Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Have I told you lately...
O, Jesus, come and walk with us and let us feel Thy very nearness
I walk with you. Oh think, My children, not only to guide and comfort you and strengthen and uphold, but for solace and comfort for Myself.
When a loving child is by you is the nearness only that you may provide protection and help for that little one?
Rather, too, that in that little child you may find joy and cheer and comfort in its simplicity, its Love, its trust.
So, too, it is in your power to bring comfort and joy to my heart.
My Consolation, July 27th (From the book: God Calling)
Early in my Christian Life when I would have trouble understanding the heart of God I would picture myself walking hand in hand with my son. Taking him fishing as we walked through the woods. I thought of the joy it would bring a Father’s heart to walk with his child. His young mind, untainted by the world, wanting to know everything, and being so perfectly safe in his father’s hand. The gleam in his eyes and love the he has for his father would make all things perfect for those moments in time. Not just for the boy but also for his Father. What boy doesn’t long to be with his father, and how at the depth of every father is the love for his children. Wanting nothing more that their joy, comfort, and happiness.
From that simple vision all things could be made well no matter what the circumstances because I knew how much I would love my child (when I am blessed to have one), then how much more could our true Father love us.
Over a year ago I had an experience that I kept hidden for fear that it was too great of a message from God to share, and that I was being prideful in thinking I could take away God’s sadness. But now I know that it is in all of us bring solace and comfort to the Lord if we walk with Him as a child would his Father in simplicity, love, and trust.
I was going through a rather trying time in my life trying to reconnect with God and break free from my own father wounds. (By father wounds, I ultimately mean when we instinctively look at God in the same was our earthly father raised us. Was your Dad controlling, distant, abusive, harsh, passive, boring, guarded, self-sufficient (not needing anyone else), etc.? If you look into your heart you may see that your view of the true Father (God) is tarnished by these views, and you need to break free and let your heavenly Father show you who He is, and heal the brokenness from your past). I was supposed to meet my Dad later in the day and try to connect with him as only a son could long for. I had some errands to do and needed to purchase some things at Best Buy. When there a certain album caught my eye, though I had no intention on buying one that day, but this seemed to yell to me for me to buy it. It was Van Morrison’s Greatest Hits and I always like the song “Brown Eyed Girl”, I thought how that song always made me want to dance. So I bought it.
I needed to work on a computer at my older brother Ken’s house. As I got to the top of the driveway the 5th song on the CD started to play. “Have I told you lately, that I love you”
I cannot explain this nor will I try to do so, but I knew that God (My Father) at that very moment was singing that song to me. As I listened to the lyrics the tears began to stream down my face and the Love of God washed over me. The lyrics seemed unimaginable that He would say such things to me, but yet I knew it was true.
Have I Told You Lately that I love you?
Have I told you there's no one else above you?
Fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness,
Ease my troubles, that's what you do.
I shared this with very few people but now I want to share it with you. Think of it, when you and your Heavenly Father go to spend time together and you walk with Him and talk with Him. Do you think he is focused elsewhere, his mind swimming with thoughts of others. “Oh Jim asked me to help him with his car, and Nancy needs braces, Roger’s mother is sick, and…” No, his focus is with you! There is no one else above you. Think of the misery in the world, is all this hidden from God’s sight? God was filled with pain for even creating man and destroyed the world with the flood. How much more does His Children fill him with gladness when they walk with him, taking away His sadness of this fallen world. Easing His troubles with the Love the children have for their Father.
To think we bring joy and comfort to God. It only makes sense, since we have been created in His Likeness, and many of us know the joy that our own children have brought to us. So think like children in these matters as you walk and talk with the Lord of Heaven. He longs for us more that we even do for Him…
May you be blessed by these words of encouragement and be listening for His voice.
And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. - Genesis 6:6
As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. – Psalm 16:3
Comfort Me, awhile, by letting Me know that you would seek Me just to dwell in My Presence, to be near Me, not even for teaching, not for material gain, not even for a message – but for Me. The longing of the human heart to be loved for itself is something caught from the The Great Divine Heart.
God Calling, page 36, from the message titled “God’s Longing” – February 6th
I walk with you. Oh think, My children, not only to guide and comfort you and strengthen and uphold, but for solace and comfort for Myself.
