I’ve ever heard, is that Solomon was depressed when he wrote Ecclesiastes. “All is vanity. . .” Maybe King Solomon was right. Maybe we’re just being deluded into accepting a well-placed lie. “Life is wonderful. Life is beautiful. Be happy.”

It seems to me that it’s okay feel what ever way we feel. And with those feelings, perhaps because of those feelings, we grasp tighter to the hem of our Savior’s clothing and, as Apostle Paul so said, find a contentment in even these tribulations. Perhaps in the depths of anxiety, we may rejoice. This isn’t suppose to be a “wonderful life.” It’s suppose to try us. For Life that is wonderful is Life with our Savior when He comes for us.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer. . .

. . . NOT! Although our spring lasted well into June, with good rain and cool temperatures, that’s over now, and hot and humid by two o’clock in the afternoon is the order of things. While there’s been some storm clouds building late in the day, we’ve had only sprinkles this past week. But the mornings–those are wonderful. Cool, with minimal bugs, birds singing, frogs croaking. Pleasant!

Echinacea — Echinacia or Cone Flower, while there is no scientific evidence to show that echinacea will heal, Native Americans and even Elk have used it for its immunological properties. And we grow it for the same reasons!

In the garden all weekend, digging out more clay, replacing it with top soil, planting. We also began work on a second pond that is a few feet higher, up slope, from the one we dug last year. Water will pump out of the old pond into a stock tank that will filter the water, dumping it into the new pond. From there water will fall two-foot into the old pond. The building process begins with digging out very hard clay down nearly three feet on one end, and a bit under two feet on the other. A wall added to that side will raise it above the older pond. We have rubber liner that will hug the clay, sealing the pond. Once the new pond is filled with water, we’ll let it sit a day or so and move all the fish and plants into it from the old pond. A thorough cleaning of the old pond is next. Refilled with water, letting it sit to de-clorinate, then we can move some of the plants and fish back.

Another Pond — Beginning to build another pond.

We’re adding a new, larger pump to fill the stock tank we’ll use as a filter, providing water flow of about 3200 gallons an hour. The old pumps will be re-purposed into aerators for each pond that will bubble air into the water to help with algae control.

Most of the work is just plain hard labor of digging out the clay. The interesting part comes when cutting in the new pond, getting the water to flow the way we want, and arranging the plants.

But one step at a time. Like in all things, it all begins with the sweat and aching muscles of hard work.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you all.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
He will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore
Psalm 121:7-8

Creed and Cross

Growing up attending an Episcopal Church (Anglican Church), I remember bits and pieces of the various liturgies, among them both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed. Both creeds have been around since the 4th Century. And, no, I wasn’t there when they were first used, though my teenage daughter asked me once if I played with dinosaurs when I was little and didn’t mean toy ones, either. She said she was only kidding. But what exactly is a creed, and why is it important?

A creed is a confession, a symbol, or statement of faith. It is something that states or displays the shared beliefs of a particular group of people. Creeds are summaries, expressing only core elements that are essential to a group of people. Creeds are not comprehensive. The Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed are only two such statements of faith, summaries of core beliefs. Some churches use the four spiritual laws as a form of creed. These are often stated as: 1) God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life; 2) Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life; 3) Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life; and 4) We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

The Cross is a form of Creed, too; it is a symbol of both the death of Y’shuaJesus and the life that we are offered through His death and subsequent resurrection. The image at the right is a Celtic Cross, and is seen throughout Wales. In a cemetery in Wales, a large Celtic Cross stands at the head of my family’s plot, and looks much like that one. I’ve written previously about the giant aluminum crosses along many interstate highways in America. The cross also marks most of the grave markers at the cemetery in Normandy where buried are soldiers who died on the “D-Day” invasion to liberate Europe.

