Mannaword

“Therefore laying aside all malice and all guile, and hypocrisy and envy and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby, if so it be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Come to Him as unto a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. Ye also as living stones, are built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it is also contained in the Scripture: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious; and he that believeth in Him shall not be  confounded.’ Unto you therefore who believed, He is precious. But unto those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same has been made the cornerstone,’ and, ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ For being disobedient they stumbled at the Word, unto which also they were appointed.” 1 Peter 2:1-8 (21st Century KJV)

I want to work with the last sentence in this passage first. Then in following posts, we can look at the other elements. I first read this in the King James, and was seeing the fact that these folk who disobeyed were appointed to the Word. Then I read many other translations, and they all attributed it differently. I worked with the Greek and had the joy of being able to work with my Greek instructor with it. As far as either of us can see, these folk were appointed to the Word – not to the disobedience. This works with me theologically as well. It may be a matter of Greek texts, I have only a few at my disposal, but working with the goodness of the Lord and our placement in Him, it is the only translation that fits. 

I believe all are appointed to the Word. All are loved and all are potentially included in Christ. However, there are many who do not choose to receive the appointment as born from above sons and daughters of God. He is so gracious in Christ, that He does not force anyone, either by birth or circumstances, to be disobedient to Him. All are free to obey. 

So believing that, I see that all of us who have received Him are appointed to the Word. Therefore, in that appointment we will allow our lives to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through that precious Word into a living, breathing, dynamic person of Spirit. 

So our challenge today is really simple. In this New Year, honor the King enough to treasure His Word – not just the Book, but the reality of Himself which comes out of the Book. Whether you read it in book form or electronic form, treasure Him through His word. We have a new beginning this month. I urge you to read the book through. Begin, like me, to allow the Word to determine your thinking and blessings upon blessings will be unleashed throughout your life. 

2 The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
3 You shall multiply the nation,
You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
5 For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:2-7 NASB

I have included the entire section of this prophecy so we could begin to understand the setting of these beautiful words. The Israelites in Judah would have thought these words meant that they would be delivered from what they were afraid would happen. They saw a much more immediate “child king” rescue. While that was true in a very limited way – much more victory was envisioned by the Holy Spirit. 

My mind goes to Hebrews 11:39-40, “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” The total prophetic utterance was about what our Lord Jesus Christ would be in the hearts of His own and deliver into their hands. So these folk received the blessing of the promise, but not the reality of its total fulfillment – until in Jesus Christ.  

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” There are believers all over the world being and bringing light to dark places and dark lands because they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

“You shall multiply the nation, you shall increase their gladness; they will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” The word used here in Hebrew for “nation” literally means all nations – the Gentiles. The prophecy was saying that all would receive this increase and gladness of great joy – as when it is harvest time, or time to divide the great riches of a conquest. This happens every time a human opens their heart and allows the love of Jesus to flood them. It also happens in all believers as they worship and allow the focus of the Lord Jesus to become their dwelling place. 

“For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor as at the battle of Midian.” Oh yes! He breaks every yoke, eliminates the stress of every burden and puts our enemy under our feet. My, what a beautiful present day fulfillment of this prophecy and it continues to unfold until the day of His return to receive us unto Himself in the resurrection. 

“For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, and cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.” As we embrace the overabundant work of Jesus delivered into our beings, then we begin to understand we have the victory purchased in His blood, and that has supplied us with the fire of burning of the Holy Spirit, for unto us a Child is born. 

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 NASB

Almost 700 years before the event of His birth, this prophecy was spoken through Isaiah the prophet to Ahaz the King of the country of Judah. Most of our conservative versions translate the word almah from the Hebrew as what is printed above, “virgin.” However, the word in Hebrew simply means a young maiden, which in ancient times automatically meant “a virgin.”

The prophecy would have been thought to have been fulfilled in the chapter that follows (Isaiah 8) as that passage tells us about how Isaiah and his wife had a son and he was the sign that God was with them; the name Emanuel being used several times.

It is not until Matthew 1:23 that we discover the correct translation of the passage in Isaiah. They thought God through Isaiah was speaking about their immediate situation, and instead He was using words with dimensional emphasis.

The Lord is like that. His word is eternal, so it has dimensions of now and forever – always. As we journey in His heart through His word, the Holy Spirit illuminates for us the hidden manna. So as we continually seek His heart, more and more can be revealed to us.

The New Testament is the revealing of things hidden from all until the coming of Emmanuel! He has come and now we are seeing and understanding things in the Old with the light of Christ upon them. Amazing, simply amazing! Enjoy Him in Your heart as He is revealed in His Word today!

“Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel…”

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“He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16b HCSB

This passage from 1 Timothy is the Good News of Jesus in a very few words. His entire earth time summarized. I love the way Paul in writing this seems to get caught up in the Spirit and just rejoices in this marvelous truth. 

