The Angry God is Angry No More

Psalms 7:11

The Puritan preacher Jonathan Edward’s once preached a sermon that has since become legendary, both in its title and in the stories of conviction that resulted from it. ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’ holds a place among the most famous services ever delivered. Legend has it that grown men clutched to the pillars that held up the balcony for fear that they were going to fall into the pits of hell when Edward’s gave his invitation. More romance has been added to the story as it is told of how Edward’s was so nervous that he held the written transcript of the sermon in front of his face and read it word for word, but the anointing on it was supposedly so powerful that it didn’t matter about the delivery.

I don’t know how much of the story is true, other than he actually preached the sermon. I do know that fear of an angry God has led countless people to an altar of repentance. It has also caused men and women to try and change their lives and their lifestyles. I am further sure however, that no sermon on the power of an angry God has ever empowered a single listener to live in a way that would assuage the anger of that God. No sermon on the wrath of God and the subsequent flames of hellfire and damnation can ever move or motivate a person to live righteously, as all of our righteousness’ are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

The great cosmic war between God and the sins of man has already been waged and has already been won. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In the sacrifice of the Lamb, Christ Jesus, the war with sin was won. It is for this cause that Jesus could hang His head and die after having declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

God was certainly angry at sin, beginning at Mt. Sinai and continuing onward to the cross. Isaiah said, “It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:10, 11). God was pleased to crucify His Son at Calvary because in sacrificing Jesus, He was satisfying His anger toward the sin of man. The suffering Savior truly satisfied the offended Father.

Read all Old Testament scripture within the context and timeframe that they were written. When the Psalmist wrote Psalms 7:11, God was dealing with man under the Old Covenant and His anger was mounting towards man’s disobedience. He was ready to “whet his sword” (Psalms 7:12) and use it against all of us, but then Jesus came and fulfilled all of the demands of the law and voluntarily laid down His life as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world. With His anger plunged into the heart of His Son, God was propitiated, or satisfied and we no longer have to see Him as “angry with the wicked every day” (7:11).

God is not mad at you. He is not even perturbed. When He looks at you He sees Jesus and He is well pleased. Live your life today as a Son, not a servant. The power to do righteous is found in knowing that you are righteous because of Jesus.

The Glorious Appearing

Titus 2:13

In Paul’s little letter to Titus, he explains to him that it is the grace of God which teaches the believer how to live (Titus 2:11, 12). Verse 13 further explains that this grace will also cause us to look for the “blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Some people make the end time events sound horrific, leading Christians to constantly focus on the events in the Middle East and always speak of the wickedness of the world. We should remember that Paul never focused the early church on the political signs of the times, choosing rather to expose the loveliness of Jesus to his people.

Grace is not a doctrine; it is a person and His name is Jesus. John told us that the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Paul’s instruction to Titus concerning how grace will teach us to live, also shows us that the grace of God, “hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). Notice that grace has already appeared, and this would be in the form of Jesus. He now turns the believer to a separate appearance in verse 13, “the glorious appearance”.

Both “appearances” involve the same person: Jesus Christ. The first appearance is categorized as the appearance of grace, for Jesus embodies God’s grace and goodness. The second appearance is deemed “glorious”, as this is the return of Jesus to take away His bride, the church. Paul leaves no cause for fear or concern regarding this appearance, which is why he calls it a blessed hope and “glorious appearing”.

Believers should remember that anything that takes their focus off of Jesus and His loveliness is a distraction against the grace of God, and will ultimately lead to misery. To focus our end-time teaching on the appearance of an anti-Christ is to take our blessed hope off of the appearance of our Savior. Never look for an anti-Christ when you can look for the Christ!

Consequently, when Paul gave these instructions to Titus, he knew that they would make Titus a popular preacher with the sinners, but very unpopular among the religious crowd. He tells him, “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” (Titus 2:15) Saying what is right is not always easy, for many will never accept that grace is the answer for how to live. The exhortation of the hearer is essential if grace is to do its work. The believer must hear the grace of God and have it build their soul. If condemnation and guilt is preached at them, this must be rebuked “with all authority”.

Do not hear the voice of condemnation in your life today. Focus on Jesus and His loveliness, not the problems of the world around you. Minister grace to all of those who will listen and rebuke the enemy when he ministers death and condemnation. Not all will accept it from you, but many will look to Jesus with you, glad for that “blessed hope”.

What Makes God Sick?

Revelation 3:15, 16

The messages to the seven churches of Asia are messages from Jesus to the church ages. Each church listed existed in the world of that day, but their order speaks to the different era that the body of Christ has gone through since Pentecost. We are now in the final era, listed as the church of Laodicea. Each era overlaps the other, and actually, each era does not end until the rapture of the church.

When Jesus delivers the message to Laodicea, He says that their works are neither cold nor hot (verse 15), and that He would rather them be cold or hot. For most of my life, I heard this passage preached as a warning to “get off the fence” and “stop being apathetic”. Preachers, myself included, denounced any semblance of lukewarm activity, going so far as to say, “Either get fired up for Jesus, or go ahead and backslide”!

I always had a problem with that message, even while I was preaching it. It seemed pretty bad to be lukewarm, neither on fire for God nor all the way backslid from Him, but it certainly seemed better than not even being saved. I could understand God wanting the church to get “on fire”, but to tell them that He would rather them be “cold” seemed a far cry worse than at least having some heat.

When you are fed an interpretation of scripture, you often swallow it and don’t pay much attention to the questions that arise in your heart. You just assume that you are missing some deep theological point that surely time and experience will bring out, even though the text certainly needs more consideration. Finally, as God began to open my heart more and more to the message of His grace and goodness, things like Revelation 3:16 began to clear up.

The hot and the cold are descriptions of temperature. Both are symbolic of something else. The “hot” is equated with fire, and the Holy Spirit fits this description. Jesus is the baptizer with “fire” and the Holy Spirit sat on them at Pentecost as “cloven tongues like as of fire” (Acts 2:3). Anything associated with the New Covenant is of the ministry of the Spirit, thus “hot” (2 Corinthians 3:8).