Professions of faith, of belief. Since the 4th Century the Nicene Creed has summed up the faith that Christians must have to be considered Christian. The Cross is a visible symbol of that belief. After a time, as I’ve mentioned before in other posts, it is good for us to go back to the place where we began in Y’shuaJesus. We need, on occasion, to take a look at the essentials, the core elements, and see if we can say AMEN! to each and every element. We must not, in our great spiritual holy walk, abandon the core believes, trampling them beneath non-essentials that distract us from the view of Golgotha, the view of Christ died, and the Empty Tomb, Christ Raised, and the sight of Y’shuaJesus ascending into the clouds. Messiah. Lord. Y’shuaJesus. He Died; He Lives. And He will come again. MARANATHA! Come, Lord! AMEN!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

The Apostles’ Creed

Another important creed in traditional Christian churches is the Apostles’ Creed, first mentioned in a letter written in 390. During the Fourth Century, it was believed that each of the Lord’s Apostles contributed one article to the Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy Catholick Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Amen.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed, adopted in the First Ecumenical Council in 325, has changed little over all these years. The following is from the Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer (1979).

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Memorial Day

Yesterday we observed Memorial Day in our customary manner: we sat near our campfire and talked of the times we sat with family by similar fires at Joe’s Woods in Pennsylvania. Joe Maciak bought the woods years ago for three hundred dollars. At the time, before larger highways, it was better than an hour drive south of Erie, where Joe and his family lived. Joe’s father had asked him, in Polish, “What are you going to do with this, Joe?” It became a place for Joe to take his two boys to hunt. It became a gathering place for immediate and extended families, some camping the weekend, others dropping by during the daytime.

Joe’s Woods is too far for us to go for Memorial Day now. But sitting near the creek that runs behind us, looking at flames licking at the trees overhead, we think of those days. “It’s s’pose to rain,” I said to my wife yesterday. And true enough, many of those Memorial Days at the Woods would be cold with drizzle and often moderate rain. The rain didn’t stop us, though. My wife’s cousin, Archie, would be up early building his famous Archie fire, a rival to the best campfire anywhere. My wife’s father and his brother would be up early too, if to do nothing other than encourage Archie in his efforts, and enjoy the warmth and company.

Fourteen years ago we missed Memorial Day at the Woods. Joe lay dying on a bed in his living room that weekend, with his family all around him. He died early in the morning when Archie would have been building a fire. When attendants from the funeral home carried him out the front door of the house, an American flag waved its proud goodbye as he passed beneath, another American sailor, a veteran of the Korean “Conflict,” passed from this earth.

So yesterday our American flag waved gently in the breeze as the flames of our fire reach toward Heavenward. But it didn’t rain– in the morning. It was warm, humid. Yet it was Memorial Day, and it was okay. I mentioned to my wife that Memorial Day is to commemorate American men and women who lost their lives in war. I told her about a friend of mine, John, who didn’t die in Viet Nam, but. . .

John and I met while I was at Camp Roberts and he at Camp Hunter-Leggit, which is located some miles north of Roberts. He lived with his wife and newborn boy in the other half of a duplex where I lived, in central coast town of Paso Robles, California. We became friends. John was on limited duty at Leggit, still hurting from wounds received in ‘Nam. He told me one day that he’d been in country [in Viet Nam] only four months when, while on point in front of his infantry company, he was hit by sniper fire. In a very quick “dust off,” he’d been evacuated to a field hospital, where surgeons cut him open from his neck to his belly, from side to side, patching him up enough to get him back to the next hospital.

Eventually he was Stateside. Months later, somewhat rehabilitated, he was assigned to an infantry company at Leggit, where war games were played testing new equipment and tactics. While still assigned infantry, he worked in supply, and enjoyed it. After John’s two-years were up, he “re-upped”–re-enlisted–and along with his family went to Germany. Once there, he was returned to infantry, but was able to move into supply fairly quickly. Three years later, John was re-posted to Fort Ord, a few hours north of Paso Robles. I saw him several times up there. He was still having trouble with his war wounds, still having surgeries to remove stuff: bone chips, metal fragments, scar tissue. He had not been able to be permanently transferred into a supply position. Eventually, he and his wife decided not to re-up, to get out of the army. They moved back to Paso Robles because they liked the area, even though their parents were in southern California. John found a job on a ranch in beautiful Shandon, just east of Paso.

