The good news therefore begins, not with any form of human need, but with the free gift of God’s grace, which is nothing less than God Himself.

http://hearhim.net/wordpress/

All the prophets bore witness and pointed towards an event; a person, in which the mystery – the fullness of God’s purpose – would be made known. It was not because of a lack of diligence that they only saw and spoke in fragments and glimpses, but because of the enormity of this revelation. There was only One who was worthy to open the seals; only One who would have the strength and wisdom to accurately reflect God’s original idea; only One who witnessed and was part of God’s original motivation to create. The prophets saw glimpses of the mind of God, but Jesus is the mind of God.

In no way does this belittle the prophets, but rather it emphasises the significance of Christ. The messages that came through the prophets had such rich variety, they were relevant in so many different generations and were communicated in such a diversity of ways, but they were all moving towards a climax – the crescendo of God’s conversation with man. The prophets spoke, wrote and sometimes used dramatic action to communicate their message – Jesus is the message. The prophets often spoke a word that was relevant for their generation, their time and situation – Jesus is the complete and eternal Word, always relevant, always fresh. The prophets bore witness to the reality and truth they saw – Jesus is that reality, is that truth. He is the very brilliance and light of God’s character and His aim is not simply to reveal truth to us, but to make us true. As we behold Him we are transformed into that same image!

The One who began it all, the Author of the ages, has not forsaken what He made. He is as surely the Lord of ‘destiny’ as He is the Lord of creation. The Creator is also the Redeemer. He has not retreated into being a distant observer, a purely transcendent God, but continues to be intimately involved, sustaining all existence, upholding the universe.

When John speaks about the Word that became flesh, He is saying that the very mind of God, the reason and very life of God was made visible, so that we no longer have to grope in the darkness, but know His thoughts towards us. He is the true or real light – the essence and reality of everything. If you want to know what God is like, look at what Jesus is like. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. In this one statement He identifies Himself as the ultimate reality, the mind of God revealed.

God’s Word is Jesus Christ. There is only one Word and only one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. All He has to say to us, He said in Christ. All He has to give to us, He gave in Jesus Christ, for in Christ, He gave Himself in all His fullness. Not only did He become man, but in His free gift of grace, He makes us like Himself. Our entire relation with God, happens within this Word. This is the Word that planned our existence, this is the Word through whom we were created, this is the Word that is our mediation, this is the Word that reveals the secret of our identity and the purpose of our existence, and this Word is our only hope and destiny.
The Word Eternal

Long before the first line of scripture
was penned on papyrus scroll,
the Word, unwritten,
existed as the mind of God.

Before the books were gathered
collated as sacred text,
the Word, intangible; invisible,
was planning, was ordering
the ages that were to come.
This Word predates the Bible,
this Word predates creation,
this Word is alive and active
and speaking still today.

“Heaven is my throne room;
I rest my feet on earth.
So what kind of house
will you build me?” says God.

What kind of doctrine could enfold Him,
What kind of information could define Him,
What kind of book could contain Him?

Yet, despite His boundless nature,
within His infinite wisdom,
He devised a crafty plan, by which
His thoughts, His intents
would fit themselves into
the form of a humble seed:
The DNA of His own life,
encrypted within the written Word.

And so began the writing
of that which we now call:
the Bible – the Scriptures.
Within the limitations; imperfections
of human words and human authors
God placed His eternal perfect seed.

A seed is not a tree;
the Scriptures are not our God,
Yet a seed is the beginning, the start -
provided with fruitful soil,
encouraged by water and light,
a seed gives birth to a being
much greater than itself.

His plan foresaw the day
in which this seed would blossom
no longer encrypted; no longer disguised
but fully expressed in the person
of Jesus – the Christ – the Son
The One who was in the beginning
revealed within our midst
Immanuel – God with us -
the Word became flesh.

His desire is still the same:
for His Word to break free of the boundaries
of letters and text and theories
and yet again, became flesh,
and yet again find expression in a person:
you – the chosen – the offspring of God.

So as we approach the Scriptures,
do more than read what is written -
listen to what is spoken.
So once again we can encounter
the mind, the voice, the person
who spoke long before
pen or paper were born.
(by Andre Rabe)
This Great Salvation
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you concerning things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. 1 Pet 1:10-12

When they inquired about the time to which all their writings pointed, the event that would be the fulfillment of God’s purpose and the release of His glory on earth, the Spirit of God within them pointed towards the sufferings of Christ. They realised that we ( those who came after the suffering of Christ ) would be the beneficiaries of this event. How many continue to search the scriptures, trying to find another prophesy that points to another time or event, and in the process neglect the greatest event – this great salvation.

