When God Says No

Posted on December 15, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“Now when Paul and Silas had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in the Province of Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they purposed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to go” (Acts 16:6-7).

Forbidden (Def): (Gr.): Koluo from Kolazo: To prevent, estop by word or action, hinder, withstand

As believers we live our lives and in doing so, we purpose and plan our way. We tend to be somewhat presumptuous, especially in a good matter, such as sharing the Gospel, with our travel plans and itineraries. Such was the case with Paul and Silas on this second missionary trip to some of the Roman Provinces and to revisit areas established during the first journey there.

However, when God says no, plans get changed. It was the Holy Spirit that forbid Paul and Silas from going into the Provinces of Asia and Bithynia. Why? The Lord had other plans. What do they do now? Wait on the Lord.

“And when they had passed by Mysia, they came down to Troy. Then in a vision there appeared to Paul in the night a man of Macedonia, and prayed him saying, ‘Come over into Macedonia and help us’. After Paul had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them” (Acts 16:8-10).

God often says no to our plans. Are we even listening? When God says no, you stop what you are doing and wait. God may say no to that relationship you have pursued, that job offer, that move you are planning, that vacation, that sale, that mission trip. Sometimes God will break your heart, frustrate your plans, stop your pleasures and joys in life, humble you and tell you to take a lower seat, spoil your riches and opportunities for fortune. Why? To fulfill His eternal purposes and plans for your life which ultimately is to know the Son and be conformed to His image. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22).

When God says no, Apostles change their plans:

“Now I would not have you ignorant, Brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you (but was hindered (Koluo) hitherto) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles” (Romans 1:13).

God has said no to many in the Scriptures:

To Balaam (II Peter 2:16; Numbers 22:21-27; to Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20:12); to David (II Samuel 12:18); to the Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 12:7-9), just to name a few.

It behooves us to be wise concerning the Lord, and not be slothful when He is moving among us. A valuable lesson may be learned from the parable of the Ten Virgins, five of whom were left outside when God said no when they wanted to enter into the marriage feast.

“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered them and said, ‘Verily I say unto you, I know you not’. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 25:11-13).

When God says no, we can say no, too, as the Scripture says:

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12).

So, I know you are listening to God for the “yes and amen”; but are you also listening for the “no”. When God says no, come into agreement with Him and say, “Yes, Lord, I hear You. Thank you for your love and grace. You are truly my Savior.” Amen.

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All in the Name

Posted on December 7, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Colossians 3:17).

There are words, thoughts, phrases and sentences that can govern one’s life in thought, word and deeds. All in the Name of the Lord Jesus is one of those powerful, governing phrases that can potentially control us in all we do. Letting this Apostolic command govern will keep us from many foolish, and hurtful words and certainly keep us from sinful actions against our family, the Brethren, our neighbors and, of course, our God.

As believers, we abide in Christ, the Vine, our Life, and our Lord. Speaking All in the Name, out of His authority, His Nature and Character is a blessed way to “walk worthy of the Lord” as the Apostle wrote earlier in his Epistle:

“That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).

Doing All in the Name will keep us from the cycle of sin, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration before God, before the Body of Christ, before our spouse, before all those of whom we love and care. Many a minister would wish they had pre-meditated on doing All in the Name before they fell, and found themselves, or were found out in the scandalous affair.

The Apostolic warning, “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” (I Corinthians 10;12) is an apt exhortation to establish the boundaries, build the guard rails, and keep oneself safe from the pitfalls and stumbling blocks in our path of life. Doing All in the Name is one such safeguard that may save us from falling or making shipwreck of our lives.

Doing All in the Name is also a powerful invoking of the Lord Jesus for His help in your words and deeds. In it there is an authority behind our actions that tells the world we are not acting out of ourselves, but we are conducting ourselves in accordance with the will of God, in His authority, by the Holy Spirit, being expressed through us for His glory.

Doing All in the Name will impact everything: our home and family, our work environment, our school, our church, our community. Whether in person, on social media, all communications, actions we take, places to which we go and where we are seen. Our words and deeds will be made known to all.

Jesus said:

“He that does Truth comes to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21).

Words and deeds wrought in God is a testimony to our faith in the Lord Jesus and bears witness to the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us.

What is your identity? Wife, husband, son, daughter, father, mother, teacher, mentor, leader, worker, student? This word is for you today: Do All in the Name of the Lord Jesus and see how your life is changed, as you are governed by His command, as you obediently take heed to it. You will be amazed how different your life will be, as His glory is revealed through everything you say and do.

