As a child, I did my homework by lamp light. Occasionally we ran out of oil and were forced to use a grease light. A grease light is made of a short pieces of braided cotton strings. These braided strings are dipped in melted hog lard and then coiled in a shallow dish of lard with the tip sticking up like the head of a coiled snake. The end of the braid is then set fire. This produces a small light, but fills the room with an unwelcome odor. Being forced to use the grease light made us appreciate our coal oil lamps.
When the opportunity came to switch to electric lighting, a neighbor that owned the greatest portion of land ignorantly tried to prevent the poles from crossing his land—but progress won the battle!
I still remember and appreciate the grease and oil lights, but I choose to use electric lighting. I am also reminded of the glimmer of truth that made me bow to the cross. But since those wonderful days I have moved on to greater light. I am determined to draw ever closer to our only source of spiritual light. I will bless the little closed minds that try to prevent the poles from going up. But I will not be hindered by their lack of vision.
The Law of the Spirit of Life
All energy is governed by a specific principle by which it must operate, or function. According to an established rule, these principles are referred to as laws.
Man has learned many things about the world around him. By discovering the principles of various energies and harnessing them, man has managed to survive and flourish in an environment that is extremely difficult. One example is man’s ability to control fire by proper ventilation. It has become a great asset and comfort to the human family. Water is another energy producing product that was limited in its usage until man learned to control its power.
The invention of useful machines have made it possible for man to enjoy a higher quality of life, even where there are multitudes crowded together in very small areas. But all useful inventions and energies must operate according to their own particular law or principle. If the principles are ignored, the machine or energy will fail.
This is also true in the spiritual order, or realm. Yasha came to teach us the laws, or principles, of the higher realm of spiritual energy. If we do not operate according to the governing principles, we will have a power failure. This is also true in the negative realm.
Paul spoke of the law of sin and death. We speak of them as cause and effect. If we function in the realm of rebellion (sin), the results or law of that operation produces death. Death will continue to rule over the unconverted until a stronger energy overpowers it and interrupts its principle.
Paul said, “For the law (principle) of the Spirit of life in Christ Yasha hath made me free from the law (principle) of sin and death. For what the law (commandments written on a table of stone) could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Yahweh sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Romans 8:2-3. That is to say, Christ lived in the flesh, but denied the flesh its power to function in death.
By overpowering flesh, Christ rendered the law of sin ineffective and raised the creature into a realm above it. He crucified the adamic nature (through the sacrifice of the firstborn, which is the nature that is first produced in the flesh was overpowered) and disannulled the principle (law) of sin by the strength of a greater force. In spite of the nature he had joined himself to, Yasha came forth into resurrected life.
Without the power of the Life-force the dead letter of the commandments could not break the law of sin and death, because it was totally dependent upon the flesh to put it into action, or give it life. Though it was the word and nature of Yahweh, it lay lifeless in the flesh (its earthy tomb) because it was separated from the Spirit of Life. The commandments could not break the law of sin and death, because they could not stop the sin that produced death. The commandments revealed the principles of Life, but could not produce the energy to overpower the force of sin. Wherefore the law is holy, just, and good (Rom.7:12), but without the Life-force the heart of man remained unchanged.
If we desire deliverance from the power of sin, which produces death to the body, we must allow the energy of the Spirit- Life to dwell in our mortal bodies. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Yasha from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you,” Romans 8:11. “If a man loves me he will keep (obey) my words, and my Father (Spirit of Life) will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him,” John 14:23.
Having a desire toward Yahweh, the Spirit of Life and Truth (the origin of all righteousness) sets a law into action that has the energy to overpower the principle of sin and death in the body.
A principle can be called an action and its automatic reaction. “The soul that sins shall die” (sin is the action, death is the reaction), Ezekiel 18:14. This principle works in every person until the Spirit overpowers sin (1 Ki. 8:46). We were redeemed at the cross and our sins were forgiven, but the reaction to sin in the flesh can only be stopped when sin no longer reigns in the flesh. As long as there is sin in the body, the reaction will be death—the wages of sin is death.
Christ redeemed us by his blood, and that’s wonderful, but there is more to the redemption story: Christ returned to the Church as a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor.15:45). He alone has the keys to death and hell (Rev. 1:18). If we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Cor.15:49).
Christ overcame sin and broke the power of death. All who died in Adam will be made alive in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22). The heathen is his inheritance (Ps. 2:8 and Rev. 4:11). He has the will and the power to rule over his inheritance (1 Cor.15:25-26, Col.1:16). The sooner we accept the principle of Life and act upon it, the sooner its reaction will begin to operate in us.
There is no gem as precious as truth, and no loss greater than the loss of the love of it.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment