January 2002

HAPPY NEW YEAR

What’s makes a year new? Doesn’t each day constitute the beginning of another 365 days? Then why, on December 31, does the world mourn the passing of the prior 12 months as one would lament the death of a beloved friend or family member; and at the same time celebrate the pending 52 weeks with an enthusiasm reserved for the birth of a child? For we do depict each departing year as an old man, and each dawning year as a new babe. Natural man does not realize the significance of this nor does he know it is spiritually founded. The doubleminded Adamic nature grieves over the loss of each element of his brief, earthly rule, and revels over the unveiling of each new segment.
                Lev 26:10 tells God’s sons, “There is such an abundance of stored-up old food, you must throw out the old food to make room for the new!” God has given us much Truth over the years, but He will soon reveal new Truths that will make us forsake past Revelations to make room for new expositions of Christ! It is hard to think there is so much more to learn of our great God that we could willingly surrender all we have learned thus far to embrace new glories of His Nature; but that is what is going to happen! The Daystar about to arise in our hearts will bring such staggering disclosures of Divine Love, that all former oracles shall pale in comparison.
                This sonship training has been a time for “Remembering former things of old” (Isa 46:9) and finding that the great “I Am” is the one, true God Who says, “There is no other one like Me!”
                But now Father says to all His fully matured sons, “If any man be in Christ, He is a new creation; and old things are passed away; behold, A-L-L things are become new!” (2 Cor 5:17) Note the verb, “become”. God does not say new things shall come from a vast void of creation; rather that old things pass away and BECOME N-E-W! This is RESURRECTION at its finest!! Yes, this is LIFE OUT OF DEATH; this is the MIRACLE OF METAMORPHOSIS!
                God tells us to relinquish the old man of our first, carnal Adamic nature not to be destroyed, as mortals view destruction, but transformed into the new man of Christ’s Spiritual Adamic Nature. God does not allow anything in His Creation to be utterly lost or unfruitful; rather He transfigures all things to a new and higher state of being! Blind flesh-minded reasoning cannot accept this Truth although it can accept the idea of earthly recycling, even to the point of converting human waste into purified drinking water! This latter concept is much more difficult to subscribe to, in my estimation!
                The word, destruct, [Dict] lit. means: “Unbuild a structure”; and is defined, “Render out of existence, demolish, ruin utterly or annihilate.” Limited, carnal thinking extends this to mean the forfeiture of all potential redemption! But this does not conform to Scripture’s depictions of God’s beautiful Nature! Everything in His Love-filled Being is Eternal! His first Revelation of Himself was in His Name, “I AM”, which relegated everything in existence to a Timeless Present! To God, the future is a present time that just hasn’t been revealed yet! On the day it is disclosed, it will be simply another present time! The same is true of all past times we call history. Everything that has ever happened, occurred in previous present times! Time is like a file cabinet of an endless present full of Creation’s glories that all must eventually “come...to pass”! Sometimes we are permitted to look back in the files and see what has already transpired, so that we can learn from its successes and its failures. Sometimes we are privileged to look ahead- by the Gift of Prophecy- to see things that are yet to transpire, but which still must take place in a present time! There is no such thing as a void where all hateful and fearful things of this human existence are consumed; for God’s Words must be fulfilled that say, “HE WILL SWALLOW UP DEATH IN VICTORY!” (Isa 25:8) So all death is redeemed as it takes on the new form of VICTORIOUS LIFE! This is well-supported in 1 Co 15:54 which says, “When this corruptible has put on INCORRUPTION and this mortal has put on IMMORTALITY, the saying will be fulfilled that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in Victory!” Eccl 1:9 adds, “The thing which already has been, is the thing that will be; and the thing that has been done, is the thing that will yet be done; for there is no new thing under the sun!” So if everything in this death realm- which is the“carnal-mind” (Ro 8:6), is swallowed up in victory, we should find out exactly what is meant by this VICTORY! Its Hebrew word (5331) is translated: “A goal; a bright object at a distance travelled towards; also splendor, truthfulness, confidence- usually continually; i.e., to the most distant point of view; always, constantly, end, evermore, perpetual and strength”; from a primary root (5329) meaning, “To glitter from afar; be eminent (as a superintendent; esp. of the Temple services and its music; permanent; excel, chief musician (singer) overseer, and to set forward.” The Greek word (3534) for “victory” is translated simply: “A conquest and a triumph”; from a primary root (3529) meaning: “The means of success!”
                God sees each passing year as days of “good and evil” being swallowed up in a new year of days that are so much fodder and fertilizer for the garden of the new present! Let us dedicate and consecrate this coming new series of todays that they be filled with wondrous new glories of God; and let us lay all past events on the Altar of Christ- whether we perceived them to be happy or sad, pleasant or unpleasant, painful or pleasurable! Then let us see them as “swallowed up in Victory”! By faith, let us surrender ourselves to each new today foreordained by God for us to walk, and let us seek His Grace to do this for His Glory!! Let us also be ready to remind ourselves when the negative things confront us, that these will also redound to Victory as, “ALL things work together for good to those who love God and are called to His Purpose!” (Ro 8:28) If you do not yet love your God unconditionally, it is because you are still walking after the flesh that “profits nothing!” (Jn 6:63) Your “Natural man cannot receive the things of spirit; and they are foolishness to you! You cannot understand them for they are spiritually discerned!” (1 Cor 2:14) As flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven, it is safe to say that our human nature, in its given form, is not called to a Godly purpose; but our Creator has promised it will work together for good in the end!!
                We also have this sure Word of Hope to comfort our hearts as we face each unspent day of 2002: “THIS is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!” (Ps 118:24) Amen!