The “cold” is equated with death, just as a corpse goes cold when it sits, or a stone left alone will retain no heat. The Ten Commandments were written and engraved in stone, thus the “cold” is anything associated with the Old Covenant, or the ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7).

Jesus is ministering to Laodicea of its obvious mixture of the Covenants. They are preaching a portion of the New Covenant with God’s grace and love but then trying to balance it with the hammer of the law. What man calls “balance”, God calls “mixture”, and while trying to strike a balance with the Old and the New Covenants, the end result will be a lukewarm mixture that turns the stomach of God.

Jesus declared that you cannot put new wine into old wineskins, for the old wineskins will not hold the new wine (Luke 5:37, 38). The new wine is the New Covenant, with the old wineskin being the Old Covenant. To place the glory of God’s grace within the container of Mosaic Law is to ruin the taste of God’s grace. It is our habit however, because we often prefer works to grace to actually like the sound of the law being preached, over the sound of grace (Luke 5:39).

Either embrace God’s grace which leads to victory or embrace God’s law which will serve as your schoolmaster to lead you to Christ (Galatians 2:24), but never mix the two. This gospel is too important to be lukewarm.

Don't Blame God

Job 1:9-12

The book of Job gives us an inside look at the throne room of God, prior to Jesus’ death at the cross. The first two chapters describe the sons of God and Satan appearing before the Lord, with Satan having just returned from “going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it” (1:7). The Lord asks Satan if he has considered Job, and Satan responds that Job is good because he is blessed, and that if the Lord would attack Job, he would turn on him. Notice that God doesn’t go after Job, but allows Satan to, telling him, “All that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand” (1:12). Later, God will allow Satan to physically harm Job, but not to kill him (2:6).

The Lord did not have to allow the reader to see these events transpire, but He obviously wants you to know that everything that is about to happen to Job will happen as a result of Satan’s attacks. Satan has challenged God’s ability to make a man righteous by faith, as Ezekiel will tell us that Job is (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). The entire book of Job is the playing out of this challenge, and Job passes to perfection, never once doing what Satan said that he would do, which was curse God to His face.

Look at how quickly those men blame God for things that He does not do. When fire falls from the sky and burns up the sheep and the servants of Job, only one man escapes to tell it as, “The fire of God is fallen from heaven” (Job 1:16). Why does he assume that it is the fire of God? Why do insurance companies call tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, “Acts of God”? The scripture clearly shows that God gave Satan all power as it regarded Job (Job 1:12). To this day, a great trick of the enemy is to convince people that the things that he does are actually being done by God.

Job did not see the events of chapters one and two, but he refuses to believe that God is angry with him. His testimony is solid as he identifies the source of these problems, “God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked” (Job 16:11). He knows that it is an attack of Satan, not the righteous retribution of God, stating that these things were, “Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure” (Job 16:17).

The strength of Job’s character is in his faith in the virtue of God, and in a coming redeemer. He knows that he has trusted God, and he believes that God is faithful to that trust, stating, “My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high” (16:19). Then, in a look forward to the New Covenant, he pleads for what you and I have, “O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!” (Job 16:21) Saint, you and I have this one to plead for us with God, and His name is Jesus (1 John 2:1).

God rewards this faith by giving Job a glimpse of his soon coming redeemer, and the blessed assurance that Job will meet Jesus in heaven:

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25, 26).

The believer should have confidence that whatever they are going through shall pass, and that their redeemer is their constant advocate before the Father. He lives, and you shall live with Him!

When God Crossed His Hands

Genesis 48:8-20

The time had come for the old patriarch Jacob to die, which meant that the time of the blessing upon his children and grand-children was to begin. Now 147 years old, his eye-sight almost gone, and the sickness upon him that will end his life, Jacob begins the process of doling out words of blessing and wisdom by starting with the sons of Joseph. This picture, nearly 4000 years old is a type and shadow of what Jesus would do for all of us on a dark day at Calvary.

The Israeli way was for a man to lay his hands upon his children and pass a blessing down to them. He could lay his left hand upon any and all of his children and prophesy on them promises and goodness, but his right hand was placed on one son alone. This blessing was normally reserved for the firstborn son, as he was to be the legal heir of the family fortune and the father’s name. Jacob had disturbed this trend when he had cheated his older brother Esau out of the blessing as a young man. So powerful was the right-hand blessing that once given, it was considered irreversible (Genesis 27:35).

Joseph marches his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, toward his father so that they may receive blessing. Since Manasseh is the oldest, Joseph desires for him to receive the best of his father’s blessings so he guides him towards Jacob’s right hand. When the boys arrive in front of Jacob, the text says that he guided his hands “wittingly” (Genesis 48:14), meaning that he placed them on purpose. He crossed his arms, laying his right hand on the youngest boy, Ephraim.

Joseph saw the apparent mistake of his father, and thinking that it was done due to Jacob’s inability to see properly, he grabs his father’s hands and tries to uncross them (48:17, 18). Jacob is well aware of what he has done and he explains to Joseph that while the eldest son will be great, the younger one will be greater. This entire scenario is our redemption in shadow.

Israel is God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), while the church of Jesus Christ, compiled predominately of Gentiles is the second choice of the gospel (Acts 13:46). Israel rejected the gospel message, so God turned His love and favor towards all that will accept His Son Jesus. Jesus prophesied that the first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 19:30), meaning that Israel was first called but will be the last saved, while the Gentiles were the last called but the first saved.

The firstborn son was the deserving son by all legal rights and privileges while the last children were considered blessed just to be involved. At Calvary, Jesus Christ saw both the firstborn and the last and crossed His hands for us, offering salvation and redemption to the less deserving, younger born, Gentile world. Because God crossed His hands at the cross, you and I rest beneath the right-hand, best blessings of God.

You can hold your head high today, not because you are the best but because Jesus crossed His hands for you. Due to that crossing (and that “cross”), you are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved.

