Autonomy

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20).

 There was only one explanation for the lives of the shepherds: God! There should be only one explanation for our lives: God!

 The Shepherds believed God. The Angels appeared to them and told them there was a Savior, Lord, the Messiah born and given unto them and for the whole world. They left the scene and searched for the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths.

These Shepherds were men who were not counted worthy of anything appearing to them from heaven, yet God thought so. They felt unworthy by their peers and yet God said that they were of value. The religious crowd considered them unclean, unintellectual, and unattached, but God appeared unto them and touched them by angels.

Afterwards the men left in search for the Lord Jesus, found Him lying in the manger and told everyone of what and who they had seen. They went on with God and didn’t stop telling the good news. The appearance of the Living Word changed their lives.

After we meet the Lord Jesus we want to be like Him. We have a sincere desire for the Word. A man without an appetite for God’s Word causes us to wonder if he is saved. We will desire as the shepherds did to be like Jesus.

There should be only one explanation for our lives. “God” is the only explanation for what we are and what we are doing. If we can explain it on any other level, we are a failure. Most Christians’ lives can be explained on a basis other than the work of God. The shepherds represent what happens when we see the face of God.

“There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness”–Proverbs 30:12

We are that generation! That which is wrong is now declared right. The time when right is wrong is now upon us. The avalanche of impurities have reached an all-time low. And it is reaching high into the nostrils of a holy God.

The Apostle Paul said that in the latter days there will be a form of godliness but the power of a changed life will not be evident. Many will come before the Lord saying, “And why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom it is like” (Luke 6:47).

Rebellion will be the agenda of the day. And truly the rebellion is not against the church but against the God of creation. Man continues to sin without consciousness of a reckoning day, but that day is coming.

What shall we do in the shadow of His coming to receive us unto Himself? We are to live soberly, righteously, feverishly praying, weeping for the lost, and yearning for others to enter into the Kingdom of God. Live in high gear in public and low gear in private with Almighty God.

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).

On January 2, 1953 Queen Elizabeth’s coronation took place at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The train of her robe flowed behind her with six maids holding the six yards of material that was exquisitely fabricated. You say, “Who does she think she is, the queen of England?” Ah, yes she does! That is why the designer went over the top to form and fashion her robe.

Isaiah saw the King’s robe and it filled the temple, not just for six yards, but the whole temple of glory. Back and forth, back and forth, doubling and redoubling until the symbol of God’s holy splendor packed the house. “Who is like you, O Lord?”

The answer to this question can not be completely answered by our finite minds. There is absolutely no one like God. No one. That’s because He is holy. He is separate. He is completely unlike us. God’s throne is high and lifted up. God is distinct and uncommon, separate, and holy. His throne is not on our level.

Don’t bring Him down for He will not or can not lower Himself. Rise up and worship Him for He will effect you and me in tremendous ways. We honor the King when we see His train and react accordingly. May we get in our position so that God may reign upon us. When we do then the showers of blessings will fall.

Father, thank you for Your Son and thank You for You. We recognize you as being above us, beyond us, highly exalted, over me, and totally separate from me. I am getting in a position for a downpour of your grace.

“Joy is withered away from the sons of men…Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?” (Joel 1:12, 16).

Joy!  What a scarce commodity this is.  There are many who say they are abiding in Christ.  There are few who show that they are abounding in Him.  Joy seems to be elusive.  How indescribably blessed is the believer who has his soul filled with it.

This joy is as real at the graveside as at the fireside.  Joy does not evaporate under the heat and pressure of adversity.  Joy does not collapse in the presence of calamity.  Joy does not sour under the test of poverty.  Joy is alive and deep down in the bottom of the heart of a Spirit-filled believer.

Joy is not created by possessions, or by positions, but by a Person — Him!  Joy can stand all pressures Satan or circumstances bring against it, but, and ponder it well, the sun of joy in the soul can be eclipsed by our own disobedience.

Joy requires two conditions:  submission and service.  “If ye abide” — submission — means staying put when you feel like quitting, or you think it smart to quit.  Joy also comes through service.  Most Christians are activists, they do a lot of things —  unprayerfully.  Winning the lost at any cost, abiding in Him, allowing Him to live through you — service — brings unqualified joy.

The Offerings

“But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice [peace offering] on the third day shall be burned with fire” (Leviticus 7:17).

God spoke to Moses out of the Tabernacle of the congregation (Leviticus 1:1). The offerings were now of worship and witness of Himself. Five offerings were given to Moses as God called out to him, not from Mount Sinai but from the Tabernacle.

The first three offerings were “Dedicatory Offerings.” It spoke of the value of Christ’s death. They are called the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. The offerings prefigured Christ as a “sweet smelling savor” to God, rather than as a sin offering.

The burnt offering speaks of the value of Christ’s death in terms of his “devotion.” The meal offering speaks of the value of the death of Christ in terms of its “perfection.” The peace offering speaks of the value of Christ’s death in terms of His “communion” (Leviticus 3; 7:11-13; Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20). This was not an offering to make peace, but celebrated and rejoiced in the peace already made.

The power of the third day is that you and I are to experience communion in the Lord Jesus Christ daily, the same day the offering is made. Our communion in Christ ought to take us to tomorrow and then we start over again. To become stale is to lose our freshness and reality in our communion with Christ, and is meant to be cut off from fellowship. This applies not only to our quiet times, but to the holy celebration when we come together for the remembrance of the Lord in His death, until He comes.