Servanthood - Part 1

God created mankind for husbandry.  Husbandry is associated with taking care of the household or management of resources including plants and animals.   

Right from the very beginning mankind was not going to be able to call its own shots.  As early as creation, mankind was to serve.  God created mankind for serving and in the very first chapter of Genesis, we see God as creator and therefore Master giving mankind the instructions to serve.  Let’s take a look at the instruction to begin to gain an understanding of what servanthood was required.

First of all, the command and blessing was given to be fruitful and multiply.  In order to follow through with the next command of replenishing the earth mankind would need to become fruitful.  What does the word Fruitful mean?  The rules of the English Language would make it to mean “Full of Fruit”.  This would have the idea of being beneficial, a blessing, etc.., to the extent of bearing fruit.  It could also mean that like the trees and plants, mankind was to bear its own fruit.  There are references given to the “fruit of the womb” which indicate that physical fruit or children were expected to be a product of the union between a man and woman.

The first man and woman were unable to physically care for the entire estate of the earth, even in their perfect state.  The surface area of the earth is 197 Million Square miles approximately with 71% of it being water.  That is a lot of area for two people to care for, and God’s intention was for them to have help.

Though Genesis doesn’t specifically mention this, Jesus is the Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  When God addressed Adam, Eve and the serpent after the fall; He prophesied to them that there would be a descendant that would bruise the serpent’s head.  This descendant would be Jesus, who many years later would offer himself as an atonement offering for sin, thus He became the Lamb which takes away the sin of the world.  This is another form of servanthood probably even the highest/most respected type of servanthood.

When God created mankind, He full well knew that mankind would fall into sin; and because of this foreknowledge, put a plan in place to redeem mankind.  God’s plan was to become our kinsman redeemer which includes bearing our shame, restoring a relationship that was lost due to our shame.

There was no way that we could help ourselves as mankind to get out of the fix that we created for ourselves through our disobedience to our Creator and Master, so God when He offered us His solution, was in effect making Himself a servant of the people that He had created for the sake of restoring their relationship with Him.

The reality is that God as Jesus Christ is the Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world. Revelations 13:8

Servanthood for humanity has not ended when Adam and Eve sinned.  Their sin, though it was a rebellion against their Master did not erase their debt of servanthood which was still expected from them and the entire lineage of humanity.

It is when mankind has an elevated opinion of themselves that servanthood gets left behind.



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Part 2
Part 3

Jesus Our High Priest

Hebrews 4:14-5:1-14, 7:1-28

“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” Hebrews 4:14

First of all, I want to summarize the book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews was written as a means of pointing out the best of the two covenants. We do not merely see the comparison of the Old Covenant Vs. the New Covenant, but we see them explained in a way that helps us to get a better picture and vision of the types of our Saviour.
The author no doubt was dealing with a group of Christians who had come to the point spiritually, they no longer were feeling God speaking to them. It seems as though they had began dabbling again with the Old Covenantal system of worship so their seeing could replace their lack of feeling.

Jesus is the perfect High Priest, not just because He has that connection with His Father, but because He was acquainted with grief and chose to bear ours. Isaiah 53:3,4

In Hebrews 5 we will discuss the priesthood, both Aaron’s priesthood and the priesthood of Melchizedek.

Aaron’s appointment as a priest begins in Exodus 19:6, Exodus 28:1,2
The first mention of the priesthood begins as a Priesthood for the entire Israel nation with God as their High Priest. The whole purpose of this priesthood was to maintain the religious nature of the worship of God and through the holiness of the nation of Israel, the heathen nations would be drawn to God. Once the nation of Israel was established as a nation of priests, God proceeded with special instructions for them (a code of conduct if you will). The power of God when He spoke was so awesome that the Israelite trembled and begged Moses to have God speak through him. So was God’s initial plan for the priesthood failed?
God’s plan for the priesthood was not failed, but actually makes a very good point! Our God is so holy that sinful humanity, as most certainly some of the Israelites would have been, cannot bear to be in the presence of a Holy God.
Till now, God had remained the High Priest for all of humanity, but He began setting the stage for the arrival of a High Priest that could Identify with the people. First of all, God set up Aaron the world’s first human High Priest. He was human so he identified with mankind, but he was imperfect as were a myriad of following High Priests.
I hope I was able to give a concise study of the Aaronic Priesthood, and then as we look at Melchizedek, we can remember the Old Covenant Priesthood, which pointed to something far greater.