When a loving child is by you is the nearness only that you may provide protection and help for that little one?
Rather, too, that in that little child you may find joy and cheer and comfort in its simplicity, its Love, its trust.
So, too, it is in your power to bring comfort and joy to my heart.
My Consolation, July 27th (From the book: God Calling)
Early in my Christian Life when I would have trouble understanding the heart of God I would picture myself walking hand in hand with my son. Taking him fishing as we walked through the woods. I thought of the joy it would bring a Father’s heart to walk with his child. His young mind, untainted by the world, wanting to know everything, and being so perfectly safe in his father’s hand. The gleam in his eyes and love the he has for his father would make all things perfect for those moments in time. Not just for the boy but also for his Father. What boy doesn’t long to be with his father, and how at the depth of every father is the love for his children. Wanting nothing more that their joy, comfort, and happiness.
From that simple vision all things could be made well no matter what the circumstances because I knew how much I would love my child (when I am blessed to have one), then how much more could our true Father love us.
Over a year ago I had an experience that I kept hidden for fear that it was too great of a message from God to share, and that I was being prideful in thinking I could take away God’s sadness. But now I know that it is in all of us bring solace and comfort to the Lord if we walk with Him as a child would his Father in simplicity, love, and trust.
I was going through a rather trying time in my life trying to reconnect with God and break free from my own father wounds. (By father wounds, I ultimately mean when we instinctively look at God in the same was our earthly father raised us. Was your Dad controlling, distant, abusive, harsh, passive, boring, guarded, self-sufficient (not needing anyone else), etc.? If you look into your heart you may see that your view of the true Father (God) is tarnished by these views, and you need to break free and let your heavenly Father show you who He is, and heal the brokenness from your past). I was supposed to meet my Dad later in the day and try to connect with him as only a son could long for. I had some errands to do and needed to purchase some things at Best Buy. When there a certain album caught my eye, though I had no intention on buying one that day, but this seemed to yell to me for me to buy it. It was Van Morrison’s Greatest Hits and I always like the song “Brown Eyed Girl”, I thought how that song always made me want to dance. So I bought it.
I needed to work on a computer at my older brother Ken’s house. As I got to the top of the driveway the 5th song on the CD started to play. “Have I told you lately, that I love you”
I cannot explain this nor will I try to do so, but I knew that God (My Father) at that very moment was singing that song to me. As I listened to the lyrics the tears began to stream down my face and the Love of God washed over me. The lyrics seemed unimaginable that He would say such things to me, but yet I knew it was true.
Have I Told You Lately that I love you?
Have I told you there's no one else above you?
Fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness,
Ease my troubles, that's what you do.
I shared this with very few people but now I want to share it with you. Think of it, when you and your Heavenly Father go to spend time together and you walk with Him and talk with Him. Do you think he is focused elsewhere, his mind swimming with thoughts of others. “Oh Jim asked me to help him with his car, and Nancy needs braces, Roger’s mother is sick, and…” No, his focus is with you! There is no one else above you. Think of the misery in the world, is all this hidden from God’s sight? God was filled with pain for even creating man and destroyed the world with the flood. How much more does His Children fill him with gladness when they walk with him, taking away His sadness of this fallen world. Easing His troubles with the Love the children have for their Father.
To think we bring joy and comfort to God. It only makes sense, since we have been created in His Likeness, and many of us know the joy that our own children have brought to us. So think like children in these matters as you walk and talk with the Lord of Heaven. He longs for us more that we even do for Him…
May you be blessed by these words of encouragement and be listening for His voice.
And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. - Genesis 6:6
As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. – Psalm 16:3
Comfort Me, awhile, by letting Me know that you would seek Me just to dwell in My Presence, to be near Me, not even for teaching, not for material gain, not even for a message – but for Me. The longing of the human heart to be loved for itself is something caught from the The Great Divine Heart.
God Calling, page 36, from the message titled “God’s Longing” – February 6th
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The Lord Intervenes...