When God Gives a Gift

Romans 11:29

Have you ever heard anyone say, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away”? This quote is out of context from the book of Job, where Job says, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away” (Job 1:21). Since God gives the reader a front row seat into the heavenlies in the preceding verses of that chapter, you and I know that it was not the Lord that took away from Job at all; it was the devil (Job 1:12). However, man has tried to explain why things come and go so God gets the blame.

Believer, remember this, and don’t ever forget it: Whatever God gives, HE CAN NEVER take away! The reason that God’s gifts are eternal is that God gives gifts with no strings attached. In other words, He never changes His mind about what He has given. In this, as well as many other areas, He is completely unlike us.

We might give a gift to someone and then ask for it back for one reason or the other, or perhaps we give a gift and are then unsatisfied with how the recipient is using it. We may have too much integrity to ask for the gift back, but we will make sure that they know how unhappy that we are with what they are doing with the gift that we went to such great lengths to give them.

In my early days of ministry, I heard teachings on this passage from Romans regarding two things in Christianity: the call to ministry and the gifts of the Spirit. That teaching said that if God called you to preach there were two things that you should be sure of: you had to do it or you went to hell and that you were always going to be called, no matter what. I have since learned that the blood of Jesus is the pre-requisite for heaven, not obedience to the field of ministry and if you are called, you won’t have to worry about ever wanting out because God calls us according to our will and good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

The gifts of the Spirit are also a part of that verse’s interpretation, as they are given by God with no strings attached. Actually, Paul says in the next chapter that these gifts are given to us “according to the grace that is given to us” (Romans 12:6). Note the direct link between the gifts and the grace. That is awesome, but there is more!

When Paul says, “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance”, he is pointed in his use of “gifts” as a plural word and “calling” as a singular word. The gifts vary in that they include not only the gifts of the Spirit but any and all things that God gives us free of charge, such as grace. The calling deals with the call of the Spirit upon men’s hearts, inviting them to come to Jesus. “Repentance” speaks of changing one’s mind; thus when God gives you any gift or calls you to Him, He never changes His mind about selecting you.

What is the ultimate gift that God has given to every single person that believes? Paul answered this for us back in chapter 5: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). Notice that because of the death of Jesus, God’s righteousness is a gift to us through our faith. If God gives righteousness as a gift and then promises that He will never change His mind about giving us a gift, can God see you as anything less than righteous for eternity? You ponder the answer to that one and let the Holy Spirit glorify the beauty of Jesus today!

Dead to Sin; Alive to God

Romans 6:11, 12

Due to Christ’s death on the cross, every sinner, who places their faith in His finished work, is made dead to the old nature, and alive to God. Since Jesus is dead to sin, and we are in Jesus, we too are dead to sin. Thank God that upon salvation, we are no longer controlled by who we used to be!

Since we are made dead to sin through the death of Jesus, then we should reckon that death to be a completely finished work. The word for “reckon” is also translated “count” or “consider”. We must consider ourselves dead to sin, even if we do not feel dead to it. The Apostle is not telling the believer to go with what they feel, but rather to walk in what the Word says about them.

Whether you reckon yourself dead to sin or not, YOU ARE! Considering yourself dead brings a freedom and a victory about in your actions and deeds, but you are no less dead to sin if you fail to realize it. This is not about considering yourself dead to sin so that you will eventually be dead to sin. NO! This is about considering yourself dead to sin because Jesus is dead to sin; and you are in Jesus. Line up the way you think with the way God thinks of you and you begin to walk in the more abundant life that Jesus promised was yours (John 10:10).

You are just as alive in Christ as you are dead to sin. Again, this is not contingent on you knowing it, but if you don’t know it, you won’t walk in it. Every believer is dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. If they count themselves that way, they walk free from the devices of sin, and they live according to the identification of the Holy Spirit within their life. When we consider ourselves as equal to whatever symptoms that we are showing, then we walk beneath the standard of living that Jesus paid for us to have. For instance, if we fail and then consider ourselves failures or sinners because of our sin, then we are powerless to stop doing what we are doing.
Proof for this is found in the next verse, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12). Upon first glance, one might say, “See Pastor, it is my job to stop sin in my life”. Actually, within context, you counting yourself dead to sin but alive to God is the only thing that will stop sin from reigning in your mortal body. The word “therefore” is key to the understanding of this text, for it links the result of verse 12 with the action of verse 11. Realize that you are dead to sin, and sin becomes dead to you!

As long as you are trying to die out to sin on a day-to-day basis, you will find yourself in trouble. Consider the finished work of Jesus as a truly finished work, not left to be done on your part, but finished on His. Rest in the accomplishment of Christ on the cross, where He died to sin so that you will not be held under its grasp. Still struggling with an area of sin in your life? Don’t fret. Consider yourself dead to sin and then move on. With every failure, declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, consider His work finished in you and watch grace change you in miraculous ways. Under God’s grace, you will never get the credit for your changing, for you know you did nothing!

Remember, only grace can “build you up” (Acts 20:32). Let it!

What God Has Forgot

Hebrews 8:10-12

When I was a child growing up in the church, we would sing a song that said, “God can do anything but fail”. I was always fascinated by the paradox that the song introduced; that Almighty God could do anything except mess-up, which meant that there was something that God could not do. I remember pondering on this every time the choir performed it.

I am not as intrigued by that paradox as I once was, but there is another one that still fascinates my imagination: that God knows all things all of the time and has a perfect memory, yet He cannot remember any of my sins. I don’t mean to insinuate that God does not have the ability to remember my sins, but simply that God has chosen to wipe them out of His mind. He does not do this to prove that He is merciful, or to show Himself to be a “good guy”. God forgets our sins because this proves to us that He is righteous.

Paul told us that God proves His righteousness by being perfectly just. If man puts faith in Jesus Christ, God must honor his faith by justifying that man completely. Anything less than this and God would prove to be unrighteous (Romans 3:26), for it would be the equivalent of God saying that Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was not enough.

The New Covenant which Jesus cut with the Father at Calvary is better in every way than its predecessor, the Old Covenant. We now have God’s laws written into our very minds and hearts, instead of on tables of stone (Hebrews 8:10). This does not make us slaves to “doing right” and “shunning evil”; it simply brings righteousness out of us instead of us putting righteousness on from our external works. He does the work in changing us, while we just enjoy the change!

There could be no enjoyment in this salvation if our sins and failures were constantly nagging us and hanging over our heads. To ensure comfort and peace within the heart of man, Jesus paid for our condemnation in His flesh (Romans 8:3). If Jesus was condemned in His flesh for our failure, how can a righteous God ever condemn us in our flesh for our failure? The peace and assurance of salvation is wrapped up in whether or not the believer truly feels that they are completely forgiven for their transgressions and sins. If you believe that God is still somewhat against you then you are at war with Him constantly. Correct knowledge of your standing in Christ leads to the correct living that all of us want so badly to achieve.

Have no fear that this knowledge will lead to more sin in your life. The opposite is true, and this is why Satan opposes this message so much. The more law and works that are injected into your life, the more that sin takes over (Romans 5:20; 6:14; 7:9). The more that you dwell on His finished work and your forgiveness, the more that grace will bring victory in you (Luke 7:47; Romans 6:14; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

The Finger of God

Exodus 8:19

We have four separate instances in the Bible of there being a mention of God’s finger writing something. The first is found in Egypt, when the magicians that work for Pharaoh comment that the recent plague of the dust turning to lice cannot be duplicated by their tricks, thus it “is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). Hence, the term “finger of God” denotes God intervening in the affairs of man to do something that no man can undo, and that no man can duplicate. What is written with the finger of man can be erased, but what is written with the finger of God abides forever.

The next three instances are actual events, not just titles used to describe events, as was the case in Exodus chapter 8. In Exodus 20, God gives Moses the 10 Commandments, which He etches into stone with His finger (Exodus 31:18). These commands are just, holy and good (Romans 7:12), but they provide no life; only death (Galatians 3:21). The first time that God’s finger appears and writes, it gives us Law, which defines God’s holiness and demands that man live up to that standard.

Many years later, God’s finger appears again, this time in the feast room of a secular king, Belshazzar. “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace” (Daniel 5:5). The “handwriting on the wall”, as it has come to be known, revealed God’s judgment against Babylon. Specifically, the judgment stated that Belshazzar had been weighed in the balances and found wanting, meaning that God’s even-handed judgment found sin and iniquity in the rebellious Belshazzar. The same night that the handwriting appeared, Belshazzar was killed and the throne changed hands.

God’s judgment must inevitably follow God’s Law. Where the Law is proclaimed, men are held accountable for their keeping or breaking of that Law. Paul wrote, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). God’s finger had written the Law, and now God’s finger had written the sentence for the breaking of that Law. Since both were written by the finger of God, there was no reversing either.

Then comes Jesus, sitting in the temple one beautiful morning, when the religious leaders bring Him a woman that they have just caught in the act of adultery. They cite the law of Moses as demanding that she should be stoned, which encompasses both of the first two instances of the finger of God. In the first case, God wrote, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. In the second case, God’s finger wrote of the punishment and judgment for breaking that law, which was death by stoning. Jesus seems not to notice, instead electing to stoop down, “and with His finger wrote on the ground” (John 8:6). Do you see where Jesus is going?

The “ground” that Jesus wrote on was the pavement stones of the temple courtyard. The scuttling of many feet over the stones left the floor with a thin layer of dust, which Jesus moves with His finger, much like someone writing “Wash me” in the dust of a car window. We do not know what He wrote, but whatever it was, it caused the accusers to drop their rocks and walk away. We may not know the exact words, but based on the history of the “finger of God” and the fact that Jesus turns to the woman and says, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more” (John 8:11), it is obvious that this time, God’s finger wrote something like: “Grace”, and if God wrote it, no man can erase it!

The Law Breeds Anger

Romans 4:15

I have often thought that it would be a good idea for some Christians to be witnessed to, out of the blue, by a total stranger. When the stranger begins to tell them about Jesus, they would interrupt with, “I know these things, and I am a Christian”. The stranger, with a look of shock would reply, “Oh, I’m sorry, you looked so angry I thought you must need to meet my Jesus”. I’m sure that would go over nicely.

Just like the children’s song says, “If you’re happy and you know it then your face should surely show it”, our joy that is in Christ should certainly have an effect on our physical man. But many saints live a life of depression and misery. They are angry at sinners, saints, the church world, the government and just about anyone else that doesn’t line up with their way of thinking on every single issue. This anger is perpetuated inside of them with every passing day as they struggle to live the Christian life. There must be more to this walk with God!

Paul said that “the law worketh wrath” (Romans 4:15). The Greek word for “worketh” denotes an accomplishment or a finished thing. Paul uses the same word when speaking to the church at Ephesus, encouraging them to put on the whole armor of God, “that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). The word “done” in that passage is the same word for “worketh” in Romans 4:15. When the law is injected into a life, its end result is anger.

This anger is two-fold. First, by placing ourselves under the demands of the law, we are going back to our own works and performance to achieve righteousness. This causes us to be judged on our own merit, and though Jesus paid the price so that we would never be judged on our own works, our lifestyle is stating that this is the way that we choose to live. Paul said that when you do this you go back under the curse, “for it is written, ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10).

Secondly, we find ourselves living in anger when we live under the law. Believers that feel that they are bound to their performance in order to walk in the anointing or that they must do something to cause a daily sanctification to happen are perpetually angry at both themselves for their own inability and with everyone else around them. The source of our anger is our bondage to the law. We feel that God is never truly pleased with us so we do not feel pleased with us as well. If God is mad at us, and we are mad at us, it makes sense that we will be mad at everyone around us. We will be ESPECIALLY mad at those who aren’t working as hard at salvation as we are, for they must be walking in total rebellion.

God is not mad at you! He poured His entire wrath out on Jesus at the cross so that there would be no more wrath left for you. God killed Jesus (Isaiah 53:4), placing all of the sins of the world into His body at the cross (John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:24), and by that death, judged Jesus instead of us (John 12:31, 32). If you have place your faith in Jesus, then there can be no wrath left for you, for God will not judge the same sin twice. If you do not accept Christ, then you go back under the wrath of God for John said, “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

If you are angry at everyone around you today, take inventory as to how you feel about God’s love and acceptance for you. See all of your sins in the body of Jesus and know that God can no longer be mad at you. This knowledge will free you to love a world that Jesus bled and died for.

Taste and See

Psalm 34

This Psalm of David is prefaced with the title, “A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed”. Abimelech is the title for the king of the Philistines, whose name was actually Achish. David is on the run from King Saul who has determined to kill him, and he finds himself in a foreign land, where the people recognize him which causes him to fear for his life. He changed his behavior and acted like a mad man, scratching on the doors and foaming at the mouth. This is a different attitude from David than we are accustomed to! This is the giant killer, foaming around on the floor? Where is his courage? Where is his Covenant God?

David is displaying a very common trait of most of us: fear. He has been a great man of courage but now he is scared for his very life. This is a low moment in his life, and one that I am sure that he wants to forget. When he writes the 34th Psalm, the title reminds us of this story, but then the lyrics to the song, which encompass 22 verses, make no mention of this low moment. David understood a great principle; that when your past has become past, leave it in the past. His song gives praise to God and not to his failure; and the song of our heart should give praise to His finished work as well.

Psalm 34 is an acrostic, meaning that all 22 verses begin with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order. Perhaps this was used by David as a memory aid, so that the reader could quickly memorize the song; or maybe it was simply the Holy Spirit showing art as inspired by God. We may have no absolute answer, but we can be sure that it wasn’t accidental. Our God is a beautiful artist.

The first ten verses constitute a song, while the last 12 make up a sermon. It is in the song portion of the chapter that David challenges the singer to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (verse 8). Can you “taste and see”? How can your taste buds cause your eyes to open? Of course we know what David means, that if you taste of the goodness of the Lord, you will see that He is as good as advertised. However, there is a greater connection that states that as we taste of His goodness, our spiritual eyes will be enlightened. We literally see better in the realm of the spirit when our spirit man is feeding on Jesus.

Jonathan was coming back from battling the Philistines and his belly was grumbling with hunger. Unbeknownst to him, his father had forbid all soldiers from eating while he sought God for victory in the battle. Jonathan was told of the forced fast and he felt that it was foolish, for the people were growing weak from no food. He put his hand to a honeycomb and then ate of the honey, “and his eyes were enlightened” (1 Samuel 14:27).

When we place the sweetness of God’s love for us to our mouth, we have our eyes enlightened. Show me a saint that has no spiritual insight and who never has a fresh revelation of who God is, and I will show you someone who never feeds on God’s wonderful love for them. This has nothing to do with church attendance or “doing” Christian things. Many people are wrapped in religious trappings but they have no enlightenment of spirit. Be free from the trappings of religion and taste and see that your Lord is truly good.

Circumcision of the Heart

Deuteronomy 30:6

The sign of circumcision which God demanded of the Jews was a physical sign of a spiritual promise. Paul explained it as, “A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also” (Romans 4:11). Abraham accepted circumcision as a sign that he was declared to be righteous upon his faith, and that this righteousness would be passed onto his children through circumcision.

Circumcision was the physical sign of the Covenant of God with Abraham. When man procreated, the seed had to pass through the sign of the Covenant, thus passing that Covenant on to the next generation. Paul stated that the New Covenant had no need of this act, for Abraham was actually declared to be righteous while he was still in uncircumcision (Romans 4:9), and that “them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised”, would have righteousness imputed to them as well (Romans 4:12).

God had a higher plan for mankind than physical circumcision. He introduces the concept of the New Covenant plan of heart change through Moses’ farewell speech to Israel in Deuteronomy 30:6 when he says that He will “circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live”. This was a new concept to Israel, that God could change their heart, independent of their ability to do the good or shun the evil. The usage of “circumcision” made it clear to them that God intended to do a sort of spiritual surgery on their heart, changing them from the inside out.

How spectacular this must have sounded to a law-abiding Jew! The law requires a man to change from the outside in. It is a show of will-power and determination, which is visible to everyone. If you are keeping the law, it is seen by all and if you are breaking it, that is known as well. Attention is always being drawn to your works or the lack thereof, even in the ceremony of the sacrifice. If men saw you coming to the tabernacle carrying a lamb, they knew that you had done something wrong. The law was holy and good, but it constantly exposed how unholy and bad that men were.

Grace, however, changes a man from the inside out. It must, for God promised the cutting of the heart instead of the cutting of the body. One of the promises that God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, regarding the New Covenant and the work of grace was “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you…And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26, 27). God saw the necessity of putting a “new heart” within man, and His very own Holy Spirit as well, so that man would live righteous without their own efforts being involved.

Does law teach us how to live right? No! Only God’s grace can do that, for Paul said, “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” (Titus 2:11, 12). Grace does the teaching in us, for He is living there. Hallelujah!

The Fight of Faith

1 Timothy 6:12
There are good fights and there are bad fights. Me against a wet paper sack is a good fight. Me against the Heavyweight Champion of the World…enough said. Paul told young Timothy to “Fight the good fight of faith”, thus marking the only time that Paul told Timothy to fight at all. He knew how to pick his battles, telling the church at Corinth that when he does fight, it is with purpose, “not as one that beateth the air” (1 Corinthians 9:26).

When Paul referred to the Ephesian church putting on the armor of God, he tells them only to “stand”, but gives no reference to them being offensive (Ephesians 6:11-17). It is obvious that he believed in Christians fighting, but not in fighting a foe that you can see and touch. Rather, Paul knew that the believer’s greatest battle will be to maintain their faith in Christ Jesus.

When we place our faith in Christ, we are resting from our own labors and sins. Instantaneously, we take upon us the character of Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives. Only after religion enters do we begin the vicious cycle of performance based Christianity, where we feel that we must do things to please God. This cycle takes our rest away from us, forcing us to “stay saved” with our diligent works. Soon, the joy that was so abundant and unspeakable upon conversion is gone with our latest failure.

In regards to what you can do to help your situation, which is what everyone wants to know, Paul addressed the Hebrews by saying, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This marks Paul’s token command to the church to labor. All of our effort in Christianity should be aimed towards entering into the rest that Jesus paid for at Calvary. Effort outside of that endeavor leads to frustration.

The fight of faith is truly a fight to rest. Jesus’ statement to the disciples, “Ye of little faith” comes after they wake Him up during the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:26). Jesus was sleeping during a storm, and it was the cries of His precious disciples that awoke Him. His statement on faith was to ask them why they would take so little from Him when rest was theirs to be had. When Jesus is asleep in your boat, it is a good idea to ignore the storm and take a nap!
The opposite of rest is not work, it is unbelief. This is why faith and rest are so closely connected. Look at the rest of Paul’s statement in Hebrews 4:11, “…lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”. When you fail to rest, you are full of unbelief; so the faithful are those who rest in who Jesus is and what He can do. The ones who fall are the ones who fail to enter into rest and that is because of their unbelief.

Do you believe that Jesus has finished the work at the cross? If your answer is yes, then your sole battle as a child of God will be to never allow the enemy to take that rest away from you. He will try to steal it with the voice of condemnation and guilt, accusing you and deriding you. He will try to kill your joy and happiness with sickness and discouragement. He will also try to destroy your hope by causing you to focus on your storms instead of your Savior. Fight the fight to enter into rest. Rest on believer!

For God So Loved

John 3:16, 17, 36

What a great phrase, “For God so loved the world”! There is a world of power and love that is hanging on that little word, “so”. He “so” loved us that He killed His own Son Jesus so that He would not have to kill all of us. He “so” loved us while we were living in sin and rejecting Him that He showed that love off on a hill called Calvary. That “so” love is why we are here.

I personally consider this statement to be one of the most important regarding the grace of God, because it shows us how much that God loves each and every person. There is no love like sacrificial love that denies its own to save another. While a segment of the church clamors to put the Ten Commandments on the walls of our schools and courthouses, where is the focus group wanting to display John 3:16? The luster has been removed from scriptures regarding God’s powerful love for humanity, but we should polish them, and bring it back!

The 17th verse tells what makes verse 16 so great, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”. The reason that Jesus came was not to condemn the world, for they were condemned already. They could be no guiltier than they already were, and the knowledge of that guilt was not helping them to change in the least. Instead, Christ came to provide a way of escape from the guilt and condemnation. Through His payment at the cross, man would be reunited with God, having no wall of separation between them, if He merely accepts Christ by faith.

As we live for the Lord it is easy to forget just how loved that we are. Sometimes we may think that His love for us is tied to our performance for Him. If we do good, perhaps He loves us more, but if we do bad then His love wanes a bit. Because God “so loved the world”, He gave His Son to save us not only from our sins, but also from our performance. If Christianity were all about performance, then Christ’s death on the cross was a waste of time. Judaism was already about performance before Christ came and died, but His death was the culmination of His perfect performance. Because He performed perfectly, you and I partake in His perfection.

John writes, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Our performance has nothing to do with receiving the life that lasts forever. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the sole requirement, while the lack thereof will place us underneath the wrath of God. Since God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus at the cross, there should be none left for us. Stay in Jesus by faith and you are free from any judgment.

To comprehend how great God’s “so” love is for us, we should consider the magnitude of His giving His only Son. There is no one on the planet that I would sacrifice my son for, so I cannot fathom this type of love, yet God did it so that I could go free. Receive a revelation of His “so” love for you today and watch as the chains of condemnation fall from your heart and mind.

God Hears Your Prayers

James 5:16-18

Much ado is made about prayer, with a new book hitting stores seemingly every day on how to have your prayers answered, or how to have a successful prayer life. Of course, much ado should be made, seeing as prayer is communication with God, and what could be more important?

The disciples never asked Jesus to teach them how to teach or preach, but they did ask Him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Obviously there was something about the manner in which Jesus prayed, and the results that He reaped that caused the disciples to seek Him for instruction.

Jesus taught the disciples to pray for things, both spiritual and material. He instructed them to pray for God to send workers into the harvest field (Matthew 9:38) and to pray for God to remove obstacles from their spiritual path (Mark 11:23). He also told His disciples about how to pray with faith, not doubting in their heart. This prayer was for “what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24).

James speaks of the “prayer of faith” (James 5:15) which will “save the sick” and is the same prayer that Jesus spoke of in Mark 11. He then informs us that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (verse 16). This verse has led many to believe that there is such thing as “praying hard” or “grabbing hold of the horns of the altar”; and that such prayers are answered quicker. The Greek for “effectual fervent” is one word, ‘energeo’ which means “to be operative, to put forth power”. Fervent prayer has nothing to do with yelling or screaming or “getting serious” as some might say, but it has to do with praying the way Jesus told us to pray: with faith.

The Holy Spirit then does something through the apostle James that speaks wonderful encouragement for every believer. He uses Elijah as an example of a prayer warrior, and assures the reader that Elijah was no different than all of us in that he, “was a man subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17). This means that Elijah shared the same feelings and affections that we do. How can this be considered encouraging? Observe some of Elijah’s “passions” as well as his successes in prayer:

• Speaks a 3 ½ year drought into existence (1 Kings 17:1).
• He calls down fire from heaven with a prayer consisting of less than 65 words (1 Kings 18:37, 38)
• Calls for rain following the drought, and God sends it (1 Kings 18:41).
• Runs from a woman out of fear for his life (1 Kings 19:3).
• Requests that God kill him (1 Kings 19:4).
• Whines that he is the only one actually doing any good (1 Kings 19:14).

Notice that Elijah has many of the same problems that we have, yet he was a prayer warrior. Jesus speaks nothing of short prayers, but He actually comments on loud, long one’s (Matthew 6:5-7), so please understand that there is no formula for the “perfect prayer”. Communicate with God in an open manner and be prepared to receive from Him. Trust that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him and that it truly is His pleasure to give to you the kingdom. Do not disqualify yourself because of “stuff” in your life. If God will answer Elijah, God will answer you!

The Angry God is Angry No More

Psalms 7:11

The Puritan preacher Jonathan Edward’s once preached a sermon that has since become legendary, both in its title and in the stories of conviction that resulted from it. ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’ holds a place among the most famous services ever delivered. Legend has it that grown men clutched to the pillars that held up the balcony for fear that they were going to fall into the pits of hell when Edward’s gave his invitation. More romance has been added to the story as it is told of how Edward’s was so nervous that he held the written transcript of the sermon in front of his face and read it word for word, but the anointing on it was supposedly so powerful that it didn’t matter about the delivery.

I don’t know how much of the story is true, other than he actually preached the sermon. I do know that fear of an angry God has led countless people to an altar of repentance. It has also caused men and women to try and change their lives and their lifestyles. I am further sure however, that no sermon on the power of an angry God has ever empowered a single listener to live in a way that would assuage the anger of that God. No sermon on the wrath of God and the subsequent flames of hellfire and damnation can ever move or motivate a person to live righteously, as all of our righteousness’ are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

The great cosmic war between God and the sins of man has already been waged and has already been won. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In the sacrifice of the Lamb, Christ Jesus, the war with sin was won. It is for this cause that Jesus could hang His head and die after having declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

God was certainly angry at sin, beginning at Mt. Sinai and continuing onward to the cross. Isaiah said, “It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:10, 11). God was pleased to crucify His Son at Calvary because in sacrificing Jesus, He was satisfying His anger toward the sin of man. The suffering Savior truly satisfied the offended Father.

Read all Old Testament scripture within the context and timeframe that they were written. When the Psalmist wrote Psalms 7:11, God was dealing with man under the Old Covenant and His anger was mounting towards man’s disobedience. He was ready to “whet his sword” (Psalms 7:12) and use it against all of us, but then Jesus came and fulfilled all of the demands of the law and voluntarily laid down His life as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world. With His anger plunged into the heart of His Son, God was propitiated, or satisfied and we no longer have to see Him as “angry with the wicked every day” (7:11).

God is not mad at you. He is not even perturbed. When He looks at you He sees Jesus and He is well pleased. Live your life today as a Son, not a servant. The power to do righteous is found in knowing that you are righteous because of Jesus.

The Glorious Appearing

Titus 2:13

In Paul’s little letter to Titus, he explains to him that it is the grace of God which teaches the believer how to live (Titus 2:11, 12). Verse 13 further explains that this grace will also cause us to look for the “blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Some people make the end time events sound horrific, leading Christians to constantly focus on the events in the Middle East and always speak of the wickedness of the world. We should remember that Paul never focused the early church on the political signs of the times, choosing rather to expose the loveliness of Jesus to his people.

Grace is not a doctrine; it is a person and His name is Jesus. John told us that the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Paul’s instruction to Titus concerning how grace will teach us to live, also shows us that the grace of God, “hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). Notice that grace has already appeared, and this would be in the form of Jesus. He now turns the believer to a separate appearance in verse 13, “the glorious appearance”.

Both “appearances” involve the same person: Jesus Christ. The first appearance is categorized as the appearance of grace, for Jesus embodies God’s grace and goodness. The second appearance is deemed “glorious”, as this is the return of Jesus to take away His bride, the church. Paul leaves no cause for fear or concern regarding this appearance, which is why he calls it a blessed hope and “glorious appearing”.

Believers should remember that anything that takes their focus off of Jesus and His loveliness is a distraction against the grace of God, and will ultimately lead to misery. To focus our end-time teaching on the appearance of an anti-Christ is to take our blessed hope off of the appearance of our Savior. Never look for an anti-Christ when you can look for the Christ!

Consequently, when Paul gave these instructions to Titus, he knew that they would make Titus a popular preacher with the sinners, but very unpopular among the religious crowd. He tells him, “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” (Titus 2:15) Saying what is right is not always easy, for many will never accept that grace is the answer for how to live. The exhortation of the hearer is essential if grace is to do its work. The believer must hear the grace of God and have it build their soul. If condemnation and guilt is preached at them, this must be rebuked “with all authority”.

Do not hear the voice of condemnation in your life today. Focus on Jesus and His loveliness, not the problems of the world around you. Minister grace to all of those who will listen and rebuke the enemy when he ministers death and condemnation. Not all will accept it from you, but many will look to Jesus with you, glad for that “blessed hope”.

What Makes God Sick?

Revelation 3:15, 16

The messages to the seven churches of Asia are messages from Jesus to the church ages. Each church listed existed in the world of that day, but their order speaks to the different era that the body of Christ has gone through since Pentecost. We are now in the final era, listed as the church of Laodicea. Each era overlaps the other, and actually, each era does not end until the rapture of the church.

When Jesus delivers the message to Laodicea, He says that their works are neither cold nor hot (verse 15), and that He would rather them be cold or hot. For most of my life, I heard this passage preached as a warning to “get off the fence” and “stop being apathetic”. Preachers, myself included, denounced any semblance of lukewarm activity, going so far as to say, “Either get fired up for Jesus, or go ahead and backslide”!

I always had a problem with that message, even while I was preaching it. It seemed pretty bad to be lukewarm, neither on fire for God nor all the way backslid from Him, but it certainly seemed better than not even being saved. I could understand God wanting the church to get “on fire”, but to tell them that He would rather them be “cold” seemed a far cry worse than at least having some heat.

When you are fed an interpretation of scripture, you often swallow it and don’t pay much attention to the questions that arise in your heart. You just assume that you are missing some deep theological point that surely time and experience will bring out, even though the text certainly needs more consideration. Finally, as God began to open my heart more and more to the message of His grace and goodness, things like Revelation 3:16 began to clear up.

The hot and the cold are descriptions of temperature. Both are symbolic of something else. The “hot” is equated with fire, and the Holy Spirit fits this description. Jesus is the baptizer with “fire” and the Holy Spirit sat on them at Pentecost as “cloven tongues like as of fire” (Acts 2:3). Anything associated with the New Covenant is of the ministry of the Spirit, thus “hot” (2 Corinthians 3:8).