As we begin the Christmas season, I will be posting about our Lord – mostly about His birth. To begin those posts, I wanted to use this summary. 

This season is very special to most of us. For me, it is about our Father’s great love for us in sending us the treasure of Heaven itself in order to provide a way for all to come to Him through love. The Word willingly became that expression of love – the manifest presence of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Hebrews 1:3 “He is the radiance of His glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” His purpose in coming was not to give us a holiday in the celebration of His birth, but to purify all from sin, and exemplify all our Father is in HIs love for us and toward us. 

The love of the Father brought Him, gave Him and empowered Him to become all that was needed in every way for life and godliness for any and all who would receive Him and what He did. So as we turn our thoughts and lives to the celebration of His coming in this season, let us remember it is about love. It is not about humans loving humans with human love. It is about the Father of all loving all with a love that knows no bounds and never ends. It is a love that satisfies all longings and needs. So as we open to Him in that love reception, then we are empowered to give that kind of love away. 

Human love is faulty at its very busy. We are creatures who fail even when we try very hard not to do so. Yet, His forgiveness is sufficient, and he empowers us to love as He loves. May we begin to reach for that as we express Him in this season of blessing! Allow it to be so in you and in yours. 

“For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” 1 Peter 20-21

After writing and assuring his readers that they are of precious value in respect to the price paid for them, Peter continues to instruct us about just who the Precious Price is. He was known before the “laying down” of the cosmos. That is the literal rendering. The term used here for “foundation” has the sense of laying down a foundation prior to building anything. It is a term trying to convey an understanding to us that is hard to grasp.

We are creatures of thinking in “beginnings” and “ends.” But when it comes to “thinking with Him,” we must lay all such aside and become willing to embrace His mind. That means that our Lord existed always and what He was to become and to do was known all about prior to anything becoming visible – whenever that was. The same understanding (and Greek word “katabole”) is found in Ephesians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,….” So in Ephesians this word and concept of existing prior to the plans for the creation were laid down is applied to you and to me. (I am reminded of the phrase in 1 John 4:17, “…because as He is, so also are we in this world.”) Our identity in Him precedes creation. 

Such thinking about Him and about us, produces “knots in my brain,” as one of my teaching associates says. It lifts us up beyond the normal into the realm of the Spirit where we begin to see and treasure all that has been done for us and with us. Our linear thinking just does not work here. Instead we see the cyclical thinking of our Father. (See Isaiah 55:8-11) This is where we are drawn as we think with Him and open our spirits in His Spirit to see as He sees.

His appearing here was for us. So we who believe (action motivated by trust based in confidence) that God raised Him from the dead and now He sits in glory – so our faith and our expectation are in God and not in ourselves, our plans, our loved ones, our friends, our circumstances – none of what is here. But we have been empowered to release into what is eternal and to take all our expectation from that realm.

Lord, thank you! I have to think quietly for a while now. Bless all who read and ponder. Such is our heritage and our empowerment.

“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but withprecious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:17-19 NASB

I promised yesterday to spend some time working with “the value of the price paid.” In my home I have an antique oak desk. Years ago I was gifted with a choice of a new desk costing a certain amount or an antique one. Well, I enjoy antiques as my home reflects, but it was not that enjoyment that drove me to purchase the antique oak one I found. I knew when the new desk would be placed in my home, it would have immediately lost most of its value – simply because it was a new one. The antique, however, would not loose its value but rather over the years it would increase in value. So I was concerned to make the purchase price a good investment, since it was generous. 

We value items according to their cost or according to our investment in them. So we can understand a bit of the thinking of our Father. He paid a price that in His mind was equivalent to the value. I tease in my classes that “He overpaid for each one of us,” but really He didn’t. He knew our value to Him – that was what drove Him. That abundant love and overflow that He had invested in humanity – we were worth the treasure of heaven – Jesus Christ our Lord – so the Father could have fellowship in us and with us. Our value was not only stated by that action, but stated eternally. 

So when we, as His children, begin to accept His value of our lives – in and over all the journeys, then the value is treasured and the fellowship and empowerment is deep. If, however, we choose not to receive our heritage and live our lives as if we were worth only what we can achieve – then we have discounted His love and His payment price. We have effectively said He did not know what He was doing, because we do not want to be as He is. (1 John 4:17)

So living in Him releases the value of our heritage for all to see. It is a spiritual worth that invades every fiber of our being to bring all that is His to us. 

Lord, we open, we receive the value you set on us. We choose to exchange our thoughts of our own worth from our heritage and our accomplishments (or lack thereof), and simply be in You – all the value you have within and upon us as those who are Yours. We call you “Father!” Awesome!