My first personal (miraculous) experience with God happened when I was seventeen years old. I had found what I thought I was looking for in a girlfriend (my plan for salvation was once I found the right woman I would be happy.) Her name was Paula and she was about 3 years younger than I was. I met her roller skating as my friends and I often did on weekends, usually loaded with a good amount of alcohol. She was quiet and shy and I could tell she knew pain. Her favorite song was “Love hurts” by Nazareth. I wanted to be the ray of sunshine in her life and make her happy. Bring a smile to her saddened face. I knew the pain all too well she was feeling, I lived it and longed for someone to take the emptiness, sadness, and confusion away. I thought she was it, my salvation, and I could be hers. It wasn’t long till I realized that it wasn’t going to work out and had that sick to my stomach feeling that I was losing her, losing my hope.
It was a Friday, the day before I was to graduate from High School; I was working full-time with a sandblasting company making $200.00 per week under the table. In 1987 that was good money for me. I went to work that Friday morning to be told that I was no longer needed at my job, my fear of heights on the ladders, made it difficult for me to be useful. Strike One. I called Paula to let her know what happened. She told me that it was over and didn’t want to see me anymore. Strike two. So I decided to go to a graduation party and got drunk. Let a friend drive my car, got pulled over by the Police. My “friend” woke me up from my “nap” and switched seats with me. I pulled the car from the middle of the road where my friend stopped, over to the shoulder for the police. To make a long story short, I was busted for DUI and lost my license. Strike Three.
I really didn’t think too much of strike’s one or three, but strike two was the death blow, any hope for love was crushed. I couldn’t eat or sleep, the pain in my stomach was intense. All I did was lay in bed in the fetal position wishing the pain would go away. After about three days of this I decided to go to the Wachusett reservoir and hike up a “mountain” that looks out over the water. There was a Sioux Indian prayer written on a rock at the top. I had talked to God there before, but never got a response.
The colors of the forest seemed dark and gray even though the sun was shining. Everything was hazy as if I was walking in a fog. There was no sound, just despair, deafening everything before me. I slogged through the woods toward the “mountain”, the only thing real being the pain that colored every step. I didn’t even know why I had come, but I was going to get to the top of that mountain. As I trudged the 45 minute of so hike, I came to the top. Read the Sioux Indian prayer and stood on the highest point looking out over the reservoir. I really don’t know why, I didn’t even know what I was going to say or do once I got there. Instinctively I threw myself to the ground and cried out “Do I have a purpose?” Immediately dozens of birds flew from the trees, shot straight up in the air, singing, and gathering directly above and in front of me. Then as quickly as they came they all vanished, and only silence. All the pain was gone, I could see, the colors had come back to life, the despair and hopelessness vanished. The gut wrenching agony had all been taken away. I had a purpose!
I walked through the once gray woods and now they were alive with color. I could see! It was if I could see every pine needle from hundreds of yards away. Every vein etched into the maple leaves. Every blade of grass as if only a few inches away. Life had returned to the forest, the birds sang, and the wind gently rustled the leaves. The rivers babbled and the symphony of nature once again could reach my ears. Who am I that God would so intervene, take notice of a young naïve boy searching for what or whom I did not know. Though believing it could only be found in the love of a woman, but yet God spoke. I still had no idea whom He was but I know I had a purpose. I had no plans to change the road I was on but at least it was day and God knew who I was.
I walked in the woods hopeless and in despair, I departed seeing and hearing, hope was restored. I took to my final Goodbyes with Paula writing out my heart to her in a letter, not knowing if I would ever see her again. I shared a song that gave me hope from the Moody Blues, “New Horizons”. I bared my soul. We met by a river in Leominster, Massachusetts, to this day I do not remember where, but she agreed to meet me. I played the song: “I’ve had dreams enough for one, but I’ve got love enough for three. I have my hopes to comfort me, I’ve got my New Horizons out to sea. But I’m never gonna lose your precious gift, it will always be that way, but I know I’m gonna find my piece of mind someday…” She read the letter, she listened to the song. As we embraced to say Goodbye I lost it. I never cried in front of anyone before, I never seen a member of my family cry and I always cried alone, today I couldn’t contain it. A flood had burst the dam of my heart. I stood there in her arms, weeping uncontrollably, shaking, I was a complete mess and I couldn’t stop. I thought I’d be fine, I wasn’t, I though knowing I had a purpose in God would help me deal with this, I never saw it coming. With tears in my eyes we said Goodbye, I never saw her again, I continued to cry uncontrollably the entire way home. I didn’t even know why. Why such brokenness. When I finally came too, I just sucked it up and went on with life. Nothing changed. I didn’t seek God with all my heart. I went back to drinking and sleeping with whoever would take me, looking for the right “one” to fill the emptiness of my soul. Little did I know I was looking in wrong place. The one who intervened was calling me, It would be more than a year later that I would finally take him up on his offer. But for now He had shown kindness and asked nothing in return. The seed had been planted.
