December 2002

Christ:
The Landscape of Life

Part Forty-Nine
“LO and BEHOLD”

“Guarding our garments” (N)

          As we continue revelations on the virgin Mary, clarification is needed about her declaration that all generations would call her “blessed”. (Lk 1:48) Indeed it was an unparalleled blessing to birth and raise up the fleshly form of the Christ; but her motherhood was but a type for the Church who would later birth and raise up the spiritual essence of the Christ! This greater blessing still awaited Mary, along with 120 other disciples, at the post-Calvary Pentecost phenomenon!
          1 Tim 2:15 says, “The woman (Eve) was deceived and fell into transgression; nonetheless, SHE WILL BE SAVED IN CHILDBEARING!” If birthing the human form of the Christ Child is the only way Eve could be saved, she missed the boat; and so did all other women! For only one Christ Child has ever been born and that was to Mary! The only conclusion is that this promise is not exclusive to females but embraces every “living soul”; however “each man in his own order!” (1 Cor 15:22, 45) Mary was but one of a host of “living souls” created to inhabit the earth, whose original father and mother, Adam and Eve, imposed upon them a life of death-by-sin! Mary needed redemption from her sins through the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross as all other mortals. Unquestionably Gabriel’s Visitation, and the birthing and raising of the Christ Child served to alter Mary’s life dramatically; but if those events, alone, could secure her salvation, then Jesus would not have needed to go to the Cross to save her! And it is heretical to say that Christ died for all but her!!
          The flesh body of Christ being birthed through Mary’s virgin womb is but a type for the spiritual Body of Christ being birthed through the Church’s virgin womb! Christ called His Church into being one soul at a time; and eventually, that calling will include ALL SOULS! How can we know this for sure? Because God says, “Behold, ALL SOULS ARE MINE!” (Eze 18:4) He then goes on to say, “As the soul of the father is Mine; so also the soul of the son is Mine! And THE SOUL THAT SINS SHALL DIE!” But before you point a finger, beloved, be reminded that, “ALL HAVE SINNED and come short of the Glory of God!” (Ro 3:23) Not one soul has eluded the curse of the first Adam! We were all born into sin and death by virtue of our carnal minds- and this has to include Mary and Joseph! Has it never occurred to us that these parents could have only known to raise their son, Jesus, according to their religious traditions and the letter of Moses’ Law; since neither of them were baptized in the Holy Spirit! Like all devout Jews, these beloveds were “kept like slaves (under the rules of the Hebrew ritual; and subject to) the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations!” (Gal 4:3 Amplified Version) This means that it is possible to handle the Word of God [Jesus Christ is the Word of God] as Mary and Joseph, but still be enslaved to vain religious traditions! Jer 2:8 says,

“Hear the Word of the Lord, O house of Jacob; and hear also
all you families of the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord,
What iniquity have your fathers found in Me that they should
go far from Me to follow vanity and become vain? Why have
they not asked, ‘Where is the Lord that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt; Who led us safely through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and pits and drought; Who led us
through the shadow of death; and through a land that none
had ever passed through or indwelt? But I brought you into
a plentiful country to eat of its fruits and goodness; but then
when you entered, you defiled My land, making My heritage
an abomination! Even your priests would not ask, Where is
the Lord? They that handle the Law do not know Me!! Your
pastors transgressed against Me! The prophets prophesied
according to Baal, and walked after things that do not profit!
Thus says the Lord, I will plead with you and your children’s
children!”

         It was not from lack of love, respect or obedience that Jesus began to distance Himself from Mary and Joseph’s human authority; but “The time was fulfilled for God to send forth His Son, born of a woman, kept under the Law, to REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW; so that we could receive the adoption of sons! And because we are sons, God has sent forth the SPIRIT OF HIS SON INTO OUR HEARTS; so we can cry, Abba (lit. Papa), Father! We are no longer bondservants (like the “handmaiden of low estate” that Mary called herself in Lk 1:48); rather you are sons; and as sons, you are heirs of God through Christ!” (Ga 4:4-7) For we know, “The Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld His Glory which was full of the Grace and Truth of the Only begotten Son of the Father!”(Jn 1:14) Since no man is saved or made perfect by observing the Law; God sent His Word of Truth and saving Grace to redeem His lost world. For when hope is gone, a soul desperate to be delivered from his prison of unbelief and his carnal-minded death with its hellish retribution, has but to cry out two words: “BUT GOD!!” (Eph 2:4) This verse continues, “Even when we were dead in sins, He Who is rich in Mercy has made us alive together with Christ; and has loved us with a great Love (we are saved by Grace)! He has raised us together in Christ and made us sit in heavenly places; that in the ages to come, He could reveal the exceeding riches of His Grace and Lovingkindness He has given us through Christ Jesus! For you are saved- not by anything you have done- but by Grace, through your faith (in Jesus Christ)! It is God’s free gift to you! It is not attained by any human efforts, lest any man should boast! We are God’s workmanship; created in Christ Jesus to walk in His good works which God ordained beforehand!” (Eph 2:4-10)
          Notice, beloveds, that all these promises are proclaimed in the past tense, as a work already finished, sealed and settled forever! Nothing can be added to or taken away from them! It is for this reason God states emphatically in Ro 9:16 (Amplified Version):

“GOD’S GIFT IS N-O-T A QUESTION OF HUMAN WILL
AND HUMAN EFFORT; BUT OF GOD’S M-E-R-C-Y! IT
DEPENDS N-O-T ON ONE’S OWN WILLINGNESS NOR
ON HIS STRENUOUS EXERTION, AS IN RUNNING A
RACE; BUT ON GOD’S HAVING M-E-R-C-Y ON HIM!”

May God open the eyes and ears of every reader
to see and hear this indisputable, lifegiving truth!

[TO BE CONTINUED]