JESUS - FOR CERTAIN

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation looks at the practical applications of our robe of righteousness and the comment that anyone who looks at the face of God will die. I don’t think my idea is new, but it did feel like a new way to see it.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus –Tuesday, 15 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	JESUS - FOR CERTAIN
Why do things work the way they do? Mostly we overlook the obvious due to familiarity. We walk out onto the balcony of a high-rise apartment block. We keep away from the edge because we don’t want to fall. That’s normal behaviour. Others are compelled to go to the edge. It’s as though the adrenalin is pumping and they must look in spite of their fears. I understand that when someone takes his first parachute jump, his mind is filled with questions. Is this safe? Will the parachute open? What sort of man or woman does this? Some say they are very brave. Others say they are out of their minds. Why not just sit back and relax? Some folk are more observant than others. It’s said that when Archimedes climbed into the bath, he saw the level of the water rise. I’m told he jumped out of the bath and ran naked down the street shouting “Eureka”.  He had discovered what we now know as Archimedes Principle. The body displaces its own volume in water. ±2000 years later we say, “But that’s obvious!” That’s because we have grown accustomed to this principle. Other things are equally obvious. We shiver when we get cold. We perspire when we get hot. We know it’s harder walking up-hill than down-hill. If we walk outside in the rain we will get wet. None of these are unreasonable expectations. We also know that we don’t allow our children to play hop-scotch on the highway. Some things are the automatic outcome of an action. If we drink poison we will die. If we cut ourselves we will bleed. We don’t get angry about this. If you step off the roof you will fall to the ground. There is nothing vindictive about this. It’s the law of gravity. Being a Christian does not make you immune to it. Perhaps what we can say is that if we had been listening carefully to the voice of the Lord, we may not have stepped off in the first place! There is another law; a spiritual law; which says if you look at the face of God you will die! Some of us say, “What a terrible law”. But this is not a question of God being spiteful. The truth of this is that if someone approaches the Father, His purity and holiness will destroy a sinner. It’s a bit like saying if you get too close to the fire you will get burned. The two are mutually exclusive. Sin cannot approach God. It will be destroyed. So if you are a sinner, don’t come too close to God or you will be destroyed. But God wants His children to come near. So He has to provide us with something that will cover our sinfulness. That’s why He provides the robe of righteousness. We get this through the blood of Jesus. He takes away our sin and gives us His righteousness. Wearing this robe, we may come and go as He directs. In reality, the robe is not ours. It belongs to Jesus. But if we are wearing this robe, God’s purity will not destroy us. What we are like under the robe is something for theologians to argue about. God’s purity is satisfied and we are welcomed into His presence. God has not been cheated. Jesus has paid the price for our sin. So we are welcome in the throne-room. It doesn’t sound “fair”. It isn‘t. It’s delightfully and gloriously unfair. But why should I complain?  It was His idea in the first place! Thank You Lord Jesus! Jim & Phyllida Strickland.	4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV 17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living One. I died, but look--I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. Revelation 1:17-18 NLT 24 "Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me, to be where I am. I want them to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. John 17:24 GW 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians 5:30 KJV 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. Colossians 1:18 ESV 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. Colossians 2:10 NLT 14 Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT 53 This body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body must be changed into a body that will live forever. 54 When this body that decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of Scripture will come true: "Death is turned into victory! 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 GW	God’s completely different from anyone we’ve known. You can’t describe a God Who’s in a class all of His own. We cannot see His features; Not if we want to live. I wouldn’t take a chance on it. I know that He would give, Such overwhelming glory with His purity Divine, To crush all that is sinful like pressing grapes to wine! He sheds a light more blinding than the sun which shines by day. A little tiny glimpse will surely blow us all away. We know Lot’s wife saw something when she turned her face around. A great big salty pillar is all of her they found. We know the atom bomb can boil your eyes within your head; So getting just a glimpse of God - the outcome’s best unsaid! We wonder why our loving God could cause such awful things. But this is what perfection inevitably brings. It isn’t done on purpose. To keep us far away. In fact, there is a warning, which tells us not to stay. Now if you put your fingers in a 500 volt plug; Then you’ve done something silly; you’ve acted like a mug. The outcome could be serious and you could lose a hand. Don’t blame the electricity it works as it was planned. Our God is like High voltage. You’ve got to stand well clear. Get some insulation and some good high voltage gear. Then if you touch the “hot wire”, you’re sheltered from it’s power, And you can even go and climb up that strange high voltage tower. It’s the insulation that keeps you well protected. Even when High Voltage is successfully detected. That is like what’s needed to visit God Most High. And it is made available for folk like you and I. It’s called His Robe of Righteousness. It screens us from the Lord! So nothing will destroy us with a high and lofty sword. There’s just one way to get it. It’s purchased at a price. The blood of Christ our Saviour has perfectly sufficed. So when we have been cleansed from sin from head down to the toe, His righteousness will cover us in ways we do not know. The only way to get it is a total blood transfusion. I get His; and He gets mine; that settles the confusion. Then I am protected and I will not be slain; And Jesus Christ’s great sacrifice will not have been in vain! This is the way to do it. There is no substitute. Every other method, the Master will refute. So do not even think about a better kind of way. Let Him be your Saviour and serve Him from today. Love Him with a passion that is intimate and strong. And you will know for certain, that nothing can go wrong Jim Strickland – Written 15th May 2012