The Return of the Logos

I think I could go along to Port of Iartra with you. You guess you are, yeah, now that you know where you're going for the feast. It's always good to find out things from the pulpit, isn't it? Corey hasn't changed from his ABC days. It's good to see. It has been good to see a number of you that have been to ABC through the years, coming down here to Florida, and appreciate the fact that many of you made the trip up there over the years, and have been a part of it. If any of you would like to go to ABC, I always encourage people to come and attend. We are taking applications for the next year, which will begin in late August for the 2016-2017 year. There's plenty of room. So if it has been something you've long dreamed of, you're retired, you have the means to do so. We always, every year, seem to have a number of handful that have been retired. They make the trip to ABC to take part in things and enjoy quite a bit. We have quite a rigorous schedule, but if anybody has any questions about it afterwards, I'd be glad to talk with you about that at that time. As each of us look at our lives, we understand there are moments that define our life. And usually you look back and you know that, but there are certain things that you just remember that define your life.

It may be when you first knew and knew that you knew who you were going to marry. And you were looking at that person and you knew, I'm going to marry. That's going to be my wife or my husband. I knew when my wife would be my wife that she was going to be the one I was going to marry. There came a moment. I remember kind of when and where I was. I think she remembers on her part. We've talked about that through the years. I remember both of the birth of both of our children. I remember those quite well, and certainly my wife does. They're indelibly etched upon her memory. It may have been a time when we received the news about maybe a death of someone that was close to us. I remember where I was when I heard about my parents both dying. I got the phone call that they had died. I remember where I was, the time of day. Those things are just...they define you a moment for our personal lives. And on a larger scale, certain events...anybody here remember when Pearl Harbor took place? There's a few. You remember when and where you were when Pearl Harbor happened. How about the assassination of John F. Kennedy? That gets a little bit closer. A few more hands up. 9-11, you remember that? Where you were when you first heard that? How about when you first really began to respond to the truth of God? And you first heard the truth of God?

And you knew that you had to do something with it. And that may have been the moment...you may have turned it off to begin with, or just pushed the magazine aside, or dismissed it. But then you kept coming back, and somehow at a particular moment, you knew you had to do something. You had to respond to it. I remember even growing up as I was...at age 12, I started coming to church and being in the church.

But I remember as a teenager when it was going to be my church. And that moment was a moment that is still etched in my life and in my mind, as I'm sure it is in yours. So there are moments in life that we remember that, in a sense, kind of really define. And we'll forget a lot of other things, but we won't forget those times. They are a moment.

Let me take you to another moment. There was a moment in eternity, and that very statement is an oxymoron. Because in eternity, there's not a minute. There is no time. There's not an hour. There's not a day. But let's just say, for the sake of discussion, that there was a moment in eternity.

When the Logos, who is now the Messiah, the Lamb of God, when the Logos returned and entered the Most Holy Place with His blood to make atonement for sin once and for all, there was a moment when that happened. And in that scene, there was a shout of joy from the angels and from the spirit beings that were gathered in assembly. The Logos had returned. The Lamb of God, known from the foundation of the world, was ready to assume His role as the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and of utmost importance to us today, His role as our High Priest.

There was that moment. And that was and is a critical scene, a critical time. That was the moment. Let's turn over to Hebrews 9. This was read last night when we took the Passover service, or the night before last, I'm sorry. Get to this time of year, the days just kind of all flow together. And where was I yesterday? Hebrews 9 and 11. Jesus, or Christ came, it says, as High Priest of the good things to come, with a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands that is not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, He entered the Most Holy Place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Once for all, it says, He entered the Most Holy Place, which is the presence of the Father, the presence of God. What's this scene all about? What does it mean for us here during the days of Unleavened Bread? Let's do some thinking about this, and perhaps just a bit of imagination, imaginative thinking. We're close enough to Disney World that we can do a little imagineering here, as they do. Let's go back and look at what took place in the hours following the death of Jesus Christ, and then ultimately the hours following the resurrection, after three days and three nights, of Jesus as His body lay in the grave.