In early 1980 I left the service and Camp Roberts behind, heading to Arizona for a communications technician job on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. On the way out of California, I passed through Shandon one last time to visit John and family and see the house they were building themselves. His work on the ranch was hard, but he enjoyed it, and the rancher liked him. His side and chest still hurt from places that just didn’t heal well, I recall him saying. I lost track of John and his wife and kids after that, which I regret. I thought of them on occasion, remembered them, and hoped the best for them. A few months ago I did a Google search for John, and learned that he’d died in 1986, just a few years after I’d last seen him.

As I told this to my wife yesterday, I thought of her father who’d died from cancer, of my father who’d died after suffering with Parkinson’s Disease for ten years, of my grandfather who died of cancer. All served in an American war. Both my grandfather and father served in two wars. They lived through the wars. They came home. They survived. Even their wounds healed without much of a trace, unlike John’s, who’d never take his shirt off in public for the scars left behind. But could their deaths have been linked to there battles? We know now that Viet Nam vets exposed to “agent orange,” a defoliant said to be so safe, are dying from it. I thought just how much war affects our culture, our way of live, from the loss of men and women in battle itself, to the debilitating affect it has upon those who “survive” for a time afterward.

And Rain. Here’s the thing about rain on Memorial Day. Rain is a symbol of renewal, of rebirth. Isaiah 55:10 says: “. . . the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. . .” Rain is physical and emotionally necessary to life. Rain is cleansing, both physically and emotionally. I wish rain would fall on all of our holidays, both physically and symbolically, that we as Americans would think deeply of cost of our way of life, our unique American culture. And also of the cost to this way of life. We’ve lost not only men and women in battle, but to those battles. I pray that their lives are not lost in vain. And I think about all those who served America in defense of liberty and freedom, and the cost to them, for it is a cost we all share greatly.

Today, we are hated around the globe for what we have, and have done, in this world. Once we had a political will, and a political leadership, that proudly stood in support of our Constitution that explains our liberty, our rights. Our leadership stood firm also on Biblical precepts. We were one nation, under G-d. Sadly, our political leadership has been infiltrated by people with an ideology that would strip away the very things that made fertile the ground from which free men and free women have grown and thrived. The new wave of American political correctness, of Constitution bashing, of liberty stripping, is diverting the rain, and the drought that is upon America is grave. As has been said so many times before, if we forget what has come before, we inevitably repeat it.

On Memorial Days to come, let us not only remember those lost in battle, but be reborn with a rain of understanding for what they fought, for what they lost their lives. Let us remember, as our liberties are berated, that only the American Revolution was fought directly for our own liberty; all other battles were fought on behalf of others whose liberty and freedom had been taken or threatened. If we as Americans let our liberties slip away, who will there be left to defend us? Who will stay the hand of tyrants?

Accenting my thoughts yesterday, it rained lightly in the afternoon, and last night it rained heavily.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Third Aspect of Redemption

This is the final portion of the chapter from Dr. Ironside’s book.

WE GROAN AND TRAVAIL

But there is a third aspect of redemption, and that is brought before us in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. In verse 22 we read:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

“We ourselves groan within ourselves.” Of whom is he talking? Christians. Groaning Christians? Yes! Oh, I thought Christians were always happy; I thought they were always shouting and singing! Well, you have a lot to learn. Thank God, it is possible to joy even in the midst of sorrow, and Christians have their griefs and sorrow and trials. But they have a wonderful Savior to carry them through those trials—One to sustain and help them in every hour of distress.