Many years later the Lord reminded me of this story and left me with this message: “Do good to others and expect nothing in return, in doing so you are being like God. Isn’t that how I was with you?”
Michael Kaminski (January 20, 2006)
"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
(Luke 6:27-36)
It was a Friday, the day before I was to graduate from High School; I was working full-time with a sandblasting company making $200.00 per week under the table. In 1987 that was good money for me. I went to work that Friday morning to be told that I was no longer needed at my job, my fear of heights on the ladders, made it difficult for me to be useful. Strike One. I called Paula to let her know what happened. She told me that it was over and didn’t want to see me anymore. Strike two. So I decided to go to a graduation party and got drunk. Let a friend drive my car, got pulled over by the Police. My “friend” woke me up from my “nap” and switched seats with me. I pulled the car from the middle of the road where my friend stopped, over to the shoulder for the police. To make a long story short, I was busted for DUI and lost my license. Strike Three.
I really didn’t think too much of strike’s one or three, but strike two was the death blow, any hope for love was crushed. I couldn’t eat or sleep, the pain in my stomach was intense. All I did was lay in bed in the fetal position wishing the pain would go away. After about three days of this I decided to go to the Wachusett reservoir and hike up a “mountain” that looks out over the water. There was a Sioux Indian prayer written on a rock at the top. I had talked to God there before, but never got a response.
The colors of the forest seemed dark and gray even though the sun was shining. Everything was hazy as if I was walking in a fog. There was no sound, just despair, deafening everything before me. I slogged through the woods toward the “mountain”, the only thing real being the pain that colored every step. I didn’t even know why I had come, but I was going to get to the top of that mountain. As I trudged the 45 minute of so hike, I came to the top. Read the Sioux Indian prayer and stood on the highest point looking out over the reservoir. I really don’t know why, I didn’t even know what I was going to say or do once I got there. Instinctively I threw myself to the ground and cried out “Do I have a purpose?” Immediately dozens of birds flew from the trees, shot straight up in the air, singing, and gathering directly above and in front of me. Then as quickly as they came they all vanished, and only silence. All the pain was gone, I could see, the colors had come back to life, the despair and hopelessness vanished. The gut wrenching agony had all been taken away. I had a purpose!
I walked through the once gray woods and now they were alive with color. I could see! It was if I could see every pine needle from hundreds of yards away. Every vein etched into the maple leaves. Every blade of grass as if only a few inches away. Life had returned to the forest, the birds sang, and the wind gently rustled the leaves. The rivers babbled and the symphony of nature once again could reach my ears. Who am I that God would so intervene, take notice of a young naïve boy searching for what or whom I did not know. Though believing it could only be found in the love of a woman, but yet God spoke. I still had no idea whom He was but I know I had a purpose. I had no plans to change the road I was on but at least it was day and God knew who I was.
I walked in the woods hopeless and in despair, I departed seeing and hearing, hope was restored. I took to my final Goodbyes with Paula writing out my heart to her in a letter, not knowing if I would ever see her again. I shared a song that gave me hope from the Moody Blues, “New Horizons”. I bared my soul. We met by a river in Leominster, Massachusetts, to this day I do not remember where, but she agreed to meet me. I played the song: “I’ve had dreams enough for one, but I’ve got love enough for three. I have my hopes to comfort me, I’ve got my New Horizons out to sea. But I’m never gonna lose your precious gift, it will always be that way, but I know I’m gonna find my piece of mind someday…” She read the letter, she listened to the song. As we embraced to say Goodbye I lost it. I never cried in front of anyone before, I never seen a member of my family cry and I always cried alone, today I couldn’t contain it. A flood had burst the dam of my heart. I stood there in her arms, weeping uncontrollably, shaking, I was a complete mess and I couldn’t stop. I thought I’d be fine, I wasn’t, I though knowing I had a purpose in God would help me deal with this, I never saw it coming. With tears in my eyes we said Goodbye, I never saw her again, I continued to cry uncontrollably the entire way home. I didn’t even know why. Why such brokenness. When I finally came too, I just sucked it up and went on with life. Nothing changed. I didn’t seek God with all my heart. I went back to drinking and sleeping with whoever would take me, looking for the right “one” to fill the emptiness of my soul. Little did I know I was looking in wrong place. The one who intervened was calling me, It would be more than a year later that I would finally take him up on his offer. But for now He had shown kindness and asked nothing in return. The seed had been planted.