Let's think about that and what it means for us today, what that impact is. Three days and three nights following His death. It was exactly three days and three nights from that time. It wasn't about three days and three nights, and it wasn't parts of three days and three nights. I just read a scholarly blurb by a New Testament scholar who tried to reason around the fact that it was mostly three days and three nights. After reading it, and I read this gentleman before, and he has good insight on other things, but on this one he just did a flying leap to the moon.

He's thinking, you must mostly, three days and three nights? He must have been watching the Princess Bride. You know, mostly dead. Now, Christ was in the grave three days and three nights, or we don't have a Messiah. And that is very easy to understand. It's easy to explain, let's put it that way, maybe it would be difficult if there are biases to understand it. But he rose from the dead.

The stone was rolled away from the tomb and he lived. And when the women came to the grave at daylight, they found that it was empty. Let's turn over to John 20. John 20. Let's begin reading in verse 1. Now, on the first day of the week, and this was a Sunday morning when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, Christ had been resurrected the previous evening at the beginning of the first day, and just as that Sabbath was ending, at that precise juncture and moment when he was resurrected, the next morning she went while it was early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

She ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, which was John, and said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. They both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying there, yet did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb, and he saw the linen clothes lying there.

And the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also. So John got there first, but he paused and Peter zoomed right by him and went in.

And for as yet they did not know the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead, and the disciples then went away again to their own home. In verse 11, Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And then she saw two angels in white, setting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.

And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. She thought the body had been stolen. And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus.

And he said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And she, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me, where you have laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said to her, Mary, and she turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, Teacher.

And Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her.

The first appearance of Christ was to a woman, and she was the one who then reported it to the apostles. That in itself a proof that this was a real historical event. No group of ragtag Jews in the first century wanting to start a new religion would have ever dreamed about having a woman be the first one to find the empty tomb of their hero, their Messiah, their Savior, and write it that way.

It just would not have been done. The way this happened and that they were honest with it, and the recording of it, is a proof, one of the proofs for us to understand that indeed it was an empty tomb, that he was risen and it was as it is. And so she stood weeping until she recognized. Now, he said, Don't touch me. Now, later in the day, when we tie in what we find in Matthew 28 and verse 9, where they actually held him by the feet. This was sometime later. Christ again appeared to his disciples and says that they held him by the feet and worshiped him.

There was no prohibition of touching him as he had said to Mary at this point. So what we have here is this. In the interval between his appearance to Mary and later when he appeared to his other disciples, he did ascend to his father and returned and they could touch him. So what had happened in that intervening period of time?

What had changed that they could now touch him? Now, keep in mind, just like that, and less than that, Christ was at the throne of the Father. And just like that, he returned. It's something beyond our ability to understand. No science fiction has been able to even replicate that in one sense. It was instantaneously faster than the speed of thought in that sense.

But what had happened? Let's consider what was taking place that morning. What was taking place that morning was an event prescribed in Scripture called the wave sheaf offering. Back in Leviticus 23, in the chapter that talks about the Holy Days, where all of them are mentioned here, Leviticus 23. Beginning in verse 4, we have the teaching about the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread. The 14th day of the month is the Lord's Passover, the 15th day. Verse 6 is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. To the Lord, seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

On the first day you shall have a holy convocation, which is where we are today. You shall do no customary work on it, but you will offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day will be a holy convocation, which will be next Friday. And you will do no customary work on that. So this is the basic teaching right here. The account moves into the next festival, which is Pentecost. And in the means of determining that date for Pentecost, which very briefly means to count 50, you count to determine the day of Pentecost, and you count from a specific day.

And what verse 10 tells us here is this. Verse 11 is a key verse. It is done on the morrow after the Sabbath. And that is understood in the context of the chapter to be the Sabbath that falls during the days of unleavened bread. And an early cut sheaf of grain will be waived and accepted on that day when you waive the sheaf of a he-land without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering. And the meat offering will be the descriptions here in verse 13.