The Jews divided time into two parts, namely: the present age, and the age to come. The ‘present age’ was subject to evil and the ‘age to come’ would be the perfect age in which God rules. In between these two ages they saw the ‘Day of the Lord’ which was, as it were the birth pangs of the new age. The writer of Hebrews is saying that the age of glimpses, fragments is gone and the age of completeness has come. The time of shadows and grasping in the dark has gone, the time of reality and truth has come. In Jesus “… the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” and  “you will do well to heed this word as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (1John2:8, 2 Pet 1:19). Jesus is not just another messenger of ‘the present age’, but He is the Day of the Lord, giving birth to a whole new dispensation.

God anticipated a time and a person in which He would reveal Himself in such clarity and completeness, that for all eternity it would be known as the crescendo, the sum total of His conversation with man. Just as He spoke creation into existence, this declaration would once again be a word of such magnitude that it would give birth to a whole new creation. Just as He originally said: “let light shine out of darkness”, He would once again speak a word that would shine with the knowledge of the favour of God; a message that would radiate the character of God with such accuracy that it would dispel all darkness, destroy all ignorance of His love and leave man without excuse to remain distant. This event would mark the end of the old Adamic race, a race defined by the fall of man, and be the birth of a new humanity, a humanity which God reconciled to Himself, not holding their trespassed against them, a humanity defined by Christ – His final Word regarding man.

Identity revealed
In the face of Christ Jesus the eternal purpose of God, His original intent and thoughts towards man were made plain. This revelation destroys every false identity and unlocks the truth about us. The light that confronted Saul on the way to Damascus was both a destructive force and a life-giving encounter. The flaming fire of the presence of God eternally destroyed Saul, and simultaneously brought forth Paul – the true person that God had in mind since the beginning. As Paul continued to look into this light, he saw the face of Christ shining with the knowledge of the glory of God. As he looked deeply, he became aware of the real significance of Christ, a significance far beyond the miracles He performed, a significance far beyond the few years He spent on earth. He began to recognise, in the face of Christ, the true identity of mankind.

It is this insight into Christ which takes us beyond a mere historic appreciation of Him, into a present awareness of the One who lives; the One who represents my innocence at the right hand of God.

Jesus once asked: “Who do men say that I am?”. After His disciples gave Him all the current opinions and hearsay stories, He asked: “And you, who do you say that I am?”. There is an appointed time for you to move beyond popular opinion and come to your own conclusion. Can you hear Him asking you that question today: “Who do you say that I am?” Seeing Him for who He truly is, is not an intellectual exercise; it’s not simply reading about what He did or said. Even His disciples who were with Him did not come to an accurate conclusion about Him from observing Him in the natural. It was only when the Father revealed His own point of view to Peter, that Peter started to appreciate the real Christ. Jesus then immediately started speaking to Peter about his true identity – that He was a piece of a rock carved and originating in another rock. Reminds us of Is 51: “You who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn” In realising His true identity, you discover your own. “The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” (Rom 12:3 MSG).

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Cor 3:18 NAS). Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is the reflection of God’s original thought about us, the means by which we were created, the mediator through whom we are justified and made blameless, the mirror in whom we see the truth that we were indeed created in His image and likeness.

Christ is the revelation of your true identity. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col 3:4 NAS) The word ‘when’ in the Greek is in the present continuous tense. In other words ‘whenever’ is probably a better translation. The Mirror translation says it this way: “Every time Christ is revealed as our life, we are being co-revealed in the same glory (likeness and image of God) being united together with Him.”

More details of the book here: Secret of Contentment

“And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all the hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Gen 1:31, 2:1-3
“I know that everything that God does will remain forever, there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God so worked that men should fear Him.” Eccl 3:14
We need to realise that man was not created on the first day, to give God a hand. In fact, the first day man woke up to, was the seventh day of creation, the Sabbath rest. Man awoke in the provision of God. He awoke in the satisfaction of His Father, because God was pleased with everything He had created and completed. God rested from all His works, because He was satisfied. Man realised he could not add to anything or take away from what He had created.

