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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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The Remedy
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I had a powerful experience (vision or dream?) several years ago. I believe it came from God, and I have done a lot of study on the concepts here, and am relatively convinced it is supported by scripture. I'd like to share what I wrote about it immediately after the experience and see what the DAB community's thoughts are:
"As I awaited the brewing coffee this morning (August 3, 2007), I entered into a state of meditative contemplation. I began to peel back the layers of my conscious mind in an attempt to reach the dwelling place of the most High, the Holy Spirit, deep in my soul. As my spirit entered into a state of peace, I felt, more than saw, the presence of the LORD. There was a great distance, a gulf or chasm as it were, between Him and me. I knew within my heart that this gulf or chasm (or wall or some other barrier) was Sin. I began to ask, within my soul, how this chasm could be crossed to reach Him. It was then, that the Word of the LORD came to me.
The Remedy, He said, is four-fold. Do you know, He asked, what the four parts of the Remedy are? The blood of Jesus, was the response. He confirmed that was the first part. Repentance of Man, was cried out next. He acknowledged that this was the second part. The Grace of God, was said next. That too, was correct. Finally, Obedience, I determined hesitantly, almost as if I wished it were not so, but knew in my heart of hearts that it were. Go, He told me, and write it down."
I should note that until now I have only discussed or revealed this only to a few people who are close to me, and posted it on a blog I used to write (but I don't think anyone read). I have not shared it in discussion in this way until now...
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Peter 05/02/2011 13:26 |
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Catholica
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05/02/2011 14:25 |
Thanks for sharing this Peter. It is very interesting, and I think you are spot on.
Have you meditated further on these four things? How do they each play out tangibly in one's life?
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Kelley
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05/03/2011 00:04 |
Wow Peter! thank you for sharing! I agree with Catholica, tell us more!
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Davidwayne Lackey
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05/03/2011 00:20 |
Peter, the precepts are Biblical without question. I can understand why you were hesitant to openly share your vision with many till now. We live in a time where anyone who claims to have had a vision is branded as crazy. Even many preachers openly preach that such things don't happen this day in age. It doesn't take long for those who have had visions and spoke openly about them to be silenced. Thank you for sharing it with us. I like Andre's question. Have you pondered about how your life has changed when thinking on the things God had you write down?
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Peter
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05/03/2011 14:19 |
I have indeed meditated and studied further on these concepts. I studied what the scriptures had to say about each of these 4 "parts" of the remedy. The blood of Jesus essentially cleanses our sin and gives us the opportunity to imbibe the "Christ Life" into us. Repentance is necessary in order to accept the gift of the blood. It is the Grace of God that enlightens us to our sins and enables us to keep repenting, and ultimately it is our Obedience (i.e. continued repentance) by which we keep from entering back into the sin that Jesus' blood cleansed in the first place. Each of these parts is tied inextricably to the others and each leads us to the next. We must start by understanding that sin is more than an action, but it is a condition (the actions are just the symptoms of the sin in our hearts). During my study of all of this I wrote some "essays" (for want of a better word) that go deeper. They are kind of long for the forum, though, and to be honest, they are also incomplete (as I am still studying and meditating). Perhaps I will post what I have once I have a chance to re-write them a bit shorter...
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Peter
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05/03/2011 14:20 |
I have indeed meditated and studied further on these concepts. I studied what the scriptures had to say about each of these 4 "parts" of the remedy. The blood of Jesus essentially cleanses our sin and gives us the opportunity to imbibe the "Christ Life" into us. Repentance is necessary in order to accept the gift of the blood. It is the Grace of God that enlightens us to our sins and enables us to keep repenting, and ultimately it is our Obedience (i.e. continued repentance) by which we keep from entering back into the sin that Jesus' blood cleansed in the first place. Each of these parts is tied inextricably to the others and each leads us to the next. We must start by understanding that sin is more than an action, but it is a condition (the actions are just the symptoms of the sin in our hearts). During my study of all of this I wrote some "essays" (for want of a better word) that go deeper. I thought at first that they might be too long for a forum, but I am posting the first (about the Blood of Jesus) here:
The Blood of Jesus
The first part of God’s remedy for the disease called Sin (from which we all suffer) is the blood of Jesus. To understand how that is, we must first understand something of the nature of sin, and of blood. Secondly we must understand something of the nature of Jesus. Lastly we must strive to humble ourselves enough to receive the benefit of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf (something many of us find more difficult to do than we can readily admit).