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The Reality of Christ

Posted on November 30, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“We desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9b),

There is in our dimension of living things real, and things imaginary, fictional, artificial, and fanciful. Differentiating between these things at times is difficult. The more realistic things appear the more difficult it becomes.

The Apostle gave this exhortation to the Ephesians:

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds” (Ephesians 4:17).

In his Epistle to the Colossians, the Apostle expressed his desire that they might be filled with the “knowledge of His will”, with “all wisdom and spiritual understanding”.

The highest knowledge, wisdom and spiritual understanding we can obtain in our dimension of living is to come into the Reality of Christ. In this Reality we are transformed, and we are given an escape from the imaginary, fictional, artificial and fanciful. This Reality is not transient, but eternal; not temporary, but everlasting. This Reality comes to us from the Father:

“Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the Kingdom of His Dear Son” (Colossians 1:13).

The “power of darkness” operating by “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience” (cf. Ephesians 2:2b) is a very deceptive power, indeed. “And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (II Corinthians 11:14). Whether using the name of Christ, perverting the Gospel of Christ, using “signs and lying wonders” (cf. II Thessalonians 2:9), or “speaking lies in hypocrisy” (cf. I Timothy 4:2), the prince of darkness will do all in his arsenal of devices to keep us from The Reality of Christ.

There are attributes of The Reality of Christ that are disclosed to us in the Epistles of Paul, including these verses written to the Colossians:

Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:15-17, 19).

Coming into The Reality of Christ is a process of overcoming the deception, lies, and the power of darkness, the Devil, and abiding in the Truth. When we abide in the Truth, we receive an Anointing which as the Apostle John has written:

“The Anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you; but the same Anointing teaches you all things, and is the Truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him” (I John 2:27).

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4).

Abiding in The Reality of Christ is an exercise of faith in those who are born of God.

“Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4).

Beloved, live in The Reality of Christ for that is Life, true Liberty and Oneness with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Live by faith, walk in love and believe in hope for all of life in this dimension and in the one that is to come.

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Before His Eyes

Posted on November 19, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“O, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1)

Bewitched (Def): (Gr.): Baskaino from Phasko: Assert by fascination with a false representation

Through fascination sorcerers “cast an evil eye” on their victim from whose gaze this poor one is captivated and cannot turn away, and are, therefore, brought under the sorcerer’s power and control.

Knowing to whom he was writing and their past association with sorcerers and their occultic practices, the Apostle questions their turning from the truth of the Gospel so easily, and poignantly asked them, “Who has bewitched you”? Who captured you under their spell and brought you into bondage under their power? Who brought you under their hypnotic control?

Before His Eyes is the safe place, the secure place, the place of comfort, rest and peace; the place of salvation from fear, error and death. Keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus, the Crucified, gives us an immunity from the spell of “the evil eye” of deception. Keeping our gaze fixed on the One who is the Truth provides a safeguard from being bewitched by the Deceiver.

Living continuously before His eyes, the eyes of the Crucified, we are carried from the past event of the Crucifixion at Calvary into the present reality of Life in the Savior whom we have within us as the abiding Son of God, as the Apostle expressed it in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (II Corinthians 4:10).

The writer to the Hebrews summed up well our thought when he wrote:

“Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Brethren, the Deceiver is continuously working to cast his evil eye on his victim to fascinate and capture him and bring him into bondage, whether by false teaching, false prophecy, deceptive and lying signs and wonders, and other machinations of evil, it is as the Apostle declared,

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices” (II Corinthians 2:11).

No, we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices and therefore we should the more earnestly keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and live before His eyes that are continuously fixed on us. Yes, eyes to eyes, face to face, living in the light, in the brightness of His glory, and in His power that rests upon us, as the Apostle knew only too well:

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (II Corinthians 12:9).

Living before His eyes in obedience to the Truth set before us is the way of Peace in the Holy Spirit. Obedience to the Word of God, to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to the Commandments and Orders of the Lord with our assignments and appointments, going where we are sent and staying where we have been planted by the Lord. Living Before His Eyes is the way of Life.

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Full Assurance

Posted on November 12, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).

Assurance: (Def): (Gr): Plerophoria from Plerophoreo: To carry out fully, entirely accomplish, entire confidence

Confidence in faith as compared to a shaky faith is the difference between receiving the completion of a promise from God or not receiving it. The Apostle James said:

“Ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he who wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).

Full Assurance of faith is having entire confidence that what God has spoken will come to pass; and having entire confidence that what God has done is the entirety of a matter with nothing needed to be added.

In his Epistle to the Colossians the Apostle wrote:

“That your hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, unto all the riches of full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ” (Colossians 2:2).

In our walk of faith our understanding must come to completion concerning our salvation with no room for doubt or disputing. This was the great struggle between the Apostle and those who sought to add to the completed work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. This was the great dispute in the Epistle to the Galatians, to whom the Apostle wrote:

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law, for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

Full Assurance requires diligence to resist and quench all opposition and arguments against our faith and hope in the Lord. Whether arguments, circumstances, obstacles, challenges or any other thing that stands in the way of the full manifestation of our hope in God, we must remain true in our faith in the promises of God.

“And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end; that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12).

We have received the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, a Gospel of faith, hope and love from our God and Father who offered up His only Begotten Son as an atonement for our sins, who is our Redeemer, Savior and Lord. This Gospel is a true testimony of God’s love for us and came to us in word, in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in the full assurance of faith as the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians:

“Our Gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake” (I Thessalonians 1:5).

Brethren, how is it with your faith? Are you fully persuaded regarding Christ Jesus, our Lord? Are you wavering? Are you doubting? Are you drifting away with another Gospel as did the Galatians? Are you struggling and contending with the spirit of this age? Return to the Lord, and draw near to Him with a true heart, with the full assurance of faith, let your conscience be cleansed with the pure water of the word of God. The Lord is waiting for you to humbly return to Him putting all your hope in Him alone.

“And being fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is able also to perform” (Romans 4:21).

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.

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Abiding

Posted on November 6, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).

Abide (Def): (Gr.): Meno: To stay in a given place, state, relationship, or expectancy

Think of the peace of mind, safety for the soul, and calming for the nerves of the body abiding in Jesus brings to us. It is the place to breathe easy. The place to think soberly. The place to rest a racing mind, a pounding heart from anxiety and fear from the trauma of the day. Abiding in Jesus does all of that.

Abiding is a mutual experience. We abide in Jesus and the words of Jesus abide in us. Words so precious in the form of promises made, kept and fulfilled. Prophetic words that assure us concerning what is happening in the moment and what is about to happen in the days to come. Jesus said:

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'” (Matthew 4:4).

Deuteronomy makes this very plain:

“And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Abiding has benefits beyond those mentioned above, for there is a deeper benefit of producing, or bringing forth the fruit from the Life of Christ in which we abide. Jesus used the analogy of the Vine and Branch. Our abiding in Him is as the branch abides in the Vine. Jesus spoke these words to us:

“Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

As we do abide in the Vine the richness of the Vine flows through us from within the Life of the Vine, the Life of Christ. Jesus said:

“Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so, shall you be My disciples” (John 15:8).

Think of this fruit from the Life of Christ in which we abide: (a) the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:22-23); (b) the Life of Christ in His ministry to bring salvation, healing, deliverance, wisdom, godliness, authority, and power (cf. Ephesians 4:11-12; John 3:16-17; Luke 19:10; Acts 1:8); (c) laying down our lives for the sake of the Brethren (cf. Hebrews 2:9; John 15:13). This is the fruit of the Life of Christ flowing through us to the world.

Abiding accomplishes God’s will through us, as Jesus declared:

“You shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you” (John 15:7b).

The phrase “ask what you will” does not refer to some selfish wish list we use to get what we want from God. No, asking what we will is in accordance with the mind of Christ in whom we abide. We ask in accordance with the agreement between the mind of Christ expressed by His word given to us and our speaking forth that word received from Him to the Father; and the promise is when you ask in this agreement, “what you will, shall be done to you”.

Abiding is Life. Abiding is fruitful. Abiding is beneficial to us, to the church and to the world. Brethren, let us abide in Him and let as the Apostle has written in his Epistle to the Colossians:

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, Hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

Yes, let us abide in Him, let us stay in that wonderful place in the heart of Jesus, let us abide in that state in which we were called, let us live the relationship we share in the Life of the Vine, let us live in full expectation of bearing the fruit of that Life, and may the Father’s will be fully expressed through us in our life and service to Him.

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Oh, Glorious Liberty

Posted on November 1, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“The Creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

Glorious (Def): (Gr.): Doxa from Dokeo: To seem or accounted of reputation, Dignity, Honor, Praiseworthy, Worthy of Worship

Liberty (Def): (Gr.): Eleutheria from Eleutheros: Unrestrained, Freeman, Freedom

The dignity of a free man, unrestrained from the bondage of corruption is glorious, indeed. The “liberty of the children of God” is a gift of God purchased for us by the blood of the Lamb. This gift of God is a wonder and a blessing from the love of God expressed through our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.

To be a free man in this world requires a faith in God that goes beyond what we observe around us, that goes beyond what we feel, what thoughts enter our minds, what indignities we suffer at the hands of others. To be a free man in this world requires a faith in the promises of God that are what the Apostle Peter calls “exceeding great and precious”.

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, according as His Divine Power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (II Peter 1:2-4).

Glorious Liberty is living in Glorious Virtue, the virtues of love, faith, hope, godliness, righteousness, holiness, peace, truth, honor, mercy, kindness and self-control; all by the grace of God in Christ Jesus and by the Divine Nature imparted to us by the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, as the Apostle tells us in his Epistle to the Corinthians:

“Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty” (II Corinthians 3:17).

Glorious Liberty is enjoyed by those who live by the Spirit, who are led by the Spirit, who daily live by the Divine Nature and not after the things of this world with the corruption thereof. On the contrary we have escaped it all to live in freedom.

Being a free man is a challenge to those who wish to control, to keep in subjugation, or for those who love to exercise power over others and seek to suppress and restrain them. However, the free man is unrestrained because his freedom is not based on what the tyrant can do to him, but on the liberty given him by the Spirit of the Lord.

Oh, Glorious Liberty, indeed for the free man in Christ Jesus, for:

“If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free, indeed” (John 8:36).

Are you a freeman? Are you walking in the “glorious liberty of the children of God?” Look to the Cross, look to your Savior, look to the One who can “make you free.” Look to the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, our Master.

All Creation is waiting. The “earnest expectation of all Creation waits for the manifestation of the Sons of God” (Romans 8:19). All Creation is waiting, anxiously waiting for the “Glorious Liberty” that is coming. Are you ready?

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The Reality of Love

Posted on October 21, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son. . .” (John 3:16a).

Until the reality of the love of God breaks through to our hearts, we are as the songwriter tells us:

“Until today when you pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains on my eyes, I’ve been so blind all these wasted years; and I thought I was so wise, but then You took me by surprise.”*

The Reality of Love has to come to us as a great surprise, a breakthrough, a revelation, a waking up from our sleep, as from a state of dreaming.

“Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed until Your love broke through. I’ve been lost in a fantasy that blinded me until Your love broke through.”

So much of life for so many is a fantasy, a vain imagination, that only lasts for a moment and then is gone in a vapor of smoke, and wafts away as a passing fancy, only to become a fading memory.

“Like a foolish dreamer trying to build a highway to the sky, all my hopes would come tumbling down and I never knew just why.”

The Reality of Love must come in, must break through to replace all the vanity. The reality of God’s Love in His Son, the Only Begotten Son of His love, who was given as a sacrifice, as an offering up on the Cross for the sin of the whole world.

Inwardly, secretly we are all seekers, searching for reality, for substance, for the truth.

“All my life I’ve been searching for that crazy missing part; and with one touch You just rolled away the stone that held my heart. Now I see that the answer was as easy as just asking You in; and I am so sure I could never doubt Your gentle touch again, it’s like the power of the wind.”

Jesus said, “The wind blows where it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell from where it came, and where it goes; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

The Reality of Love comes as a breeze, a touch upon the heart, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, by which we are changed. We are born again of the Spirit of God. We come alive. We are raised as from a bed upon which we were asleep; but we awake and rise up to walk in the newness of life, no more to live in fantasies and unrealities, but in truth.

What fantasy must you escape? From what dream state must you awake? From what state of death must you be raised to life? Take the time to listen to the wind, to feel the zephyr of His breath upon your heart. Your senses will be moved by the working of His Spirit within to bear witness to the reality of His love.

Let His love break through today. Let His love unmask you, and let your true identity be revealed. Your identity in Him who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). Today, right now, He is ready to take you by surprise and make all things new.

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*Your Love Broke Through: Keith Green

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The Mystery of The Book

Posted on October 14, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the Throne a Book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals” (Revelation 5:1).

Book (Def): (Gr): Biblion from Biblos: Scroll of writing

Of all that has been written in the myriad of books in the earth there is one Book above all others. That Book was sealed (closed, locked up and blocked from opening) and held in the hand of God, the Father, seated on His Throne and no one was worthy to receive it from Him in all of heaven and earth.

“And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the Book, and to loose the Seals thereof’?” (Revelation 5:2).

The Book was so holy, so sanctified in the hand of God, the Father, that:

“No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the Book, neither to look thereon” (Revelation 5:3).

This caused the Apostle John to weep much before the Lord, “because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book, neither to look thereon” (Revelation 5:4).

No man was worthy until “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Revelation 5:5).

Seal (Def): (Gr): Sphragis from Phrasso: To block up, Signet, the Stamp impressed as a mark of privacy, or genuineness

The Book was sealed with seven seals that no one could open until One was found worthy, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who,

“Came and took the Book out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the Throne” (Revelation 5:7)

The Mystery of the Book is revealed in Him who was found worthy, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Lamb of God. This One of whom the Testimony was given John:

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His servants things which must shortly come to pass, and He sent and signified it by His Angel to His servant John” (Revelation 1:1).

The Book is the revealing of the Son of whom the Book was written by the hand of the Father. It is even as Christ so said:

“Then said I, ‘Lo, I come (in the Volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God'” (Hebrews 10:7; Psalm 40:7).

The One of whom the Book was written fulfilled those things written of Him and was thereby found worthy to look upon the Book, receive the Book from the right hand of the Father and to break the seals thereof, and ultimately open the Book and read it that the mystery might be made known to all: to Elders, Angels, and the whole of Mankind, who together can exclaim with one voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them heard I saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him that sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever'” (Revelation 5:12-13).

The Mystery of the Book reveals the heart of the Father for the Son of His love, His only Begotten, His firstborn, the One in Whom the Father is well pleased (cf. Matthew 3:7). The One by Whom

“All things were created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).

The Mystery of the Book has been revealed by the Spirit of God who “searches all things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Corinthians 2:10b). For even as the Scriptures testify of Him (cf. John 5:39), so too the Book in the right hand of the Father reveals Him so that we might know Him and fellowship together in the Son of His Love.

May we never despair, but ever rejoice in knowing Him who is “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending says the Lord, who is and was and is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

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The Vow of Gethsemane

Posted on October 8, 2023 by AntiochCMI

“Jesus said to them, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry here and watch with Me’. Then He went a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘O, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will'” (Matthew 26:38-39).

Sacrifice (Def.): (Heb): Zebach from Zabach: To slaughter an animal; Offering

There is a participation in what the Psalmist, Asaph, describes as “a covenant. . .by sacrifice”. The covenant is cut, the sacrifice is offered between the parties and the vows are exchanged to seal up the sum of the Agreement.

“Gather My saints together unto Me, those who have made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice” (Psalm 50:5).

The Father has gathered us unto Himself in a great participation in the Covenant of Blood, initiated by the Vow of Gethsemane when Jesus committed Himself to drink the cup of suffering by His oft quoted, “not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42).

Jesus, “the Mediator of the New Covenant, by the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24); has brought us into His Covenant of Sacrifice with the Father, by His death on the Cross, the place of slaughter, where the offering was made for the sin of the whole world.

Christ, the Crucified, has mediated a new Covenant of Blood, by being the Lamb of God, the Pascal Lamb, whereby our sins are forgiven by the atoning sacrifice for sin; and by our participation with Him have become separated from sin through death and made alive by His Resurrection, just as the Apostle has declared:

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The Vow of Gethsemane was a vow made before the foundation of the world (cf. Revelation 13:8), In the foreknowledge of God the plans were made, just as Jesus declared:

“Wherefore, when He came into the world He said, ‘Sacrifice and offerings you would not, but a body have you prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the Volume of the Book it is written of Me), to do Your will, O God'” (Hebrews 10:5-7).

In types and shadows, by prophetic utterances, by signs, wonders, angels, and by the appearing of the Son of God, the Vow of Gethsemane was manifested to us and fully fulfilled in the body of Jesus Christ on the Cross. “Not my will but Thine be done” is the vow we all must make in our identification in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, our Lord. It is symbolized by baptism, as we enter into Covenant by Sacrifice with the Father and are joined by one Spirit with the Son who becomes our Life in a New Creation (cf. II Corinthians 5:17) in the “newness of Life”.

“Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the Newness of Life” (Romans 6:4).

The Vow of Gethsemane is decisive. It was decisive for our Lord, and it is decisive for us as well, for in it we determine our destiny. There were two Gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In Eden we died, in Gethsemane we can live. Choose Life.

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