Satan wants us to laugh about hell

By JOSEPH CHAMBERS

Paw Creek Ministries

Denying Eternal Hell is an affront to Calvary! Hell is a hot subject. In fact, it is one of the hottest subjects in the Bible and is used fifty-three times, not to mention its synonyms. David, by the Holy Ghost, said, “The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:17). He also said that the prostitute’s guests are in the depths of Hell. (Proverbs 9:18). It was Isaiah who proclaimed, “…Hell hath enlarged herself.” (Isaiah 5:14). The infallible Word of God has clearly revealed the mind and truth of the eternal God regarding the truth of Hell. To deny a literal eternal Hell of fire and brimstone is to blaspheme the Holy Bible. It also reduces the teachings of Jesus Christ to being riddled with error. It makes Him a fear monger to dare proclaim the story of the rich man that died and cried out of Hell. Such a story is extreme and misguided unless Jesus was indeed the spotless Lamb of God declaring the absolute truth.

Denying Hell is an Insult to Calvary! Our God so loved His beautiful world and His created family that had fallen into sin that He sent His only Begotten Son to be His sacrifice for their sins. Why would the Sovereign God of this universe offer His Son on a cruel cross if there was no eternal penalty for sin? Such thinking is insanity. The Son of God is eternal and has inhabited eternity forever. Yet, He stepped out of that realm to become the Son of Man. He is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8). He left eternity and descended into time and space for a short season. Hell had been created for the devil and his angels, but now God’s human family was in danger. Justice demanded that sinful men be given the same punishment as sinful angels. The Holy God is perfectly just and the penalty of sin had to be paid.

Man was created below the angels and the higher order. Since man was created on a human level and the angel Lucifer had wrought this terrible fall of men, God provided mankind a sacrifice. Calvary is God’s wonderful plan to save the human family from sin and Hell fire. To speak of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on any other level is to insult, even blaspheme, the greatest love story of this universe. How could God create us in His own image if we are not eternal for good or bad

But, Calvary was not just a picture of love, although love was at its very heart. The angels do not fly around His throne declaring love, love, love; they declare holy, holy, holy. Calvary was certainly the ultimate picture of love, but what it really proved was holiness. God is holy and His Son hanging on a cruel cross is God’s greatest example of His holiness. His Son had to become sin for us. He, who knew no sin and existed in the divine without even the possibility of sin, had now taken sin upon His own soul as a human substitute. That substitute is now man’s escape from a burning Hell. Every soul that clings in faith to His shed blood is washed from sin and all its power to damn. You cannot deny Hell as long as you stand in the shadow of Calvary. The person that denies Hell fire has forgotten or never knew the heavenly joy of being washed from all their sins. The hope of Calvary demands the hopelessness of Hell to justify its cost to God and His Son.

Calvary was a living hell! Calvary was the closest thing to Hell any man had ever experienced without going there. The Son of God had an equivalent experience of being totally forsaken by God as a person cast into Hell experiences. That’s the meaning of His heartrending words, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). For three hours He hung writhing on His cross with a total sense of separation from His Father. It’s impossible for us to understand or know the union with the Heavenly Father that the Son of God knew. They were one from eternity, inseparable, until the Father smote Him in death and let Him hang there as a sin sacrifice for three dark hours. It was Hell for the Son of Man to be so utterly forsaken. Maybe He will explain to us in eternity the price He paid for our salvation.

But, it doesn’t end there. While the Son of God was on the cross, He uttered “seven statements” that actually define the depth of His death. The first three reveal His undying love for humankind. The second two reveal the Hellish experience of His suffering and the last two reveal His glorious triumph. One of the two that reveals His horrible death experience is the quote regarding being forsaken. The other is more revealing than I ever before imagined. He uttered a breathtaking expression which appeared to arrest those individuals that were beneath His cross. These individuals were the ones that had nailed Him to the tree and were waiting to finish their dark deeds. It appeared that He suddenly proclaimed, “I thirst.” Those words have intrigued many readers and writers, but we have missed their utter significance. Jesus told of a rich man that went to Hell and begged for Father Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue. There is no question, but that the cry of Hell is, “Water, water, water.” Up and down the corridors of that horrible place, men are begging and screaming for water.