First of all, sin is something that lives in all our wicked hearts. We are born with it, and it is a terminal disease more insidious than AIDs or cancer. It not only kills each of us, it also infects those around us through temptation. This disease manifests itself as rebellion against the will of the Creator and it would seem that there is no cure in this world.
We, prideful children that we are, think our way is best. When we choose to follow our own path, rather than the will of our Father, we are in Sin. It is this insistence on our way that estranges us from God. God wants us to be in communion with him, and to accept his presence in our hearts and lives. In fact, he breathed a bit of his Life into Adam on the first day, and we have inherited that Life through the generations. When, through sin, we deny the little bit of God that lives within us, we burn the bridge that connects us to God. We are not capable of fixing that bridge, or even attempting to do so while we are still in rebellion. In fact, I think the problem lies less with God’s righteous intolerance of sin, and more accurately lies with our inability to repent and stop rebelling! We are in constant rebellion against the will of God. In such a state we don’t fully want to be reconciled because we feel that it would infringe upon our independence.
The only thing that can restore the relationship between a sinful mankind and our righteous God is a sacrifice of life in place of the Life we have “stolen” or “cut off” from God. We learn in Leviticus 17:11 that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” and that “it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul”. This is the reason behind blood sacrifices commanded by God in the Torah. They enable us to be reconciled with God, albeit only temporarily. Once our rebellious hearts turn away from the presence of the Almighty (which doesn’t take long for most of us given the convicting nature of the light of his presence illuminating all our iniquities) we are again lost. That, I believe, is the reason for the lengthy laws of nearly constant sacrifice given to Moses in the Torah.
So when we have sin in our hearts (which we typically do on a pretty consistent basis) we are incapable of turning to God. When we sacrifice life (via blood) we are temporarily reconciled to God. Just like an addict who relapses, however, we turn back to our folly before long. But also like an addict, with help we can have longer and longer stretches of righteous living between relapses of sin. Each must, however, be tied to blood sacrifice in order to reconcile us to God.
This is made more permanent by Jesus. Just as the lamb, goat, ram and bull were sacrificed under the Law of the Old Testament, Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of God, and God incarnate, was sacrificed once for all our sins under the New Testament. His blood is a more permanent sacrifice than that of an animal because his Life was immortal. This is not to say that we are pardoned once for all sins (both past and future) by his blood. No, I believe it to be more complicated than that.
I believe that we must claim the blood sacrifice of Calvary through repentance. Each time we repent (i.e. turn from sin) rather than sacrificing an animal’s blood to be reconciled to God, we must turn to Jesus and ask for his blood to cover our sins and redeem us. We must do so in all humility and without expecting it for anything we are or we have done. We can claim the benefit of Jesus’ blood only if we are able to accept our own inability to make things right with God. If we are not able to repent in this kind of humility, then our subconscious minds and inner souls will keep turning away from God, i.e. relapsing. When we truly do repent in all humility, our past sin is forgiven, and we can enjoy the benefits of reconciliation with God, until we rebel again.
In the same way that the High Priest under the Torah would go into the Holiest part of the Temple with a blood sacrifice to be in the presence of God, Jesus wants to bring his blood sacrifice into the Temple of the Holy Spirit which is our very heart and soul (Hebrews 9:7, 1 Corinthians 3:16). If we do not let him in, we cannot benefit from his ability to reconcile us to the Father. And if we still believe we can do it our own way, then we will not let him in. Under such circumstances, I believe that Jesus is a gentleman who will not stay where he is not wanted.
