Received on August 20th, 2006 - 3:07PM Last Updated: August 20th, 2006 - 3:07PM
As we were singing of the blessed Hope of Christ's Coming, He spoke this to my heart.
We have a kind of dual hope of His return. As a single thing becomes two images when our eyes are crossed, so we see Jesus twice even though He is one.
For, He has promised to return in glory, and "every eye shall see Him." The whole world shall weap for Him when He returns. And toward this Coming, we long and hope in faith.
However, He has also promised to come unto us (believers in Him), without the world seeing Him. He spoke this following His Last Supper, and preceding His teaching on the coming of the HolySpirit, connecting this truth to His presence in both the Lord's Supper and in His Spirit Who would be given to us.
Therefore, when we forget His presence with us due to fleshly oppression, we can look toward His Coming in glory before all eyes.
And when we are overwhelmed with His presence and don't dwell on that Coming in the future, we can dwell upon His presence with us now in His Supper and through His Spirit.
So as we focus on both of these comings of Jesus, these images become one, as the Lord Jesus truly is one!
53Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves. 54He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me. 58This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:53-58)
16I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,{Greek Parakleton: Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, and Comfortor.} that he may be with you forever,— 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive; for it doesn't see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him." 22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?" 23Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. 24He who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. The word which you hear isn't mine, but the Father's who sent me. 25I have said these things to you, while still living with you. 26But the Counselor, the HolySpirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. (John 14:16-26)
and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)
As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.
But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.
This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, ChristJesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.
You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.
God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.
That Son, JesusChrist, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.
His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.
The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.
So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.
Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!
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