One of our chief causes of groaning is that of physical infirmities, and that is what the apostle is talking about here. In our unconverted days our groaning was caused by our sins. We cried out in pain as we longed for deliverance. Then we were groaning in bondage. Now as Christians we groan in grace, because of physical infirmities that are often such a hindrance in our lives. Perhaps you were just getting ready to go to prayer meeting one night. (I hope you love the prayer meeting.) But you did not get there. You were preparing to go, when suddenly you came down with such a sick headache that you had to stay at home. When others were gathered for prayer and praise, there you were, lying on the couch sniffing at camphor, and you were saying to yourself, “What a wonderful day it will be when I get a new body and a new head that will never ache.” Well, that is what the apostle means when he says, “We that are in this tabernacle (body) do groan.” We are so often hindered by physical weakness, but we are looking on to the day of the redemption of the body. We have the firstfruits of the Spirit, but we are looking forward to the full “son placing,” for that is what the word “adoption” means. Then we shall be fully conformed to the Son of God.

“FOR OUR CONVERSATION IS IN HEAVEN”

When will that be? That “redemption of the body”? In Philippians, chapter 3, verses 20-21, we read, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body.” He is drawing our attention to that wonderful event which should now be the hope of the Christian, and I am thinking again of you young Christians. He wants you now to get before your soul as the lodestar, the blessed hope of the Lord’s return. The One who died for you on the cross is coming again, and He is coming to receive you to be with Himself. He could not have you there in the glory as you now are. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” So in order that you might be suited for the place to which He is going to take you, He will give you a new body, a glorified body; and when you receive that, you will be fit for a place in the Father’s house.

He said before He went away, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” And we learn from other Scriptures what will take place in order to prepare us for the Father’s house. The first Epistle of the Thessalonians, chapter 4, is a wonderful passage as to this. It says:

“The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”

That is the time when the body will be changed, and our redemption will be complete. Already we have the redemption of the soul; we have been redeemed from judgment. We are experiencing day by day, as we walk in obedience to the Lord, practical redemption, redemption from the power of sin. When our blessed Savior returns, our redemption will be complete—spirit and soul and body will be fully conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[I hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter. I very much did so. Oh, and I found this chapter posted on the Lighthouse Trails website, where you will find many other excellent articles and references to other articles available on the web.]

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Another Side to Redemption

The following is another portion of a chapter begun yesterday from a book by Dr. Harry Ironside, Great Words of the Gospel
REDEEMED, BUT DISOBEDIENT

When we turn to the Epistle to Titus, we have another aspect of redemption. In chapter 2, verses 11-14, we read:

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world: looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

It cannot be too often insisted that salvation is not of works, that no works of ours could avail for our redemption; but here in this message we have another side of the truth emphasized, and that is that our blessed Lord not only died to redeem us from the judgment due to our sins, but He died to redeem us from all iniquity, that is, from all lawlessness. And sin is lawlessness. He died, as Mrs. Alexander’s beautiful old hymn put it, not only to save our souls, but “He died to make us good.” The Gospel has not accomplished its purpose if it only frees people from judgment. It has not completed its work until it presents every believer in the glory, fully conformed to the image of God’s blessed Son.

We have been called to holiness, to purity of life, to uprightness of behavior, and if any of us who profess the name of Christ are playing fast and loose with unholy things with worldliness, with carnality, with impurity, with things that defile these temples of the living God, these bodies in which the Holy Spirit dwells; if we are in any way living so as to bring dishonor upon the name of the One who died to save us, we are just to that extent thwarting one of the purposes for which Christ died. He died to redeem us from all iniquity. Here the word “redemption” is used in the sense of deliverance. He died to deliver us from all iniquity, to draw us away from evil things that peril our Christian experience and that would wreck and ruin our lives.

Redemption was illustrated in a stirring news article that appeared in our daily papers recently. Many read the story of those men shipwrecked in the South Pacific in connection with the world war. A number of them were huddled upon a raft and only one of them was able to swim, and he a big, burly black man. When those sailors saw nothing but death and despair before them, this black man sprang into the sea and towed that raft as he swam for over six miles through shark-infested waters, until he brought them all to a place of safety. That was redemption, and that man was a redeemer.

WHAT OF GOOD WORKS?