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John T
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05/04/2011 19:38 |
Keep going Peter. Very good and thoughtful and very true words! Blessings,
John
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Davidwayne Lackey
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05/05/2011 00:08 |
Peter I agree with John. You have set down the parallels in the Old Testament with the New exceptionally well. Please continue. You show very good insight.
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Peter
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05/06/2011 10:04 |
The second part of the "Remedy" is the repentance of man. Here is what I wrote when I researched that piece:
Repentance of Man
The second part of God’s remedy for the disease called Sin (from which we all suffer) is the repentance of man. In the previous section we touched briefly on repentance being the key to benefiting from the blood sacrifice that Jesus Christ made. The state of redemption can only be reached through the nature of Jesus’ Blood, and through our own repentant humility. Jesus needs to enter our hearts to offer the sacrifice that redeems us, just as the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to make his sacrifice to God. He will not do so for those who have not turned to him. It is this act of turning that constitutes repentance.
Repentance is a conscious choice (2 cor 7.1) made by each of us to reject sins as we identify it (or more to the point, as the light of Christ identifies it). It leads to a purer and more perfectly mature soul through trials and suffering (2 cor 7.11), and brings forth spiritual fruits as a result of our growth. Repentance, and its fruits, are evidence of faith.
This piece is second, and of less importance than the first because, although repentance is necessary, without the blood of Jesus, and the promise of Mercy from God, there would be nothing to turn towards, and repentance would become impossible. Repentance is something that is our responsibility, and is also a gift of God. Without God, we would be unable to repent, and would spend eternity rebelling against Him and His plan, and would instead drown in our own lusts and desires in a foolish attempt to find peace.
We must not, however, underestimate the import role that repentance plays in our relationship with God. Without repentance, we retain our prideful belief that we can be good enough on our own. As long as we believe that, we cannot humble ourselves sufficiently to accept Jesus’ Blood. Consequently we cannot be reconciled to God without repentance. Before Jesus even began his public ministry, John (the Baptist) came to prepare the way with a message of repentance: “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” (Mark 1:4)
The purpose of repentance is to release us from sin (the word translated remission above can also mean “to be released from”). Once we change our minds and hearts, and begin to think of things the way God does, through his Grace we are able to refuse temptation more easily. By repenting, or turning away from specific sins, we distance ourselves from the state of sin and approach godliness. Although repentance and obedience are related, there is a difference. Repentance is the act of making that decision to stop acting in a certain sinful way. Obedience is the ongoing practice of refusing the daily temptations to return to our old habits. Until we decide to repent of something, we are hopelessly enslaved to our sinful habits.
Here we also must touch here on the answer to one of life’s burning questions (that is the question of evil). If there is an all knowing, all powerful, benevolent, loving God, why does he allow evil? The answer is multi faceted, but repentance is a piece of that answer. If God instantly condemned any who commit evil (i.e. sinful) acts, we would never have the opportunity to repent, and without repentance we cannot be reconciled back to God. Our Father wants us reconciled, not condemned, and in order to reach that goal, he is long-suffering and patient with us, thus allowing us an opportunity to repent. I believe He knows who will and who will not repent (i.e. the doctrine of election), and allows some to commit evil longer for this very reason (along with other reasons).
Sorrow and hardship are necessary in order to bring us to the realization that we need God. Until we see this, we will not repent because we see nothing to repent of. This ties in with the question of evil also. One reason God doesn’t instantly condemn evil may be that we need adversity to bring us to the repentance necessary for reconciliation.
If we are not repentant (i.e. humbly acknowledging that we need to change our ways) then we would not accept forgiveness even though it is offered. Thus, perhaps, the issue is not that God will not forgive an unrepentant sinner, but that an unrepentant sinner will not accept God’s Grace…
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