Who was Melchizedek?
The King of Righteousness
Then the King of Salem (or Peace)
Many people believe that Salem is the same as Jerusalem.
No Beginning or End
No Father or Mother
High Priest for ever

Other View Points:
Ancient literature uses Melchizedek as a nickname for Shem the son of Noah.
Some People believe Melchizedek was an earthly King who was so righteous he was also made High Priest.
Jewish Hellenistic philosopher Philo identifies Melchizedek as Logos
Some people believe it was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

They do not really know what become of the inhabitants of Jebus/Jerusalem during the conquest but many believe because of their righteous king Melchizedek they were integrated into the camp of Israel. They also believe that the descendants of Melchizedek became Jerusalem’s Priests. This view goes against what the Word of God says.

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Hebrews 3:6
Hebrews 10:23
1 Thessalonians 5:21
2 Thessalonians 2:15
Matthew 11:28

Genesis 14:1-24 (14:17-24)
Melchizedek blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him Tithes. This is all it says in Genesis about Melchizedec but it is full of implications. Melchizedek recognizes His authority over Abraham as He has the power and authority to Bless. Abraham would not give tithes to a fellow human, He obviously understood this was God standing before him as a pre-incarnate Christ. At this point in time, Abraham was careful in his dealings with humans and he understood what was going on in this discourse. This was the beginning of an anointing on Abraham’s life. We go right into another discourse, where the king of Sodom, who apparently was standing there through the previous conversation with Melchizedek, wants to bless Abraham as well for his role in rescuing his people. Abraham refuses with an oath to God that he would no longer take blessings or goods from the hand of the wicked, lest they should boast that they had increased Abraham’s wealth.
Abraham’s faithfulness was then rewarded with a further blessing that would eventually bless all nations!

Psalm 110:4
Acts 16:17 Servants of the Most High God…

The job description of the High Priest was to offer sacrifices and gifts on behalf of the people to God. No High Priest of God would try to honour himself with his position or by his position, but he would wait on a holy appointment for the calling. The same way Christ did not look for his own glory in being a High Priest, but was chosen by His Father for that calling.
Jesus, as we pointed out before was acquainted with grief or sorrows. Hebrews 5:7 indicates an earnest prayer to save Him from death. Through His faithfulness, He became the Author of Salvation and and the High Priest forever.

The earthly High Priest was the only one allowed to enter the Holy of Holies (on penalty of death), but through Jesus death He tore down that middle wall of partition between us as mankind to give us an entrance with the Father in the Heavenly Holy of Holies.

Isaiah 32:1
“Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.”

Tithe : Numbers 31:41

How does knowing that Jesus is our High Priest strengthen our profession?
Knowing that Jesus Christ as God in the Flesh knows what it is like to face temptations, He understands our weaknesses and intercedes on our behalf.

Does coming boldly to God imply a lack of humility?
Esther 4:16 Though Esther had no assurance of being heard by the king, because of her desperation, she approached the king with her petition. She actually was facing a penalty of death for coming uninvited.
That middle wall of separation between us and God has been torn away. It is as if there is a standing invitation to approach the throne of God. We do not need to go through a ritual now to hear the voice of God, but do we have the attitude that I will die if I don’t hear from him? The Word of God always brings life!

If, despite your sin, Jesus has compassion on you, how should you relate to other sinners?
Matthew 18 Treating each other with humility and forgiveness is actually a display of the meekness we carry within our soul. If a Righteous God who has the power to destroy mankind for its sin chooses to be merciful then who are we to look at a fellow sinner in disdain.

Why is it important that Jesus is of the Priestly order of Melchizedek, not Aaron’s?
The earthly priesthood has always been faulty for the reason of those who were the priests, even though they were ordained by God for that purpose, had a sinful nature and were not the perfect priest. Melchizedek was first the King of Righteousness and then the King of Peace. Everything about speaks of a deity!

If Jesus learned obedience through suffering, what might be our calling?
As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we too are called to obedience. The question remains though, Are you obeying your Father because that is what you are called to do, or are you obeying Him because as a son or daughter you wish to see His plan fulfilled. The real answer lies in that question. If we are just being obedient because that is our calling, then we will always chafe under that obedience. This is a heart question, and must be answered with the heart. We can either remain a servant in the kingdom of God or be a partner.

What is significant about Jesus coming through the tribe of Judah?
Though it was prophesied by Jacob (Aka Israel) that a kings would rule from among the descendants of Judah until “Shiloh” come and draws all men to Him. This is a reference to Jesus our Savior and Messiah.

Over what people what people was Melchizedek Priest?
Melchizedek is a priest for all the people of the world.

Why is it important that Jesus’ priesthood is unchangeable?
Death and corruption are a result of the curse of sin. Jesus Priesthood is unchangeable because He will never experience death again nor will ever experience corruption. The Old Testament Priesthood kept changing for both of those. The Priest would first experience death and then corruption. This just further solidifies Jesus place the the ultimate High Priest.

What does it mean to save them to the uttermost?
Ephesians 3:20,21 Jesus power to save has no ending.

What is unique about our High Priest’s sacrifice?
The Old Testament Priests would sacrifice the best lambs for the sins of the people, but our High Priest sacrificed Himself as the perfect Lamb. All the other sacrifices and there were quite a few, pointed to this one sacrifice which was done once and for all! Hebrews 4:14-16

Salvation Comes From God!

Salvation Comes From God

Life or Death is in the power of the choice!

There are two eternal destinies to which the eternal souls of mankind choose to spend their eternity by either choosing life or death.  We are able to live physically without choosing God, but we will be making choices to destroy ourselves physically.  The reality is if we are choosing not to choose God we are choosing Satan and his wages...his payment for being his minion is death.  Though you may be alive presently, you can not live on his wages and you will begin to die physically and of course you are already dead spiritually.

We all start out in this life as babies who carry the bent toward sin and death.  We will all carry this to our grave unless … unless there is a Savior, a Redeemer who is willing to take our punishment for the sins we have committed.  We do, and his name is Jesus, He is our Savior.  He is God, come in the flesh to take our punishment of death and save us from our sins and from the penalty of our sins.

As a means to clarify my previous statement, we are not punished for having the bent toward evil, but because of that bent we should choose evil.  That is what we will be punished for.

Salvation begins, only after you have reached an understanding that you are doomed, and that there is a Savior waiting on your acceptance of Him.  Though the purchase price has been paid; it is an advance payment waiting on you to claim it. As it begins to dawn on you that there is hope, that life doesn’t have to be meaningless; and you make your choice to accept the sacrifice Jesus made in your behalf, you begin to live!  

Life will take on new meaning, life will be something to look forward to, and life will now be eternal instead of being over at the grave.

Genesis chapter 15 lays out the covenant God made with Abraham for atonement for sin.  God appears to Abraham in a vision and gives him a message.  

God said, “I am your shield” and “I am your great reward”.  If we were to break this done a bit, it would look like this … I am your protection and your treasure.  What difference did this make to Abraham to have this declaration of God?  First of all, when the Word of the Lord comes to someone; it is to be shared.  Abraham, as the messenger of God, was a prophet of God.  Secondly, Abraham was a part of mankind; and this entire chapter deals with the sin nature of mankind and the redemption process that God had planned.  

Abraham showed his humanity by thinking of passing the blessings on to his household, but God had a much bigger plan in store for him.  God plainly showed Abraham, who was to benefit from this declaration that was given to him.  It was to be his children.  God began to tell Abraham all that He had done for him.  God said, “I have separated you from your land and your people, and brought you to a new place and given to you as an inheritance”.  This land was to be a place where Abraham’s children could serve the Lord without the influences of the wicked neighbors.  (Some of the details needed worked out and would be in God’s own good time!)

The meat of this passage now follows as Abraham, following God’s instructions, takes different kinds of animals and divides them laying them in an organized fashion.  This most certainly would have created a trail of blood as the life-blood flowed from the animals and mingled in a pool.

This was a sight that Abraham was never going to forget because of its significance, and while he waited on God to make the next step; Abraham maintained the purity of the sacrifice by not allowing any external contaminations to take away from the pure sacrifice.  Abraham had birds swooping to get their own piece of that tasty meat which he chased away while he waited.  These birds could be compared to the devil as he tried in vain to get between the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the Father making it impure and thus ineffective.

The sun began to go down, and Abraham in his humanity began to become sleepy as God began to reveal Himself in this new and remarkable way.  It was as if the wickedness of the world had overtaken the light and extinguished it altogether as an unnatural darkness swept across him.

As God began His discourse with Abraham, He prophetically spoke of Abraham’s children being servants in a strange land and being set free when the time was right.  He spoke of the people of that land being judged for their sins, and Abraham’s children inheriting that land from the hand of God.

The smoking furnace that Abraham saw was representative of the suffering Abraham’s descendants would face, while the burning lamp would portray the great deliverance by which they would be delivered.  This has a two-fold meaning, one as in the children of Israel being delivered from Egypt, and two as in we who have been grafted into Abraham’s lineage have lived for many years in bondage to the prince of this world and have received our freedom through Jesus Christ.  This type of covenant could only be broken through one party not going through with his or her end of the covenant, which would require his/her death as the perpetrator of this broken promise.  

Abraham is considered the prophet of the Lord and the father of all who have faith.  Through this kind of representation we see from him we can understand that he is representing both God and mankind.  In a nutshell, this covenant states that if God doesn’t keep up His end of this covenant, He will die as part of that agreement; on the other hand, God is saying, that because no amount of mankind will ever be “good enough” as a sacrifice of death for failing in this agreement, He (God) would die for that scenario as well.

This covenant was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is God and man both, and because man failed in his part of the agreement, offered up Himself as God on behalf of mankind.  It is critical that we recognize both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus and understand just what He came to do, for how can we appreciate His sacrifice on our behalf unless we understand the workings of this covenant and what was required for sin.

The only way to atone for the sin of humanity was for a holy God to offer Himself as a holy sacrifice for an unholy people.  It is clear, mankind had nothing to offer for its own redemption.  As this plays out in our lives, we have salvation by our faith in the grace of God which is available through Jesus Christ because of His offering.

Genesis 15:1-21

Romans 4:16

Romans 5:1,2

Romans 6:23

Marriage with the Devil

Genesis 6
    Satan was busy, as he is now, constantly looking for ways to corrupt mankind.  It is evident the daughters of men were good-looking by what it says in this passage.  Mankind had left the principles of God to the point, that they just planned to do evil all the time. The wickedness of man had gotten to the point that God could no longer bless them with life.  Are we losing the principles of God?  What are the principles of God?
Love the Lord supremely.
Abhor evil.
The heart issues must always be dealt with.
Without God life is void.
Love your fellow man.
Reach out to the lost.

    The term “Sons OF God” has always meant created beings, whether initial  creation or recreated.  The term “Daughters of men” has always been referred to as being of men or children of men.  During this time there were no sons of God except for the angels who He had created.  The ancient Jews believed that this was an alliance between the fallen angels and mankind.  This was ruse of Satan to further corrupt the beautiful creation God had made.  Some people use a verse in the NT to discredit this: Luke 11:34,35 This verse isn't saying they can’t have children, also it is talking about life after death and not the present.  Take a look at this verse:  Jude 6  The angels who had initiated this alliance are bound until the last judgment day.
    The inhabitants of this time were believed to have worshiped the offspring of this alliance as demi-gods.  They were powerful and supernatural.  They became infamous for their evil deeds, presumably against the righteous.  As time progressed, Noah and his family were the only righteous left.
    In these last days we have seen an influx  of the children of the devil.  They are destroying the righteous; physically and spiritually.  We need to stand up and watch that we do not enter matrimony with the devil.
    We have the inexplicable link to the devil that cannot be eradicated until death.  This link is our flesh, and it desperately wants to join into a union with the devil.  We can gain control of it by constantly refreshing our marriage with Christ.  <Romans 7:22-25 With my whole heart I agree with the law of God.  But in every part of me, I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do.  What a miserable person I am.  Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?  Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.  So then with my mind I serve the law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.>

Creation

     The last time you heard an explosion did anything new appear?  No, of course not, that is one reason why the big bang theory was not the cause for our origins.  God created the world and the people in the world so He would have someone to show the full extent of His love.
Day 1      God begins to move as a cold, dark and stormy shapeless object begins to unfold.  The waters beat with a fury making waves across the face of it as the Spirit of God gives energy or power to it.
               The laws of science are  put into effect ready to keep and maintain the unfolding creation of the earth.  As God continues to give energy to the newly created earth that cannot yet be lived on, new things appear that had not yet been seen.
                He begins with light on day one and thus begins to dispel the darkness that is in place here on earth.  This light, because there was no atmosphere yet, most likely took on the appearance of filtered light to that as sunshine on a hazy day, or how the sun shines on Mercury where there is little to no atmosphere making for an eerie glow from the sun.
                God then divides the darkness from the light using His creative power to make the light more clear, more definite. The sun as yet has not been created, but God is demonstrating His creative nature as well as His creative power.
Day 2        The earth, on day two, received its shape or form from God, but still needed work to make it livable.  Since the atmosphere had not yet been created, but was needed for the survival of the rest of the creation, now was a good time to create it.  God, first spent some time dividing the waters that covered the earth to create a canopy that was suitable for an atmosphere to sustain life.
Day 3        God begins this day with making dry land appear.  Up until this time the earth was still covered in water that was beating out its chaos.  When God moved the water aside to make land appear, the land was dry.
                 This is where the earth gets its name.  God named the dry land earth, and the waters He separated from the earth, he called seas.  God now declares His creation so far, "good".  Order had started and even though there was a lot to be done yet, progress was being seen.
                  The earth needed some sort of covering that could also be used to sustain life.  God speaks and tells the earth to bring forth grass, herbs, and trees; and then gave them power to spread over the face of the earth.
Day 4         This is the day God decides to make the sun, moon, and stars.  God spoke them into existence and gave the sun the power to rule the day and the moon and stars the power to rule the night.
                   Light and darkness are just as opposite as sin and righteousness and the fact that God would have lights to rule the night would indicate that He doesn't want us to be in utter darkness.  Sin in our culture will leave our culture in darkness, and sin in our personal lives will leave our souls in darkness unless we allow God to re-create our souls and let His light...His righteousness shine into our souls and through us.
                   The rotation of the earth around the sun makes for our times, the sign, and the seasons.  Nothing is random but clearly has order and is set in order mathematically so we can calculate or predict when certain things will happen.
                   We can always count on the sun coming up in the morning and going down in the evening.  We can also count on the constellation Orion coming up in the fall and going down in the spring, and also when certain comets and meteor showers will appear.
Day 5          The time has come for life to be made known on the earth.  God caused the fish, the whales, and the birds to come forth from the waters; and God gave them the power within themselves To spread across the face of the earth and the sea.
Day 6           God begins to speak among themselves:  the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  "Let us make man in our image.  When God created man; He formed him, moulded him, carefully constructed him and then breathed the breath of life into his nose and mankind began to live.
                     Adam, as the first man, had a responsibility given to him by God of tending the Garden of Eden.  The middle of this garden had two trees growing in it, the tree of life and the tree of knowing good and evil.  God gave Adam strict instructions that he could eat of every tree in the garden except the tree of knowing good and evil or he would die.
                      Adam needed a mate, a fellow human that he could share life's greatest pleasures with and so God brought up the animals forth from the ground to Adam to name and to see if there were any suitable for him, and none were.  (God knew that)
                    God then caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and from his side took a rib created a woman with it, and when God brought her to Adam, Adam named her woman; because he said "she was taken out of man".
                    This is what constitutes a marriage: one man and one woman pledging to love each other for life, leaving the umbrella of the parental authority to establish a new home of their own, and becoming bonded together in the bond of love.
                     God blesses this union and gives them power to spread over the face of the earth, to rule over the earth and animals, and to bring the forces of nature into subjection to use for the benefit of mankind.  He then told them what they could eat; herbs and fruit from trees.
Day 7            The creation of the world is now finished and God rests from His work, not because He is tired but because He is setting an example of what a work-week is supposed to look like.