Our Lord Jesus not only risked His life but gave His life, not only to save us from judgment, but also to “redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Dear young Christian, I beg of you, do not allow yourself to be careless as to this aspect of redemption. Do not be content to know that you have trusted Christ as your Savior from hell, and forget that you are called upon to live a heavenly life here upon this earth. Do not be content to say that at a given time or at a certain meeting you went into an inquiry room and told the Lord Jesus you would trust Him not only as the Savior of your soul but as the One who is to be Lord of your life, the One who died to redeem you from everything that is unholy.

We read, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Do not let it ever be said of you that you are not concerned about good works, and do not ever tell people that because salvation is not works, it does not matter what kind of lives they live. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” They cannot see your faith, but they can see your works, and if your life is not in accordance with your faith, they will soon realize it and will put you down as a fraud and a hypocrite, and instead of your influence being for good, it will be for evil.

“THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING”

James says in his Epistle, “Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” You cannot show your faith without works, and so in that sense faith without works is dead. Justification is by faith, absolutely without works, but the same scripture that tells us that, puts emphasis on our works as the evidence of our salvation. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 2, we read: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” But Paul immediately adds, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” This is our practical redemption. If one Scripture tells me that “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief,” another Scripture says, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” Our Lord Jesus, the living Savior, has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, in order that as we walk in the Spirit we may find this practical redemption from the power of evil in the life.

[Tomorrow I plan to post the remainder of the chapter from Dr. Ironside’s book.]

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . .

A Nickle a Bottle

One day a friend and I walked to my parents home collecting soda bottles discarded alongside the road. It took us an hour to walk the three miles, but we collected two large bags each. We took them to a store where we got a nickle a bottle for them. That was the redemption value at the time.

When I hear the word redemption, I always think of those old, discarded bottles. I think how they are turned in for cash, sent back to the bottling factory, cleaned up, and come out like new. So here’s the first part of a chapter in a book by Dr. Harry Ironside, Great Words of the Gospel.[It’s in the public domain, so can be distributed freely.]

What is Redemption?

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (1 Peter 1:18-21)

The word “redemption” is one that runs all through the Bible; in fact, we can say without any suggestion of hyperbole that it is the great outstanding theme of Holy Scripture. This important truth runs through the Book like the proverbial red strand that, we are told, runs through the cordage of the British navy. Everywhere, from Genesis right on to Revelation, you find God in one way or another presenting to us the truth of redemption—redemption in promise and in type in the Old Testament; redemption in glorious fulfillment in the New Testament.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD

What do we mean when we use the term “redemption”? Ordinarily, and in Scripture too, the word means to buy back, to repurchase something that has been temporarily forfeited; or, it means to set free, to liberate, as we speak of redeeming one from slavery; or, it means to deliver, as to redeem one from some grave danger.

Back there in Israel in olden times, if a man fell into difficult circumstances, found himself burdened with debt, he might mortgage his entire property, and if that was not enough to satisfy the claims of his creditors, he could even mortgage his own strength, and ability, his own physical powers. He could sell himself into a kind of slavery until his debt was paid. Sometimes, he found himself hopelessly thus enslaved. Scripture says, however, “After that he is sold, he may be redeemed again.” One of his brethren may redeem him, or, if he is able, he may redeem himself. It would be almost impossible in most instances for anyone to redeem himself. Probably, the only way would be if he suddenly fell heir to some vast estate. But on the other hand, if he had a rich relative who cared enough for him to undertake to meet the liabilities and discharge them, he might thus be set free.

THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER

The one who did this was called a kinsman- redeemer, and he was a wonderful type of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew word is goel. He comes before us in Scripture long before the time of Israel. Even in the book of Job you read of him. It was the goel that Job spake when he said, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”

Then one may, as I say, have forfeited his property. Well, some wealthy one could come and pay off the mortgage and thus redeem the property. We are used to such transactions today, and we attach that meaning to the word “redemption.”

Now, in thinking of man, we know he is a sinner, sold under judgment. It was his own fault. God says in His Word, “You have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” It is not possible for any man to redeem himself from the sad condition in which he finds himself because of sin, but that is why we need a kinsman-redeemer who is more than man, one who is divine as well as human.