When the Son of Man was experiencing the throbs of His horrible excruciating death and was forsaken by His God of which He was One, He cried out, “I thirst.” Hell is indeed a real place, but it is more than just a place, it is a state of existence where all things beautiful and satisfying are lost. The Son of God so experienced the penalty of sin for us that He suffered the pains of being completely emptied of all that makes life bearable. He experienced the utter emptiness of a man lost and desperate for the most basic need of water. It was as though His cry, “I thirst,” was an echo of the rich man’s cry for “water.” He was on that cross for us that we might be “forever saved.” I believe His Words, “I thirst,” can be called, “Sounds from Hell.”

The Rich Man and Sounds Out of Hell! Jesus told this vivid story that was mentioned above of the rich man that died and went to Hell. Jesus gave him no name because his name had already rotted, but the poor beggar in the story was named Lazarus. Jesus said, “… the rich man also died, and was buried; And in Hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” (Luke 16:23-24). This story is above all an effort by the Son of God to give us a clear picture of eternal torments for the wicked. When, at the beginning of this article, I said,“Hell is a hot subject,”it was meanst to be literal. It is not imaginary or some unconcious state. Hell is full of misery and torments so breathtaking as to cause a constant chorus of miserable sounds. Nothing describes misery more than the sounds which misery creates.

Visit a hospital where desperate men and women are patients. Their appearance may be extremely sad and even depressing but their cries and screams can be utterly terrifying. There is no question but that the screams of suffering individuals are more overwhelming than other aspects of their pitiful state. The screams of Hell are enough to make this eternal destination of the wicked the most horrible place in God’s universe.

The rich man was in torments, and his cries and requests reveal just how real the place really was. Look at this list of words which Jesus stated that came from His lips. Jesus said, “He cried.”.” Abraham responded to him by saying, “Son, remember…” The rich man said, “I pray thee,” and then showed “compassion” towards his lost family. He was clearly a different man than the one that refused to even provide the crumbs from his table for the beggar. Hell had stripped him of his arrogance and rebellion. The sounds of his words make unprepared men with an honest conscious tremble. What our world needs is for the church and the praying saints to get a fresh vision of the horrors of Hell until we are terrified by these words from the lips of a damned man.

Joseph Chambers

jrc@pawcreek.org

The Prophet, The Priest, And The King

By JACK KELLEY
Grace Through Faith

I think you’ll agree that this is a fascinating account of how God used Daniel the Prophet, Jeduah the High Priest, and Alexander, King of Greece  to prepare the world to receive the Gospel, beginning over 500 years before the fact.

Alexander The Great was born in 356 BC to Philip, King of Macedonia, and Olympias, his wife. As a boy he saw how his Macedonian countrymen, a loose knit group of autonomous tribes, experienced impossible difficulties trying to unite themselves into a strong cohesive force. Because of this the Persians, rulers of the known world, kept them under subjugation. Alexander was particularly incensed when the Persians defeated and humiliated his father, treating his people cruelly.
He determined that their problems were due primarily to an inability to communicate clearly with one another because of the many individual dialects they had developed. This caused misunderstanding and distrust which resulted in a reluctance to fully commit to each other.
With the help of his father Phillip, Alexander crafted a new language, later called common Greek or Koinonia, taught it to the tribal chieftains, and convinced them to use it for inter-tribal communications.  Soon their disagreements were resolved and their mutual trust restored. What had been a rag-tag mob of self-interested tribal factions was on the road to becoming a powerful  army.
When Phillip was killed through the treachery of the Persians, Alexander at age 20 became king of the now unified Greece, and vowed revenge. Bringing his newly trained army onto the battlefield at Issus, Alexander first defeated the Persians in 333 BC. Two years later he crushed the 100 thousand strong Persian army with just 40 thousand of his own men, giving him access to all of Asia Minor or what we would call the Middle East. This fulfilled a prophecy in Daniel 8:5-7
Before his death, King Phillip had told his son that Macedonia was too small for him, and that he should set his sights on Persia and then the entire world.
Having defeated the Persians, Alexander set about accomplishing the rest of his goal. He quickly gobbled up Antioch, Damascus and Sidon and found himself outside Tyre, a formidable target that great generals of the past had been unable to subdue. To fortify itself this mainland Phoenician city had literally been dismantled and rebuilt on a small island offshore. The Phoenicians (modern Lebanese) were accomplished sailors and had no trouble defending themselves from the weaker navies of their would be attackers. Replenishing themselves by sea, they could endure endless siege from land forces as well. The Assyrians had spent 5 years in a failing effort to defeat them, and even the Great Nebuchadnezzar gave up after a 13 year siege. (Ezek. 29:17-20 says that as a reward for his noble effort, the LORD gave Nebuchadnezzar all of Egypt.)
The city of Tyre had become so powerful and rich that its King presumed himself to be the personification of the Phoenician god Melkarth, ruler of the seas. This so angered the LORD that He declared destruction on Tyre (Ezek. 28:1-10) and chose the Greeks as His instrument. Alexander scraped up the remains of the dismantled mainland city and began building a causeway out to the island. Within 7 months he had completed his land bridge and defeated the island fortress in fulfillment of Zechariah 9. The Philistine coastal cities in the south fared no better.
Tyre has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.  But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.  Ashkelon will see it and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither. Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted.  A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod, and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines. (Zech. 9:3-6)
Now Alexander turned inland and set his sights on Jerusalem. The High Priest Jeduah had refused his earlier demand for provisions and men to help him conquer Tyre claiming that a treaty with Persia prevented Israel from helping the Greeks. Alexander was now intent upon showing the Jews who they should have made treaties with.  According to Josephus, Jeduah and all of Jerusalem sought the LORD in terror, with prayer and sacrifice. The Lord told Jeduah not to worry, but for him and the priests to get dressed in all their finery, open the gates and go out to greet Alexander when he arrived.
They did just that. In all their white linen, purple robes and golden headdresses the priests gathered behind Jeduah, threw open the gates to the city, and went out to meet Alexander. Stunned by this greeting, Alexander dismounted and bowed down before Jeduah. The Jews couldn’t believe their eyes! When he was asked about it, Alexander replied, “I didn’t pay homage to him (Jeduah), but to the God Who made him His High Priest.”
Then he explained that one night several years previously when he couldn’t sleep for thinking about how he might defeat the Persians he had a vision in which he saw Jeduah and all his priests dressed and gathered before him just as he had seen them that day. In his vision Jeduah had told him that the LORD would guide his armies and would lead him to victory against all his enemies including the Persians. Jeduah had urged him not to delay but to proceed immediately. A short time later  Alexander defeated the Persians and on that day outside Jerusalem the vision became reality.  Then he went up to the Temple and made sacrifice to the LORD, sparing the city.
Afterward, Jeduah brought out the scroll of Daniel and pointed to the portion we would call chapter 8 in which Daniel’s vision of a one-horned goat defeating a ram represents a king from Greece defeating the Persians. (This vision had come to Daniel over 200 years earlier in 551 BC, and the angel Gabriel had personally interpreted it as such in Daniel 8:20-21.)  Immediately Alexander realized that he was the king of whom Gabriel had spoken (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, chapter VIII Part 5).
From that time forward Alexander gave the Jews great privilege in his kingdom allowing them to keep to their own laws and traditions, not only in Jerusalem but in the rest of the kingdom as well.  Other cities, having heard what happened in Jerusalem, flung open their gates just as the LORD had commanded Jeduah, hoping for similar favor. And so Alexander conquered many of them without a fight.
Remembering the success he had in unifying the Greek tribes with a common language, Alexander enforced the use of his common Greek wherever he went. It was his way of assuring peace in his kingdom. Within a short span of time all of the known world could read and speak Greek no matter what their native tongue. It was the world’s first official language and remained as such even during Roman times several hundred years later.
And so it was that when the Gospels were first written and circulated, and when the Apostle Paul wrote and spoke to audiences from northern Africa around the Eastern end of the Mediterranean and all the way up into middle Europe, the language in which the Good News was shared and understood was Alexander’s common Greek.
The Prophet Daniel had foretold it, the Priest Jeduah had enacted it, and the King Alexander had fulfilled it. But long before the foundations of the world were laid, the One Who is all three, Prophet, Priest, and King, had decreed it. (05-28-11)
———
Visit Jack Kelley's website, gracethrufaith.com to read more of Jack's commentaries.

The Soul that Longeth After God

By JOSEPH CHAMBERS

Paw Creek Ministries

Only the souls who long after God will have any assurance of Salvation. Multitudes claim religion but the Lord Jesus is only a small part of their life. They know He is real and that He died for their sins but they have never experienced Him. If Jesus Christ ever steps into your life with resurrection power you will long and even “pant” for Him. “As the hart panted after the water brooks, so panted my soul after thee, O God.” (Psalms 42:1)To pant for Him is an extreme passion that consumes your life. He created us in His Image with a God shaped vacuum within the human spirit. When He is allowed to move into that sacred domain of your life you will never be the same.

