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THE CROSS: THE GLORY OF JESUS THAT CHANGES US INTO HIS IMAGE
Rev 13:8b John 17:4-5 John 17:24 Genesis 3:22-24 Exodus 26:31-33 Mar 15:37-38 We read from Genesis, when God thrust Adam out of the Garden due to his sin, and placed a barrier in the form of cherubims blocking Adam from getting back in.
The reason God wrote to us about the Garden of Eden and where He threw Adam out of, is because God’s aim is to restore mankind. Now, God is not going to take you and put you back into a literal Garden again.
It is no coincidence that when Jesus died on the cross to save our souls and restore us back to God, that the veil in the temple was therefore ripped the moment he died.
But what was shown with the veil the day Jesus died is something that must actually happen to each of us individually.
So let us go to some further biblical truths that actually uses the picture of a VEIL being removed when we come to believe in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. 2 Corinthians 3:6 Paul was a preacher of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 3:7-8 He says that the Old Testament was a MINISTRATION OF DEATH.
That is a symbol of how glorious the entire Old Testament was. But this ministry of SPIRIT of which Paul was a minister, is MUCH MORE GLORIOUS!
2 Corinthians 3:9-18 The Old Covenant of Moses was so glorious that they had to veil his face.
Gal 3:24 Jesus Christ is the end of the law. Rom 10:4 And the people did not exactly know that fact.
And Paul said that as a new testament preacher, he did not use VEILED speech, or VAGUE and OBSCURE teachings.
But Paul said nothing is veiled any more!
And then he speaks not only of the people in Israel under Law, before Jesus came, but also of the Jews who continued to read only Moses after Jesus came, who did not accept Jesus. (14) But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. Until this day, means that even after Jesus came, the purpose of the law, the veil and the covered truths are still hidden from the Jews if they reject Jesus and continue to stick with Old Testament only. (15) But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. But thanks be to God that if any Jew who has stuck with the Old Testament and never accepted Jesus, and is therefore, blinded in their hearts, will ever TURN TO JESUS, that veil will be removed!
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Did you notice earlier that Paul said he was a minister of the SPIRIT, and not of the LETTER?
In fact, he says that here: 2 Corinthians 4:5 And the reason he says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, is because preaching SPIRIT, or preaching JESUS, causes you to be LIBERATED from a BLINDING VEIL. What makes this sort of blinding veil so dangerous is that the VEIL is first mentioned in BLOCKING MAN out of the most holy place of the temple.
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Look what happens when your heart gets into the preaching of our need for Jesus to die on the cross!
By the Spirit of the Lord.
And this brings up a whole new truth! Jesus is said to be the LAST MAN ADAM.
Now, that does not mean we can not commit sins afterwards as Christians.
Think about it.
THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE!
Look at what else Paul says that reminds us of Genesis. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 Genesis 1:2-3!!!
God changed this old dark world when he commanded light to shine out of darkness! And He changes our WORLDS! John writes about GENESIS, or as he put it, the BEGINNING. 1 John 1:1 The whole point of the gospel is to restore FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD AGAIN. 1 John 1:3 Jesus is in a certain SORT OF PLACE.
1 John 1:5-7 He is in LIGHT.
That is what John also said: 1 John 2:6 If you abide IN HIM, then you should be acting like He is acting, because fellowship with Jesus actually performs a miracle of CHANGING YOU and AFFECTING YOU to be more like Him.
I call this “GARDEN-LIFE.”
Your sins are taken away when you believe the message of the cross with everything in you.
So read this again and get a whole new LIGHT on these verses… 1 John 1:6-7 What is the first thing that we read about when man lived OUTSIDE the garden? Genesis 4:5 Genesis 4:8 And look what John says: 1 John 2:7-10 REVELATION literally means UNVEILING.
When something hits you and the lights, as it were, go on in your heart, know that SOMETHING IN YOU HAS CHANGED AND MADE YOU MORE LIKE JESUS! He is still making us more and more like Him, church!
When an apostolic preacher preaches Jesus, it’s like GOD COMMANDING LIGHT TO SHINE OUT OF DARKNESS all over again.
But it all starts by you having to ADMIT that sin separates you from God.
1 John 1:8-10 He says you sinned, and you cannot ignore that and say you serve Jesus. I think this is what Jesus was trying to say here: John 17:24-26 How could Jesus ask for people to be with Him when his disciples were standing right there listening to his prayer?
And notice that He said that if they are WITH HIM, then they can BEHOLD HIS GLORY!
I think this is what Jesus was trying to say when we read: John 17:5 Its the cross. John 7:39 Being glorified speaks of the cross.
John 17:24 |