REDEMPTION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

When we turn to consider this subject of redemption in the New Testament, we find it presented in three different ways: first, redemption from judgment. That is redemption from the guilt of sin, which is through the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that is not all. It is not only the will of God that we should be redeemed from the judgment due to sin, but Scripture also has a great deal to say about redemption from the power of sin, so that we might be redeemed from those evil habits and unholy ways which at one time held sway in our lives. This redemption is through the indwelling Christ, through the risen Christ working in the power of the Holy Spirit, who makes Christ real to His people down here.

And then Scripture speaks of a third aspect of redemption: the redemption of the body. I have been redeemed as far as my soul is concerned, if I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am daily being redeemed from sin’s power, if I am walking in subjection to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. But though I am thus redeemed in measure, I am made to realize every day that this very body of mine is often a hindrance instead of a help in regard to the my practical deliverance; but I am looking forward to the time when the body itself shall be redeemed and made like unto the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then I shall be redeemed from the very presence of sin and from all the evidences of its corruption.

THE JEWISH FEAST OF PASSOVER

Here in the first Epistle of Peter, the apostle carries our minds back to a wonderful event that took place in the land of Egypt centuries before, that event which the Jewish people to this day celebrate annually in the Feast of the Passover. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt, suffering under Pharaoh’s cruelty, and God, you remember, said, “I am come down to deliver them,” and He told Moses of something that was to take place whereby, He says, “And I will put a division (or literally, a redemption) between my people and thy people (the Egyptians).” That redemption was made by the blood of the passover lamb; and it is to this that the apostle Peter is referring typically in his first Epistle when he says, “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (empty behavior) received by tradition from your fathers (ancestrally handed down); but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

The blood of the lamb shed so long ago was God’s picture of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ which was shed on Calvary’s cross fifteen hundred years later, but to which we now look through the mists of nearly two thousand years. How can that blood avail for our redemption today? The blood had to be sprinkled of old on the actual lintel and door posts and then they were safe inside. It is centuries since Christ has died. In what sense, then, can we be made secure from judgment through the blood that He shed so long ago?

FROM THE LINTEL AND DOOR POSTS TO THE HUMAN HEART

We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews of having our hearts sprinkled by the blood of Christ. How is that blood applied to our hearts? Through simple faith. In the Epistle to the Romans, chapter 3, after dwelling on the lost condition of all men by nature and practice, the apostle says in verse 23 and on, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”; and then adds:

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 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; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26)

What is he telling us? That the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is all-availing, that it is sufficient for all men everywhere, that it settled for the sins of all men in past ages, who looked on to the cross in faith, and it settles now for all in the present age and in all the years to come, who look back to that cross in faith—”through faith in his blood.”

In other words, when we trust the One who shed His blood at Calvary, then we are numbered amongst those who have redemption through the sacrifice that He offered, and that means that we are secure forever from the judgment due to sin, just as Israel, sheltered beneath the blood of the passover lamb, was secure from the judgment that was to fall upon Egypt, for God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” So today, we who put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are redeemed from the judgment that is hanging over this poor world—the judgment that sin deserves. And so we can enter into the meaning of that Scripture which says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

WHAT DOES YOUR SALVATION DEPEND UPON?

Some of you have only lately come to Christ; you have not known the Lord very long. Oh, I beg of you, do get this clear. Your salvation, your security from judgment does not depend on anything that you can be or do. It depends upon the work that the Lord Jesus did for you when He suffered in your place upon the tree, and you enter into the good of that redemption through faith in Him. When Satan comes to tempt you, when you discover things in your own heart that you did not realize were there, just meet him with this: the redemption that is in Christ Jesus has settled everything, has made me free, has given me deliverance from the judgment of a holy God.

The believer is said to be redeemed from the curse of the law. He was exposed to that curse because of sin. God has declared, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” We have failed; we have broken God’s law; we are under that curse. But our Blessed Redeemer was made a curse for us, as it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Redemption guarantees our safety from judgment.

[Look for the remainder of the chapter tomorrow.]

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .