Life Matters

a. The Mountains and the Valleys

The Sanctuary system designed by God was designed to be a highway back to the paradise of the channel of blessing, but the lie of the serpent made it impossible for the human race to find this highway let alone start this journey.

In Chapter 8 we observed the cycle of worthlessness that comes with embracing the lie of inherent life. Let us notice again:

The inherent life system introduced by Satan causes people to feel proud when they achieve and worthless when they fail. This cycle of pride and worthlessness is like a series of mountains and valleys that are impassable.

These mountains and valleys actually become worse in a religious context. As we noted earlier, the law of God has been twisted by the lie of Satan to become a means of gaining acceptance with God or a constant reminder of their failure. As a result we often see religious bigots camping on the mountains of self importance, parading their religious zeal before all; but the majority of people usually camp in the valleys just feeling like it’s all too hard, and that they will never be a good Christian.

This is the reason why the gate is strait and the path narrow that leads to life. The majority of people either invest great effort in good works to please God or just give up trying because they are sick of feeling bad all the time. There is also a significant group that move from one side to the other, trying and failing, trying and failing.

Unless the lie of the serpent is exposed and we can see our true relationship to God through the channel of blessing, everything we do will be blocked and hindered by mountains and valleys.

The most powerful demonstration of God’s love – the gift of Jesus on the cross is also subject to these mountains and valleys. Many people are motivated by Christ’s death on the cross to be a better person and to try and show Him that they love Him for the great thing He has done. Other’s feel so unworthy that God would give His Son to die for them that they can’t accept it; they feel that He died for others but not for them. For this reason, it was vitally important that before Christ died on the cross, He neutralized this false sense of identity which the human race had because of the serpent’s lie. Before His death, Jesus would need to reveal our true position as sons and daughters of God that are greatly loved and accepted.

How could this be done in a way that such thoughts could reach the human mind? How could God reconnect us with the channel of blessing and at the same time give us a sense of our true value as children of God?

The plan is revealed in Isaiah Chapter 40:

Isa 40:3-11 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it… 9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! 10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

In this chapter, God reveals that He will deal with these mountains and valleys and make a clear path for the human race to walk on. (Verse 4) This would be done by the Son of God becoming one of us – this is the glory of the Lord being revealed. (Verse 5). How exactly would this happen:

1. By becoming one of us and taking our nature, Jesus would reconnect the human race with the channel of blessing and create a door into the human mind – the real battleground.

2. The Father’s acceptance of the Son as a human would mean that humanity was also accepted by God as His children. This acceptance would break the cycle of worthlessness.

3. By living a perfectly submitted life to the Father, He would develop a human mind that would maintain the connection to the channel of blessing. The development of this mind would become the inheritance of all who accept Christ as their Saviour.

4. The Work of Jesus in heaven after His work here on earth would continue to provide us with a mindset that knows we are children of God and the ability to stay submitted to the Father.

b. Breaking the Cycle

The first step in this plan was accomplished when Jesus was born. He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. As Paul states in Hebrews:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The humanity of Jesus is our connecting link to the channel of blessing from the Father. In the book of John it is represented as a ladder.

John 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

The feet of the ladder had to be firmly placed in human soil for the channel of blessing to reach us. Unless Jesus was truly human like us, then the connection would not be complete and the channel still not connected.

Once the channel was connected and God had access to the human mind through the humanity of Jesus, a message of acceptance needed to be delivered. A message that told us that God is not an aggravated King that is angry with us for stepping out of line, but that He is a tender Father that wants us back as part of His family and that the gifts He sends are from a loving Father not an angry judge.

This was accomplished at the baptism of Jesus, at the very beginning of His work. It would be pointless for Jesus to develop a perfect human mind if we did not have a sense of love and acceptance. Our performance based natures would not interpret the gift correctly. At the Baptism – the Father speaks directly to us through His Son. In speaking to Jesus, He is speaking to us.

Matt 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

What wonderful words to hear from the Father of the universe! You are my Son and I love and am pleased with you. To think that God is speaking these words to us – not because of our good deeds but simply because of our connection to Him through His Son.

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power [authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

1John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

In accepting these words of the Father’s love, our minds cease to be hostile to Him and His protective law. The acceptance of the words:

“YOU ARE MY BELOVED CHILD”

breaks the power of worthlessness and the lie of the serpent. It re-establishes our true identity as dependent children and opens the door for a relationship with God in his relational kingdom.

This statement is the blessing we all crave and it takes away the need for pride in achievement – God is proud of us just because we are His children. This statement takes away our sense of worthlessness – we don’t have to feel useless because we are not achieving.

These words of blessing were originally designed to come through the channel of our earthly fathers as revealed in Proverbs 17:6 – The glory of children is their father. But sin has blurred this channel and in many cases cut it off, so that most of us live a very cursed life – trying to exist without a true sense of acceptance.

The great news is that in Jesus – we have the original and perfect Father – the source of all good fathers; and God is telling us through His Son that He loves us and accepts us.

Further to this, because Jesus accepted the words of His Father, we have access to this mindset of acceptance.

1John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding [mind], that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

1Cor 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

In accepting Christ, a blessing of thoughts descend upon us that we are accepted and we receive a desire to respond. The very response that Jesus gave to His Father is gifted to us through the channel of blessing. This is extremely good news.

We don’t have to struggle with doubt, if we believe that even the acceptance of such a gift was performed by Jesus Himself at the baptism.

The acceptance of sonship or daughtership is a vital step towards accepting the death of Jesus for our rebellion and disaffection from God because of the serpent’s lie.

c. Clinging to Sonship by Faith

Satan was aware that if people should accept that they are children of God by faith, then his work to cause them to rebel would be much harder. If Jesus was free to believe that He was a Son of God as a human being, he knew that this could be passed to us through the channel. Satan had to do something to prevent Jesus from believing He was accepted as a human being and this is the background to the battle in the wilderness.

Matt 4:3-10 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

God has spoken to His Son – saying “You are my Son”. When Satan came to Jesus, he began with the word “IF”; if you are the Son of God. Contained in that word “if” was an attack on God’s words. God had said “You are my Son”; Satan says, is this really true?

Satan suggested to Jesus that instead of simply trusting God’s Word that he use His effort to prove that He is the Son of God. If Jesus responded to this temptation then He would have doubted His Father’s word and agreed with Satan that being a son comes from a demonstration of power; inherent power. In resisting Satan’s temptation, Jesus acquired for the human race a human mindset that trusted God’s word as the only basis of sonship without any need to prove it by power. It is such a wonderful thing to have a Saviour who refuses to prove His sonship by His own power, but simply trusts His Father’s acceptance of Him through their relationship. There is no doubt that Jesus had power to turn stones into bread; He had power to do whatever He wanted. But there is one thing that the Son of God would never do: use His power to prove His identity; this is completely contrary to His very being. It always has been and always will be.

d. His Victory is Ours

The choice of Jesus to believe God’s Word alone as the basis of acceptance is a treasure that comes to us through the channel of blessing when we accept Christ. Do you struggle to believe God’s Word alone that you are a child of God? Jesus has conquered this doubt already and if you believe this, then His victory over Satan automatically becomes yours. We can have faith in God’s Word through the faith of Jesus. This is not simply faith in Jesus – it is the faith of Jesus that we receive as children of God.

As the Scripture tells us:

Gal 4:4-7 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

It is the Spirit of Christ flowing to us through the channel that causes us to cry out – “Father” in faith. The very words are the words of Christ revealed in us. It takes a little time for us to fully understand this concept, but a simple example is the story of the tree that was cut down into a body of bitter water to make it sweet.

Exod 15:23-25 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

The faith of Jesus in His Father’s word is like the tree that made the bitter waters of human doubt extremely sweet and possible to drink.

We have now given a brief overview of both the system of restoring the channel of blessing (through the Sanctuary) and the means by which the valleys and mountains that stand in the way of this system (acceptance through sonship) have been dealt with by God.

Before we move on from the time of Christ on earth, we need to come back to the history of Israel and how they fared with this Sanctuary system. Satan would not rest idle and allow Israel to keep this worship system intact. He determined to attack Israel until once again they were in slavery and the narrow path through the mountains and valleys would be lost along with the highway that led back to the commandments of God in the Sanctuary.

The descendents of Nimrod would be used to try and prevent the descendents of Abraham from keeping alive the family kingdom.