“Therefore, let us fear, lest while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest…” Heb 4:1-3
“There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who enters His rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from His” Heb 4:9,10

God designed and purposed for us to live in His rest.
“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” Matt 12:8.  Jesus declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. For Him to be Lord of the Sabbath He had to rest from all His works. This as impossible unless He had finished or completed his work.

What work did Jesus come to do?
Jesus came to restore man back to His rest.
“For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Eph2:10 “Ascribe greatness to the God our Rock His work is perfect” Deut 32:3,4
“Look to the Rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug”

God is not a panel beater, but a master craftsman who did a perfect work in us through Christ Jesus. He didn’t need our help in the process. We are His workmanship, His masterpiece. If I should add a stroke of paint to a painting of Van Gogh, I would depreciate the value of the painting. Likewise my contribution is not to feel I have to add to his work, but to simply adore and appreciate His finished work.

“While the house was built there was no sound of a hammer or axe or tool” 1 Kings 6:7 God encouraged us not to find our confidence in our own labour, but His labour on our behalf. Our own strength only leads to us being heavy laden. He desires us to soar like eagles, like those who wait on the Lord. Eagles soar in the slipstream of the wind and rely on the strength of the wind to take them higher and faster.
“Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” Matt 11:28 God desires that we find the unforced rhythms of grace to propel us in life. His grace is more than enough.
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand”
“But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace towards me did not prove vain; but I laboured more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” 1 Cor15:1;10
The Sabbath rest is not the absence of work but it is an inward attitude of confidence in the finish work of Christ on my behalf.
Grace is all God did in Christ on my behalf.
By grace we have been saved through faith and not by our own works and His grace is sufficient for us.
God does not want us to work harder but rest harder.
The most active state we can be in is to live in the rest of God. (Inward attitude)
We need to rest in God’s goodness and enjoy the “God factor”.
“Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” Ps116.7
Don’t worry that things will not happen if you don’t make them happen.

He became sin so that you might become…………
He became poor so that you might become…………
He became sick so that you might become…………
He became a curse so that you might become…………
He became all that you were so that you can be all that He is.

So what is it that we must do?
Have faith in His finished work on your behalf.
Just believe. Your unbelief will disqualify you from His rest. The disciples asked Jesus: “… what we must do, to do the works of God?” Jesus’ reply was: “Just believe in whom He has sent. We don’t do in order to receive something from God in return. We realised that grace is all that we have already received as a result of what Christ did, that enable and energises us to do.

One ‘doing’ in order to receive, is one who is untrained in the knowledge of God and totally unaware of what he has received in the finished work of Christ. It is like someone being troubled by a bill of R1000 when he is oblivious to the fact that he has millions in his bank account.

Be aware what you manifest and carry. You are a God container. Exodus 34;29, Ps82:5-7
Set your mind on His goodness. Col 3:1-4
Refuse to doubt , being swayed by different opinions. A double-minded man is unstable in all His ways and will fall from his high position in Christ. James1:7-9, 1Kings18:20, 21.

God’s Sabbath is no longer a particular day of the week.
“He again fixes a certain day, “Today”, saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.” Hebr4:7-8

God so desires for us to enter His rest. We are the celebration of His love, the reason for his satisfaction. We are the product of His labour and what He saw pleased Him so much that He entered into His rest.
God’s rest is not another day; it is YOU.
“Jehovah has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling-place. This is My rest forever; here I will dwell; for I have desired it”. PS 132:13: 14 (MKJV)
God is so at home in you that he came to make his permanent abode in you. He is comfortable in you and pleased to reveal Himself through you.

(by Tanswell Davidse)

In one of Paul’s last letters, the letter to the Philippians, we see that his adoration of Christ did not weaken through the years. On the contrary, we find in this letter his most expressive desire to just know Christ more. Think of it … he spent his life exploring the depths of Christ and his ultimate wish remains: “That I might know Him more”! This is not a revelation that we grasp, categorize, and file with all our other neatly ordered doctrines; this is a revelation that grasps us, consumes us, until we say “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. It’s a revelation that takes you beyond individual life, into union life. Can you sense the call of Christ within you … inviting you to union with Himself? Can you sense His cords of love drawing you into a deeper understanding of Him; a spiritual understanding not a mental one? He is so ready to reveal Himself to you in a deeper way than what you have ever experienced before.

Chapter 2 from ‘Adventures in Christ’