Many years later the Lord reminded me of this story and left me with this message: “Do good to others and expect nothing in return, in doing so you are being like God. Isn’t that how I was with you?”
Michael Kaminski (January 20, 2006)
"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
(Luke 6:27-36)
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe
December 20, 2005
With the coming out of the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" recently it been on my heart to repeat a part of the gospel of Jesus that we sometimes may forget. I remember the first time I saw the animated version that was done by the "Children’s Television Workshop" of the book by C.S. Lewis and the lessons from Scripture that was so powerfully portrayed by the film. First and foremost was that I was Edmond, the traitor, and that according to God’s own law, I deserved to die. I was the property of the Witch (Satan) because of my offenses against God.
We often in Christian circles quote "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) in order to get someone to know they need Christ as their Savior but lets take a look back in the Old Testament and get a glimpse from the Holy God himself and how he views ours sin and what we deserve as a wage. The death penalty was the Lord’s idea and written into the laws of Israel. (Indeed God chose the death penalty sentenced to Jesus to bring us life!) I’ve tried to shorten the descriptions to make this quicker to read but here are all the laws that I found that were punishable by death:
(Exo 21:12) murder
(Exo 21:15) assault on parents
(Exo 21:16) kidnapping, forced slavery, an accessory to…
(Exo 21:29) not keeping a ferocious animal reigned in and it killing someone
(Exo 22:19) sex with animals
(Exo 31:14-15) breaking the Sabbath (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday)
(Lev 20:2-6) killing your children (abortion?), worshipping other Gods
(Lev 20:9-16) cursing parents, adultery, perversion, homosexuality, depravity
(Lev 20:27) being a fortune teller, medium, wizard, or witch
(Lev 24:16) blaspheming the name of the Lord
(Num 1:51) being an outsider (Gentile, non Levite) coming near the tabernacle
(Num 3:10, 18:7) Outsider coming near the priesthood
(Num 15:32-36) gathering sticks on the Sabbath
(Deu 13:1-18) being a false prophet, rebellion, leading others to serve other gods
(Deu 17:1-7) serving and worshiping other gods, worshiping sun, moon, or any host of heaven (angels)
(Deu 21:18-23) being a stubborn rebellious son, drunkard and glutton
(Deu 22:13-21) woman not being virgin on her wedding day (promiscuity)
(Deu 22:22) man laying with another man’s wife, both are to die
(Deu 22:23-27) engaged virgin lies with another man in the city both are put to death, in the country only the man is put to death
Now many of you may say "that was the Old Testament, we don’t need to listen to that anymore" but it still reveals the character of a Holy God. "For I the LORD do not change" (Mal 3:6) as well as "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb 13:8). Sin didn’t become less sinful once Jesus died on the cross and God still views it the same as he did back when he gave the Old law to Moses. Only now the blood that paid for the sin is not your own but the blood of Jesus Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
These verses from the New Testament (Book of Romans) testify as well that those who practice such unrighteousness that the Old Testament teaches against deserve to die as well…
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
(Rom 1:24-32, Emphasis mine)
The new testament also testifies further to the Holiness of God but not with just the promise of physical death but spiritual death and not entering the Kingdom of God.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1Co 6:9-10)
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." (Rev 21:8)
Once one understands the holiness of God through his righteous decrees and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22), only then do we realize the amazing grace that is offered to us through Jesus Christ. Then we can finish the Romans 6:23 verse "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So when you see the movie may you recognize that it is you that belongs on the stone table (the cross) and that the Lion (Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5)) willingly went so you did not have to.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
(Rom 7:24-8:4)
On a final note…
Always wanting the whole truth to be told, the cross was the finished (complete) work of Christ. It was his last words as he hung on the cross. "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30). The movie adds the line "It is finished" (It is not in the book) after the resurrection and the defeat of Satan. Satan was defeated at the cross and then his power to demand our blood was paid in full by the blood of Christ.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col 2:9-15)
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
(Eph 2:11-16)
May you come to a deeper and sincere understanding of the mystery of the gospel and the power of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through this movie, and may this brief overview help you to see the holiness of God and the need of the blood of the Lamb…
With the coming out of the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" recently it been on my heart to repeat a part of the gospel of Jesus that we sometimes may forget. I remember the first time I saw the animated version that was done by the "Children’s Television Workshop" of the book by C.S. Lewis and the lessons from Scripture that was so powerfully portrayed by the film. First and foremost was that I was Edmond, the traitor, and that according to God’s own law, I deserved to die. I was the property of the Witch (Satan) because of my offenses against God.