And you shall eat neither bread nor parched corn until this day that you have brought an offering to your Lord. It will be a statute forever. The harvest could not begin to be taken and to be consumed until this event took place. And it goes on to show that then you begin counting the seven weeks and the 50-day period to arrive at the day of Pentecost from this particular event.

I won't go into all of that. But the determination of the day of Pentecost begins with this event on the day following the Sabbath that falls within the days of unleavened bread. Now, as we look at that today, 2016, as we would understand it on God's calendar, that waived sheaf offering would be given, were you to have a temple and were you to have a priesthood, tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow morning. Sunday morning. First day of the week when that would be given. And so tomorrow we'll begin to count toward Pentecost. 50 days from tomorrow we will assemble to keep the festival of Pentecost. But it begins to be determined or counted from the time of the waived sheaf offering.

So let's go back to this waived sheaf offering because this is what we really want to consider today. It was here as we see an instruction to Israel from God to begin the spring harvest. And that season by waiving a small amount of barley grain. And that then symbolically typified the beginning of the harvest. But by symbol it begins to symbolize the beginning of God's harvest of human lives for salvation.

This is what it means. And the very first to be harvested was Jesus, our Savior. The one that God gave because he so loved the world. His only begotten son, as John 3 16 tells us, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, would have everlasting life. And God sent him into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And this is what that particular harvest was to represent, Jesus Christ. And he was actually referring to that when he said, I have not yet ascended to my Father.

That high priest waving that amount of grain was signifying an event that Jesus specifically targeted to Mary Magdalene, telling her that he had not been accepted, don't touch me yet, that had to be done. And so we understand all of that within the context. If we turn over to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 23. Let's read verse 22, And Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order. God has an order through his plan of salvation, and there are a group of people known as the firstfruits.

Each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ at his coming. Every man in his own order. Down in verse 35, someone will say, how are the dead raised? And with what body do they come? He said, Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain. Perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he pleases. And to each seed its own body. There is Christ the firstfruits, and then there are those that will come later in God's purpose and his plan.

Every man in his own order. Christ was the first one to be accepted. And even in that event, there is the wonderful understanding that we should never take for granted, brethren, that as Christ was the Logos, was God, fully God, existing from eternity with God, as John 1 tells us. He then gave that up, came as a human being, lived and died a perfect life, suffered, and then was resurrected. And then, as we see, was accepted back to the Father. As God, Spirit, he became flesh, he died, became that Passover lamb, and went back then, as resurrected, as a Spirit being.

And all of that was to provide a means by which you and I would have the hope of eternal life. This is how God designed it and planned it. And if Christ did not live a perfect life, if he did not die, if he did not remain in that grave three days and three nights, as he said he would, as the one sign that he gave, if he had not been resurrected, we would not have a Savior.

And beyond that, if he was not God in eternity, even before all of that, brethren, you still don't have a Savior.

Christ was God. He was not a created being. He was nothing less than God when he came in the flesh. That understanding from the Bible, that hope, is at the heart of our lives. Anything else is heresy. And anything else is folly. Or we don't have a Savior.

It all has to be that way, according to Scripture. And of course, he had to be raised, and it was by his life, then, that we ourselves are saved. Without that, essentially the plan of God was that spirit would become flesh and die, for the sins of mankind, his shed blood would make that possible, and then he would go back and return his spirit.

And thereby paving the way for you and I to have the hope to go from flesh to spirit, eternal life.

That is what the plan is. That is the purpose that Ephesians 1 talks about.

And so when we understand that, and it must be that way, I get to teach this at ABC every year, and every year I spend more and more time on these particular fundamentals. Because historically, and even sometimes today, people get into wacky ideas about God and Christ and this and that. And it either he was God or he wasn't. And if he wasn't, we don't have a Savior. But he was God. And he came and he died for our sins, and he went back as a spirit being resurrected by the power of the Spirit, and we have a Savior. And you and I have the opportunity for eternal life. That's how it works. That's how it must be. Which brings us back to this moment when the Logos returned.

What was it like? What might that scene have been like when Christ entered the Most Holy Place that we just read about in the Bible?

In Hebrews 9.11. It says, By his own blood he entered the Most Holy Place, once for all. And then he reappeared to his disciples. He went to the throne of God, was accepted as that wave-sheaf offering. What must it have been like? This is where we perhaps can do a little bit of imagineering with the help of Scripture. In Daniel 7, there is a vision of the throne of God. Thrown in here in the midst of this very detailed prophecy of the whole book of Daniel, especially in chapter 7 in the midst of prophecy about these four beasts. But let's look at verse 9 of Daniel 7. Is Daniel himself having this vision? Part of the vision is then of the throne of God. It transfers from beasts rising up out of the sea to the throne of God. Verse 9, I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient of days was seated. This is the Father. He's having a vision of the throne of God. And the ancient of days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, and his wheels were burning fire. Imagery from Isaiah, imagery from Ezekiel's visions of the throne, and even a little bit of what will be the vision of John and Revelation thrown in here as well. A fiery stream issued, and it came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand. These angelic beings around the throne of God stood before the ancient of days. The end of verse 10 it says, the court was seated and the books were opened. And so there's a convening of a court, as it is seen here. And in verse 13, I was watching in the night visions, behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. This is Christ. This is the Messiah. One like the Son of Man, Christ is the Son of Man, and this is passage quoted by Christ himself in the Gospel accounts, more than any other about to describe Him, so you can nail what this is talking about very easily. Coming with the clouds of heaven. This time it's coming to the throne. He came to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him.

One like the Son of Man comes and is brought before the ancient of days, and to Him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom, that all nations and peoples and nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, the one which shall not be destroyed.

This is a vision of the throne of God. We find one like the Son of Man coming before Him. We could reference, but I won't have the time to turn to Revelation 4 and 5, where you also have John's vision of the throne of God, and the Lamb, and the angelic beings, and one who is clearly the Father. You have two beings in that vision, just as you have two beings in this vision in Daniel 7.

Again, imagine what that would be, because this is a significant moment in the plan of God. Dominion is given to Him. He has come. There's an interesting passage in Isaiah chapter 63. It's recognized as a messianic passage, and it's interesting to read it and perhaps put it in the context of what we just read in Daniel 7.

Isaiah chapter 63, verse 1, is a dialogue of one who sees another coming.

It says in verse 1, Who is this coming from Edom, from Basra, with his garments stained crimson?

Whose garments would be stained crimson? With blood. With Christ. Who is this robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? It's almost like someone is watching and seeing someone coming from afar, perhaps returning.

And that being says, it is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save, who were saved by his life.

Our sins are forgiven by his shed blood. Why are your garments red like those of one treading the winepress? And the answer is, I have trodden the winepress alone. From the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and I trod them down in my wrath, their blood splattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance, the year for me to redeem, had come. I looked, but there was no one to help. Christ died by himself. I was appalled that no one gave support, so my own arm achieved salvation for me and my own wrath sustained me.

I trampled the nations in my anger and in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.

It's an interesting passage to read of what seems to be a dialogue with one watching this being come who could fit no other being but the Messiah. And Daniel's account shows one being brought near like the Son of Man. And Christ said, I have not yet ascended to my Father. And then he did.

Can these verses help us to imagine a little bit what that must have been like?

For the ancient of days, the Father, to see His Son come back. And that purpose, that plan, that part of the plan of God now locked in.

The Savior is in place. That blood. He's entering into the holy place that Hebrews 9 talks about, which is the very presence of God. He did it once for all.

And that sacrifice is now in place available for the sins of all mankind, from our point of view, past, present, and future.

And it is there.

When I teach this in class, I teach the students, this is not an event. Don't worry about the timing of it.

Daniel is looking into, gets a glimpse of eternity that only a handful of men in the Bible get of the throne of God.

And they are glimpsing the spirit realm, the spirit dimension, where there is no time.

And what is is, what was in Daniel's vision is for us today.

If we can begin to wrap our mind around it, it hasn't changed. Christ died once.

And Christ then is in place.

Now, He reappeared to His disciples over a period of several days, several weeks.