Once He is Lord of all, and He will not be Lord of less, your passions are toward Him in every facet of life. You will literally fall in love with the Bible. The Book that was obscure in the past suddenly reads like a love story from the Divine. You could not understand it when you did not know Him. The moment He became real your Bible became real. You will no longer want some common language Bible, you will want a Bible that sounds like another world, because it really is from another world. Sermons that are tough and striking will be a joy and quickly become thrilling and sanctifying. These modern entertainers will be a joke to you.

Modern pastors have been trained to mesmerize you. They have created a mystic around themselves and the flock, especially the ladies, swoon to hear them and watch them perform. The whole mega-church world its last hour. It is blasphemy for men who claim to be from God to allow such worship of themselves and they will be consumed in the process of their folly. We have already viewed the shipwreck of many. Nothing has done greater damage to the church than these corporation style churches that offer thousands a religious hiding place and playground.

Sunday night church is almost gone because there is no passion to feed on the Word of God. A movie, television, or swapping tales with a friend is more enjoyable than fellowship from the Spirit world. A Sunday morning laugh-in has given them religion for the week. This level of Christianity is actually not even equal to the “lukewarm that He will spue out of His mouth.” At least that was called a church and this generation has rejected the very word “church.” Most churches have been remade into an entertainment center where they drink coffee and eat donuts while the laugh-in progresses.

The sanctified soul is repulsed by such cheapening of the lofty matters of our Great God. Where are the Saints that can quote the Twenty-third Psalm and experience wonderful Rapture just thrilling to such language. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” (Psalms 23:1-6)

Such truth as this great revelation fills the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Our Lord was not any more real to the Old Testament Saints than He wants to be to you. Look at Isaiah’s great call for the saints to feast on the Holy Bible and the life of his Spirit. ” Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” (Isaiah 55:1-2)

These Old Testament Saints lived in only the shadow of what we are privileged to enjoy. Apostle Paul made the Spiritual life that we can experience a beautiful life beyond measure. Millions of His Saints have walked with Him in His glory during church history. This generation has been the first generation since Pentecost to show the world so few real saints full of the Spirit. Listen to this mighty man of God: “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.” (11 Corinthians 3:6-10)

We are invited to sit together in Heavenly Places with our Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Four times in the one book of Ephesians Paul spoke of sitting together in Heavenly Places. The Holy Ghost did not come to be an unknown presence in the midst of the church. The Tabernacle and the Temple of Soloman was filled with His Shekinah presence. Many times during church history His Saints have seen and experienced an even greater manifestation of His glory. It is going to happen again, but it cannot occur in dead churches where His glory is unwelcome. I am believing that we will see His Shekinah in our coming camp meeting. My soul longs for Him and for the fullness of His wonderful presence.

Give up on man, try God

By WAYNE STEWART

There is a lot going on in the world these days, everything from natural disasters to man-made crises.

In these days of instant access to news and information it’s easy to keep abreast with what’s happening out there. It’s also fun to read the comments people have concerning current events.

What is amazing is the utter lack of faith in God being displayed, even among those who call on the name of Jesus Christ. In a recent news story concerning the state of the economy on a Christian news site a woman proclaims reliance on the people of the TEA Party as the country’s only hope.

Really? The sad part is there are many professing Christians who feel the same way, not just about the TEA Party, but about any particular political party or people in it. The sad part is, they must not believe there is room for God in any of this. The times, they never change.

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Thus you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt. The Chaldeans will also return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go. For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’” — Jeremiah 37: 6-10

The Chaldeans, or Babylonians if you prefer, were tired of Jerusalem and were intent upon destroying God’s city. For decades God had told the people of Judah, through his appointed prophets, this judgment was coming. Even with the warning it came as a surprise to the king and the people.

As we read Scripture we will glibly say, “Why didn’t they just repent and turn back to God instead of asking for help from the Egyptians?”

Why indeed.

Let’s ask that question of ourselves, “Why do we insistently rely on men to solve our problems rather than taking our burdens and laying them at the foot of the cross?”

Hmmm! Now the question seems to get harder doesn’t it?

Now we may begin to understand why in Luke 18:8, Jesus asks, “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

There will be plenty who say they are saved by faith, but how many are there willing to throw caution to the wind and say, “Here I am Lord, do with me what you will?”

