HF085 - Listen That You May Live
To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003
Subject: HF Bible Study HF085 - Listen That You May Live.
Hebraics,
We have found that the principle of 'the life is in the blood' is the very essence of the new covenant. Whereas the blood of goats and calves could never sanctify the human race before God, yet the blood of Jesus did that very thing. Paul said new covenant believers are presented before God by Christ as "holy and blameless and beyond reproach." And this is all because of the blood.
In this study I want to reach into another expression of the new covenant, which has to do the Lord speaking into the lives of His people. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish..." Let’s pursue this within its Biblical boundaries.
This is Bible Study HF085 - Listen That You May Live.
During the time of Christ, the three most popular books among the peoples were Deuteronomy, the Psalms of David, and the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was so popular because it spoke so much of Messiah. In fact Christians writers often referred to Isaiah ‘the fifth gospel.’ The book of Isaiah draws our attention to God’s Messiah and to the new covenant in many, many ways. One in particular is Isaiah 55.
Listen and you will hear Christ. The Lord speaks through the prophet, saying, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” He goes on to say, “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.”
Every statement made here has its counterpart in the writings of the apostles. Rather than break all the statements down, let’s simply take note of two things the Lord says. One is as I referenced above; “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live.” Another is in the preceding verse, “Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.”
The new covenant is a covenant of listening. Jesus made this very plain when He said to those who refused Him, "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word." This is exactly what happened to the Jewish peoples who turned from the Lord. Their ability to hear from God was lost.
As the book of Acts closes, Paul draws attention to this truth. He quotes the prophet Isaiah, "Go to this people and say, 'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; and you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes."
The transitional period was at an end. Not long after the pages of Acts are closed, both Jerusalem and the temple lay smoldering in ruin. The peoples are scattered in slavery throughout the empire. But what of those who had received Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Messiah? History tells us that the Jewish Christians left the city before it was destroyed. The Lord had given them advance notice. They listened. They lived.
When a person is truly born from above there are a number of things that happen. One is a nature change. Another is an internal witness that they actually belong to God. We can call this 'Father consciousness,' or the 'Abba! Father!' cry. Another is that every believer becomes acquainted with the voice of Jesus. This is the promise of, "My sheep hear My voice."
This is all part of the divine mystery of salvation. The Son calls each sheep by name, meaning, that each person born from above receives a divine call that is filled with irresistible grace. Earlier He said that those called would come to Him. Jesus also spoke of this when He said, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." (John 10:16)
Notice that Jesus said, "I must bring them also." The 'bringer' is Jesus. Once again we see how this fits with the Scripture, that says, "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter (finisher) of faith." (Heb12:2) Jesus is the 'bringer,' the 'author', the 'finisher' of our faith.
But how does this work in our lives? How do we go about listening? How do we know it is Jesus speaking? Boy, do you ever have questions. Ok. Let's move on.
Learning to listen means we have to develop our spiritually hearing capacity. The Lord is always speaking into the lives of His people. We become more conscious of this as we mature in faith. Let me share some of they ways Jesus speaks to us.
First --- There will be times of deep disappointment in your life. It doesn't matter what the disappointment is, it just is. In the midst of your disheartening, something happens to break the clouds away. What happened? Jesus spoke into your life. You may not have realized it at the very moment, but you realized it later.
This is how salvation works. Jesus saved us. Jesus is saving us. Jesus will save us. He is our Savior. That is His job. Always keep in mind that the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Some of the best examples we have of how Jesus speaks into our lives will be found in His resurrection appearances. For a number of days, Jesus had been appearing to various disciples, sometimes in a group, and other times individually. What was He doing? He was destroying their fears, their doubts, and their confusion. He does that very thing for all those who are truly His.
One of the most splendid examples of how this works today will be found in the case of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were walking along, totally absorbed in their disappointments. Next thing you know the presence of the Lord is with them. They don't realize at the moment that it is actually Jesus. What does He do? He causes them to listen. What was the result? Their night was turned into day. This is what 'saving us' means.
Second -- Jesus causes us to listen in what the ancients called 'Shekinah.' There is no Biblical word called Shekinah, however it is derived from the word 'shakan,' which means 'to dwell' or to 'settle down.' Jesus speaks to us by His indwelling. This is especially keen when we are involved in spiritual activities, that is, in the church gathering, or in prayer, in meditations, and especially when our faces are in His book. These are transformation moments.
What happens in Shekinah? We receive freshness. We receive renewed strength. We receive answers. We receive composure of spirit and mind. We are made to listen. The ancients spoke of this preciousness of the Lord as 'the dew of heaven.' God spoke through Moses, saying, "Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, as droplets on the fresh grass and as showers on the herbs." (Deu 32:2)
This is why we love to gather as a congregation. The Lord Himself said, "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." (Matt 18:20) When Jesus said this, his listeners would have thought of two things. One was 'Shekinah.' But the other related to the Shekinah, which was the promise God made to Moses.
The Lord said to Moses, "In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you." (Exo 20:24) It is this promise that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God incarnate, God is with us.
Third --- Those who train their ears to listen are those who learn early to look into the face of God. This statement refers to the Scriptures. The Lord actually speaks to us in a very direct way from the sacred writings. Is it not awesome that when meditating the Scriptures, we become aware of His Divine presence. There is nothing like it. He opens our hearts to listen. There is no 'strange' voice there. We hear the voice of our Shepherd.
The New Testament speaks of this operation. Paul said, "But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ." Paul is speaking of the writings of Moses and the prophets. When those who rejected Jesus read the sacred writings, the come up with all kinds of oddities. They are unable to see past the veil.
Then the apostle says, "But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is lifted." His point is that because we have received Jesus, we can now look into the writings of Moses and the prophets, and we see the glory of Jesus. And in our seeing the glory, we undergo transformations of our own hearts. (Cf. 2 Co 3:14-18)
And so, we come back to Isaiah. The Lord said, "Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good." Are you listening?
There is much more to be said about 'listening.' Let's put it on the table for now. Feel free to make your own comments and ask questions. This is another of the 'wonderfuls' that belong to the new covenant.
The Lord bless you,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)