The “cold” is equated with death, just as a corpse goes cold when it sits, or a stone left alone will retain no heat. The Ten Commandments were written and engraved in stone, thus the “cold” is anything associated with the Old Covenant, or the ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7).

Jesus is ministering to Laodicea of its obvious mixture of the Covenants. They are preaching a portion of the New Covenant with God’s grace and love but then trying to balance it with the hammer of the law. What man calls “balance”, God calls “mixture”, and while trying to strike a balance with the Old and the New Covenants, the end result will be a lukewarm mixture that turns the stomach of God.

Jesus declared that you cannot put new wine into old wineskins, for the old wineskins will not hold the new wine (Luke 5:37, 38). The new wine is the New Covenant, with the old wineskin being the Old Covenant. To place the glory of God’s grace within the container of Mosaic Law is to ruin the taste of God’s grace. It is our habit however, because we often prefer works to grace to actually like the sound of the law being preached, over the sound of grace (Luke 5:39).

Either embrace God’s grace which leads to victory or embrace God’s law which will serve as your schoolmaster to lead you to Christ (Galatians 2:24), but never mix the two. This gospel is too important to be lukewarm.

Don't Blame God

Job 1:9-12

The book of Job gives us an inside look at the throne room of God, prior to Jesus’ death at the cross. The first two chapters describe the sons of God and Satan appearing before the Lord, with Satan having just returned from “going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it” (1:7). The Lord asks Satan if he has considered Job, and Satan responds that Job is good because he is blessed, and that if the Lord would attack Job, he would turn on him. Notice that God doesn’t go after Job, but allows Satan to, telling him, “All that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand” (1:12). Later, God will allow Satan to physically harm Job, but not to kill him (2:6).

The Lord did not have to allow the reader to see these events transpire, but He obviously wants you to know that everything that is about to happen to Job will happen as a result of Satan’s attacks. Satan has challenged God’s ability to make a man righteous by faith, as Ezekiel will tell us that Job is (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). The entire book of Job is the playing out of this challenge, and Job passes to perfection, never once doing what Satan said that he would do, which was curse God to His face.

Look at how quickly those men blame God for things that He does not do. When fire falls from the sky and burns up the sheep and the servants of Job, only one man escapes to tell it as, “The fire of God is fallen from heaven” (Job 1:16). Why does he assume that it is the fire of God? Why do insurance companies call tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, “Acts of God”? The scripture clearly shows that God gave Satan all power as it regarded Job (Job 1:12). To this day, a great trick of the enemy is to convince people that the things that he does are actually being done by God.

Job did not see the events of chapters one and two, but he refuses to believe that God is angry with him. His testimony is solid as he identifies the source of these problems, “God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked” (Job 16:11). He knows that it is an attack of Satan, not the righteous retribution of God, stating that these things were, “Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure” (Job 16:17).

The strength of Job’s character is in his faith in the virtue of God, and in a coming redeemer. He knows that he has trusted God, and he believes that God is faithful to that trust, stating, “My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high” (16:19). Then, in a look forward to the New Covenant, he pleads for what you and I have, “O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!” (Job 16:21) Saint, you and I have this one to plead for us with God, and His name is Jesus (1 John 2:1).

God rewards this faith by giving Job a glimpse of his soon coming redeemer, and the blessed assurance that Job will meet Jesus in heaven:

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25, 26).

The believer should have confidence that whatever they are going through shall pass, and that their redeemer is their constant advocate before the Father. He lives, and you shall live with Him!

When God Crossed His Hands

Genesis 48:8-20

The time had come for the old patriarch Jacob to die, which meant that the time of the blessing upon his children and grand-children was to begin. Now 147 years old, his eye-sight almost gone, and the sickness upon him that will end his life, Jacob begins the process of doling out words of blessing and wisdom by starting with the sons of Joseph. This picture, nearly 4000 years old is a type and shadow of what Jesus would do for all of us on a dark day at Calvary.

The Israeli way was for a man to lay his hands upon his children and pass a blessing down to them. He could lay his left hand upon any and all of his children and prophesy on them promises and goodness, but his right hand was placed on one son alone. This blessing was normally reserved for the firstborn son, as he was to be the legal heir of the family fortune and the father’s name. Jacob had disturbed this trend when he had cheated his older brother Esau out of the blessing as a young man. So powerful was the right-hand blessing that once given, it was considered irreversible (Genesis 27:35).

Joseph marches his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, toward his father so that they may receive blessing. Since Manasseh is the oldest, Joseph desires for him to receive the best of his father’s blessings so he guides him towards Jacob’s right hand. When the boys arrive in front of Jacob, the text says that he guided his hands “wittingly” (Genesis 48:14), meaning that he placed them on purpose. He crossed his arms, laying his right hand on the youngest boy, Ephraim.

Joseph saw the apparent mistake of his father, and thinking that it was done due to Jacob’s inability to see properly, he grabs his father’s hands and tries to uncross them (48:17, 18). Jacob is well aware of what he has done and he explains to Joseph that while the eldest son will be great, the younger one will be greater. This entire scenario is our redemption in shadow.

Israel is God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), while the church of Jesus Christ, compiled predominately of Gentiles is the second choice of the gospel (Acts 13:46). Israel rejected the gospel message, so God turned His love and favor towards all that will accept His Son Jesus. Jesus prophesied that the first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 19:30), meaning that Israel was first called but will be the last saved, while the Gentiles were the last called but the first saved.

The firstborn son was the deserving son by all legal rights and privileges while the last children were considered blessed just to be involved. At Calvary, Jesus Christ saw both the firstborn and the last and crossed His hands for us, offering salvation and redemption to the less deserving, younger born, Gentile world. Because God crossed His hands at the cross, you and I rest beneath the right-hand, best blessings of God.

You can hold your head high today, not because you are the best but because Jesus crossed His hands for you. Due to that crossing (and that “cross”), you are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved.