November 2000

[Part Forty-one]

“We no longer base our faith on your testimony of Christ to us, for
we have heard Him for ourselves; therefore now we know
CHRIST IS TRULY THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!” (Jn 4:42)

                These were the words of certain Samaritans (a people long held in mutual contempt by the Jews) who now possessed their own quickened faith instead of just hearing about the newborn faith of the Samaritan woman to whom Jesus had spoken at Jacob’s well at the *sixth hour.

[*It was also the sixth hour (6 = sin-weakness of man, the evil of satan) when Jesus
hung on His cross, at which time, darkness came upon the whole earth for 3 hours
(3 = divine completion) and it remained dark until the 9th hour (9 = Fruit of the Spirit).
The 6th hour was noon time when the sun is at its highest- and Christ is both
the“SUN of Righteousness” (Mal 4:2 ); and the “LIGHT of the world”!! (Jn 8:12)

The 6th hour represents man’s darkest hour of sin that leads to death; for indeed
“When sin is finished, it brings forth death!” (Jas 1:15) As Jesus bore the sins of
the whole world, He knew they would result in His death; but this Son of God also
knew that His Father’s “Works were finished from the foundation of the world“
(Heb 4:3), and that nothing could be added to them However, the works of creation
are progressive in their manifestation, so even though sin and death were introduced
into the world through the lusts of the first Adam, they did not culminate until Jesus,
the Last Adam, cried out on the cross, “It is finished”!! This Voice of Eternal Life
was speaking death to Death since the purpose for which it was instituted- namely,
the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, had been accomplished. So with His dying gasp,
the Son of Man was testifying that His mind of flesh (“which IS DEATH” Ro 8:6)
had successfully executed his earthly mission of presenting this Ultimate Sacrifice
to the Living God!! Both these great powers had faithfully served the Divine Mind-
one in Light, the other in Darkness!

We must learn that Death is simply an obedient agent of our Omnipotent God! And
the ignoble ending of the Only Noble Life as His body hung naked on a tree, was an
expected conclusion to God’s work begun in the Garden when the first carnal mind
was established! And so, by bringing the carnal mind to its ultimate end on the Cross,
CHRIST’S SHINING HOUR was therefore set in motion when Resurrection Life
raised Him up to reclaim His glory forever as the Eternal Mind of God!! ]

                In a children’s movie about a baby elephant that was persecuted by his peers for having over-sized ears, he learns, with the aid of a friendly mouse, that his ears could function as “wings”, causing him to become famous as the only flying elephant in the world! The mouse proclaimed,

“THE VERY THINGS THAT HELD YOU DOWN,
ARE GOING TO CARRY YOU UP AND UP AND UP!”

               Hearing testimonies of other men’s Faith in God is like being a hungry child with his nose pressed up against the window of a bread store. He can smell the bread so he believes in its reality, and though he is convinced it would be good food to eat, he still cannot taste it for himself and must die of starvation- unless the baker has a charitable heart and invites the starving child into his store for free bread! Every starving child of the first Adam can “smell” the goodness of the Bread of Life through the window of witness from men of living faith. But not until our Heavenly Baker invites each one into His Store for His free Bread can they come alive to faith!Experience is still the best teacher SO Christ exposes us to sin and death's tribulation; (add also this semi-colon) for He knows so only as Christ exposes us to sin and death’s“tribulation” for He knows tribulation produces the Fruit of Long-suffering which gains for us that necessary, invaluable experience! So Paul rejoiced saying, “We glory in tribulations”! (Ro 5:3-4) Scripture says, Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God!” (Ro 10:17) Only as the Word of the Lord quickens that faith within each of our own hearts can we say, “We have heard Him for ourselves”, so we know CHRIST IS TRULY THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!” (Jn 4:42 AV)

[TO BE CONTINUED]