It’s hard to shed this veil of conceit that surrounds us. We believe we have the answers. We believe we can solve the problems of the world. We believe that if given enough time we can make everything, as it should be.

Folks, we’ve been going at it for thousands of years and we’ve yet to get it right — how are we going to suddenly start now? It is when we come to realize we can’t do it that things can start to get done through the strength of Jesus Christ.

“True faith requires that we believe everything God has said about Himself, but also that we believe everything he has said about us,” wrote A.W. Tozer. “Until we believe that we are really as bad as God says we are, we can never believe that He will do for us what He says He will do. Right here is where popular religion breaks down.”

When dealing with this world our first supposition must be that sin has corrupted everything around us. The only solution to that corruption is a divine solution. Man broke it, but there is not enough super glue and duct tape in the world to fix it — God had to come down and not just glue everything back together — he took our very essence, our souls, and started over creating in us a new life.

We must realize God does not create the calamity the world sees. It is purely a product of our sinful nature, yet we will ascribe a hurricane to God as part of his judgment on an unbelieving world, but we don’t think he can solve a financial crisis if we repent and call on his name.

Sounds like our thinking is a little messed up, but we must believe and act in faith that God has it under control. Our job on earth is to be a witness for Jesus Christ — everything else should be secondary.

When we get to that point where nothing else matters but our walk with God, then we can proclaim like Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh will I see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” — Job 19-25

Does your heart yearn to be with God? I hope so, but if not you must take a deep breath and ask, why. Ask God and He will give you the answer and the solution — faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

wstewart@texasfarmandhome.com

“BORN AGAIN”, Flesh Of His Flesh

By Joseph Chambers
Paw Creek Ministries

Unless you have been “SUPERNATURALLY BORN AGAIN” your eternal destiny is the “LAKE OF FIRE”. JESUS CHRIST said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3: 5-6) This is a mighty work of the Holy Ghost. Born Again Christians have had a marvelous second birth, This reveals how important our bodies are to the Lord and how important the standard of Righteousness is in Holy Scripture.“…your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own” (I Corinthians 6:19b).

That’s powerful, but in speaking to the Ephesians he made another statement that is even more incredible, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:30). Every born again believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost; but, we are also “flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone.” You cannot interpret the words to the Ephesians Christians in any other fashion. Being members of His flesh and bones means that we are His extension and representative in our world or should I say, “His world.”

In writing to the Corinthians Paul enlarged on His dependency of us as His ambassadors in the world. In five verses he described us by several fantastic names or statements. We are “new creatures” and have the “ministry of reconciliation.” He hath committed to us “the word of reconciliation,” we are “ambassadors for Christ”, and “we pray in Christ’s stead” for others to be reconciled to God. We have been made “the righteousness of God in Him.” Read it for yourself, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:17-21).

We are not junk. When our Creator designed us, He breathed into our nostrils the breath (spirit) of life so that we became a living soul. He then stated, “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31a). The phrase, “living soul,” is an incredible description of the human personality. It carries the meaning of health, prosperity, vitality, and life as given by God. It is clearly the opposite of death, disease, and destruction. The only hindrance to this great life is the principle of sin and Jesus came to destroy the works of that principle and its originator, Satan. (I John 3:8)

The Psalmist stated, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).We are a tremendous creation. God created us as His family. Our bodies are uniquely designed and have the capacity to possess the very Spirit of God. We are indeed “…of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31). He, also, stated, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). You are important to the Lord!

And the Word (Jesus) Was Made Flesh
Nothing Jesus said or did can emphasize the importance of human flesh and bones more than the fact that He partook of the same. God, the Son, actually left the glory of the Father to descend into the human family and become a servant for redemption. My soul always flashes with excitement when I read, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (St. John 1:14).

The Divine Son, Who became human flesh, literally fills the Book of Hebrews. Paul stated,““Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). You cannot show your love for anything more than to descend into that state. He came for one reason and He stated it as the following, “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you’” (St. Luke 22:19). Jesus chose a human body by which to minister and redeem mankind.

Our regeneration is accomplished by His body. The Holy Scripture teaches that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Paul quoted Jesus as saying, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” and added, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:9-10). He had to come in a body. Now, He wants your body to continue His kingdom works and to exalt His Precious Name.

jrc@pawcreek.org