We often in Christian circles quote "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) in order to get someone to know they need Christ as their Savior but lets take a look back in the Old Testament and get a glimpse from the Holy God himself and how he views ours sin and what we deserve as a wage. The death penalty was the Lord’s idea and written into the laws of Israel. (Indeed God chose the death penalty sentenced to Jesus to bring us life!) I’ve tried to shorten the descriptions to make this quicker to read but here are all the laws that I found that were punishable by death:
(Exo 21:12) murder
(Exo 21:15) assault on parents
(Exo 21:16) kidnapping, forced slavery, an accessory to…
(Exo 21:29) not keeping a ferocious animal reigned in and it killing someone
(Exo 22:19) sex with animals
(Exo 31:14-15) breaking the Sabbath (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday)
(Lev 20:2-6) killing your children (abortion?), worshipping other Gods
(Lev 20:9-16) cursing parents, adultery, perversion, homosexuality, depravity
(Lev 20:27) being a fortune teller, medium, wizard, or witch
(Lev 24:16) blaspheming the name of the Lord
(Num 1:51) being an outsider (Gentile, non Levite) coming near the tabernacle
(Num 3:10, 18:7) Outsider coming near the priesthood
(Num 15:32-36) gathering sticks on the Sabbath
(Deu 13:1-18) being a false prophet, rebellion, leading others to serve other gods
(Deu 17:1-7) serving and worshiping other gods, worshiping sun, moon, or any host of heaven (angels)
(Deu 21:18-23) being a stubborn rebellious son, drunkard and glutton
(Deu 22:13-21) woman not being virgin on her wedding day (promiscuity)
(Deu 22:22) man laying with another man’s wife, both are to die
(Deu 22:23-27) engaged virgin lies with another man in the city both are put to death, in the country only the man is put to death
Now many of you may say "that was the Old Testament, we don’t need to listen to that anymore" but it still reveals the character of a Holy God. "For I the LORD do not change" (Mal 3:6) as well as "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb 13:8). Sin didn’t become less sinful once Jesus died on the cross and God still views it the same as he did back when he gave the Old law to Moses. Only now the blood that paid for the sin is not your own but the blood of Jesus Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
These verses from the New Testament (Book of Romans) testify as well that those who practice such unrighteousness that the Old Testament teaches against deserve to die as well…
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
(Rom 1:24-32, Emphasis mine)
The new testament also testifies further to the Holiness of God but not with just the promise of physical death but spiritual death and not entering the Kingdom of God.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1Co 6:9-10)
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." (Rev 21:8)
Once one understands the holiness of God through his righteous decrees and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22), only then do we realize the amazing grace that is offered to us through Jesus Christ. Then we can finish the Romans 6:23 verse "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So when you see the movie may you recognize that it is you that belongs on the stone table (the cross) and that the Lion (Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5)) willingly went so you did not have to.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
(Rom 7:24-8:4)
On a final note…
Always wanting the whole truth to be told, the cross was the finished (complete) work of Christ. It was his last words as he hung on the cross. "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30). The movie adds the line "It is finished" (It is not in the book) after the resurrection and the defeat of Satan. Satan was defeated at the cross and then his power to demand our blood was paid in full by the blood of Christ.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col 2:9-15)
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
(Eph 2:11-16)
May you come to a deeper and sincere understanding of the mystery of the gospel and the power of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through this movie, and may this brief overview help you to see the holiness of God and the need of the blood of the Lamb…
