week of 1/29/08

have ever been to one of those big water parks that has the giant barrel that slowly fills with hundreds of gallons of water, then when it finally fills up it releases the deluge of water onto the people below?

thats how i felt getting ready for our discussion last night. it was a massive amount of information to process and we definitely walked out with information overload. my hope and prayer is these notes below will help remind/clarify some of the things we discussed so the enemy does not snatch up the seed of truth from us like the parable of the sower.

Genesis 15 tells us an interesting story about a covenant that God made with Abram.

Covenants were not uncommon in those times - Kings or sovereigns would offer protection and provision to vassals in exchange for service, obedience and loyalty. To signify the seriousness of the agreement, they would literally split some animals in half, and walk through the blood together. In essence, they were saying "If i break my end of the agreement, may I become like these animals." Covenants were also hereditary, so if a parent made a covenant, the child would be covered by the covenant unless he 'opted out'.

So we see in Genesis 15 God as the Sovereign offering Abram provision and protection for him and all of his descendants in return for his service, obedience and loyalty.

There are some things we should take notice of however.

1)God walks the path, confirming His end of the covenant, but Abram does not walk the path.

2)There is no way Abram or his children could keep their end of the covenant.

Romans 3 tells us that none of us can keep our end of the agreement, and Romans 6 reveals that the result of our sin is death.

Now back in Romans 3 if we read this passage again, there is reference to the Justice of God. Justice here is exactly what we think it is - balance. Its judgment for the one who has done wrong, and reward for the one who has done right. It's bringing creation back into balance.

Now in the OT, this was seen clearly. The law allowed you to give equal recompense if someone harmed you. If your child was killed, then you could kill their child. If you lost and eye, you could take their eye. You can see some of the requirements here in Exodus 21.

Understand however, that you were not required to punish your offender. The law was given so people would not exceed justice and take more than what they should. If you caused me to lose my eye, i could not take more than your eye. The law was given so Israel would not go further out of balance through retaliation.

(When Jesus enters the story, this whole perspective changes. You can read about it in Matthew 5)

Lets take a closer look at the Justice of God. Hebrews 9 tells us that if blood is not shed, sins cannot be forgiven. Interesting... if we jump all the way back to the first sin of humanityGenesis 3 we see God killing an animal to cover their sin, which raises a question - why does blood have to be shed for sins to be forgiven?

Let us connect these dots - here's what we know so far. Our life is in our blood (leviticus 17). The result of our sin is death. When we sin, death is our debt that is incurred. To bring that back into balance, life must be given. Like a positive cancels out a negative, life cancels death. Now, Hebrews also tells us the blood of animals cannot cleanse our sins - they only cover them temporarily. Much like with a credit card, making the minimum payment keeps the creditors off your back, but it does not clear your debt! The sacrifices of animals did not clear the sin/death debt, it only kept God's justice temporarily satisfied until the debt could be paid... Which is where Jesus comes in.

Going back to Genesis 15, Abram did not walk the path. Jesus walked it in our place! Isaiah 53 reveals to us it was God's plan to crush Jesus - to restore balance, to bring Justice. The only other option for us to be brought in to balance would be to give our own lives to cover the debt of our sin, but Jesus offers His life in place of ours. The Blood and Life of the Son of God - The Greatest Blood, The Greatest Life - to cover the Great Death and the Great Debt of Sin. Great Life cancelling Great Death.

John 19 gives us a beautiful picture of what Jesus' death has done for us - His last phrase was 'it is finished' literally translates to 'paid in full'.

Balance has been restored. Acts and Romans both talk about how we now have peace with God through what Christ has done for us!

Through Adam's sins our spirits died. Through Christ, we have the opportunity to have our spirit's made alive again that we can know God (who is spirit) and worship God (in spirit and truth)

Understanding these truths, places a whole new emphasis and understanding on John 3.

Through Jesus our debt is forgiven and balance is restored. Through Jesus our spirit's can be made alive again. Only through Jesus we can know God and experience intimacy with the Almighty. Only through Jesus.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!

peace and courage my friends!
-davey