The Message of the Cross (10) The Hidden Wisdom which God Predestined Before the Ages
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March 15, 2020 |
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 “But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7).
Before the ages began, God planned for human cultivation and He prepared a way by which all people of the world could be saved. And He kept His plan in secret until the time of His choosing. What, then, is the mystery of salvation which God had hidden before the ages?
1. The path to human salvation was preplanned
After Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent and they were cursed for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God prophesied on the salvation of mankind. In Genesis 3:15, He said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Spiritually speaking, “the woman” stands for Israel while “her seed” symbolizes Jesus Christ who was to come from amongst the people of Israel (Revelation 12:5). God prophesized on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who was to come from the nation of Israel, destroy the authority of the enemy Satan, and deliver all mankind. As Satan was also aware of this, he was always on a desperate and frantic lookout for the coming of the Savior.
Then Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem in Israel about 2,000 years ago and the enemy Satan tried to have Him killed by instigating King Herod who was reigning over Israel at the time. The angel of the Lord appeared in a dream of Joseph and Joseph escaped to Egypt with Jesus. Satan continually tried to have Jesus killed many times by instigating the evil of the Pharisees and priests but God always kept Him safe.
When the time of God’s choosing arrived, however, Jesus was captured by the evil ones and died an atrocious death on the cross. Satan thought everything was resolved through the death of Jesus, but here lay God’s mystery. By having killed the sinless Jesus, the enemy Satan actually ended up becoming an instrument in fulfilling God’s providence.
2. Jesus was crucified and resurrected
According to the spiritual law found in Romans 6:23, which reads “The wages of sin is death,” the punishment of death applies only to sinners. However, as the enemy devil killed the sinless Jesus, he ended up violating the law of the spiritual realm and as the price of his violation, the devil had to relinquish its authority?the authority to rule over man and call for death.
Even though Jesus died on the cross, He overcame death and resurrected for He was without sin. Therefore, anyone believing in the Lord, who died on the cross and resurrected, will be set free from the authority of death of the enemy Satan and allowed to enter heaven (Romans 5:18-19). Moreover, God’s Word found in Genesis?“He shall bruise you on the head” (Genesis 3:15)?was fulfilled.
If the enemy devil had known about the providence of the cross, he would not have had Jesus captured and killed (1 Corinthians 2:8-9). For Jesus, who is one with God, knew about the providence, He died on the cross in obedience to God’s will and thus fulfilled the providence of salvation.
Hence, as Romans 10:10 tells us, “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation,” whoever becomes one with the Lord by faith can receive salvation by the grace of God.
3. We receive salvation when we believe and resemble Jesus Christ
What does it mean to say, “We become one with the Lord by faith”? In John 6:56, Jesus tells us, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” Eating and drinking the flesh and the blood of the Son of Man refer to our making bread of His Word, living by it, and showing Him the proof of our faith. We will then abide in the Lord and the Lord in us.
Of course, it is not easy to obey and live by the Word of the truth immediately after accepting the Lord. However, when one strives from the heart to obey God’s Word, God will recognize his deeds as faith. Making bread of God’s Word and taking after our Lord are the way for us to become one with the Lord by faith.
1 John 1:7 tells us, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” When we walk in God’s Word “the Light,” the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sin. Furthermore, we will be able to partake in the glory of resurrection and live a blissful life in the eternal kingdom of heaven.
4. We become God’s true children when we walk in the Light after being born again
In Revelation 3:20, our Lord tells us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Whoever opens the door to his heart and accepts the Lord, our Lord is promising to forgive him and be with him.
Opening the door to our hearts requires the opening of the door to our thought. When listening to God’s messages, we must not hold fast to our own thought and knowledge but accept His Word. Only then will the Holy Spirit who came into our hearts give us the strength to live by true faith and His Word.
This is how we are born again of the water and the Holy Spirit, and whoever is born again in this manner is God’s child whose name is recorded in the Book of Life in heaven, where he now has his citizenship. Just as there are rules and regulations to be obeyed and followed in this world, there are heavenly laws, which are found in the Word of God Our Father. When we walk in the Light, we will not be instigated by the enemy Satan. Instead, until the day we reach heaven, we will live under God’s protection and in His overflowing blessings.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Acts 16:31 reads, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” The God of love prepared Jesus Christ so that all people can reach salvation by faith.
God kept it a secret, and upon the choosing time, the Lord opened the way to human salvation by accepting being hung on the cross in His love. God made it possible that whoever believes Jesus Christ can receive the Holy Spirit and salvation and resurrection, and enjoy eternal life in Heaven.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you can feel this love of God, accomplish a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, and thereby enter the everlasting Heaven as God’s children.
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