And then in Acts 1, we find that He is then taken up for a final time.

And they are told, in like manner, He will return.

But what about that for us, and what about the meaning of this today?

The meaning is this.

Christ is active today, and He is on His throne as High Priest.

And that has a very important meaning for us during these days of 11 bread and every day.

Back in Hebrews.

Chapter 4, verse 14.

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

We have a High Priest who understands what it means to be human, to suffer, and even to die.

To deal with the temptations of the flesh, and He did, He had to master them, He had to deal with them.

He did live a perfect life, unlike any of us, because we are told that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

None of us can deny that, but Jesus did live a perfect life, and yet He was tempted, and He experienced the pulls, the problems, and saw it and dealt with it, resisted it in His own life, did not let it take root, and certainly saw up close and personal at the human level as of being what it does to other people, and then became Himself subject to it, as He was reviled, and judged, beaten, and killed.

So we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses.

And none of us have to look too far to really understand what our weaknesses are.

We prepared ourselves for the Passover coming up. We thought about those things, and do, and should on a regular basis.

We come in confidence and in faith to take the Passover, and recognize that Christ then applies His blood to any and all of our sins.

Verse 16 here, He says, Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We have to go before God. Confessor sins, as 1 John 1 tells us, and to expect that God will and can forgive us.

But we can then find the grace to help in time of need. Grace is a good thing.

First of all, grace is certainly God's full and complete pardon of our sins.

From our part, it's unmerited.

But grace is also the help in our daily life.

The encouragement, the comfort that God gives to us.

In Him by His Holy Spirit.

As we call out to Him and we ask for it, we should.

We should ask for that.

We should confess our sins and make a verbal announcement to God, not to one another or any other minister or anybody like that, but to God that, Father, I am guilty of...

and we fill in the blank.

Sometimes that can be rather good for us.

But then we can also ask for the help and the grace to help from the throne of grace and the mercy in a time of need.

And Christ is very much active.

On His throne is high priest. He has been given complete dominion.

Christ is also our advocate. He stands and He actually talks to the Father about us.

When our prayers go there and we ask in His name and we address the Father and we plead with the Father and we confess to the Father and we ask for that help, we have an advocate who is there and that is Jesus Christ as our high priest.

Which is what a priest does.

It goes on in chapter 5 here of Hebrews.

So that every high priest is taken from among men, he is appointed to men, and things pertaining to God that he might offer gifts and sacrifices.

This is what a physical priest did as part of his duties, but it is speaking of Christ.

He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness.

Because of this, he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sin.

No man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but it was he who said to him, You are my son today, I have begotten you.

And he goes on to fulfill that job and that role for us over in chapter 9, verse 24.

It says, Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

He appears in the presence of God for us. He offers himself and he advocates for us.

You know, I don't know if you've ever advocated for anyone else.

Sometimes we're asked to give a reference for someone on a job application. What's this person's character like? What do you know about them? Are they honest?

They show up on time.

What do you know about them? We can give a recommendation. At times we might be called upon even to give a little deeper character reference on somebody.

And if that happens, we hopefully can do it in a manner that will help a person.

And if we're ever in trouble, we hope that there is someone who can advocate for us and to stand up for us and stand for us.

And at times that can be done, sometimes it can't be done.

When it is done, at times it will help, and then there will be times when that might not help.

In a situation on a job, or perhaps even in a court, or some other type of situation where our relations with other people are being called into account or questioned, and character references and judgments and evaluations and all might have to be made.

And then sometimes people can and do let us down.

But God doesn't let us down.

That's the point. We have an advocate in Jesus Christ who is our Passover who does not let us down.

In chapter 10 here of Hebrews, beginning in verse 11, it says, Every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.

But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.

And by one offering he is perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

But the Holy Spirit witnesses to us, for after he had said this, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days.

I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, and I will write them.

And then he adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

Where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

So Christ intercedes for us.

And it's important that we take a lead from that and we also intercede for one another.

That we pray for one another and advocate to God through Christ for one another at various times when we are called upon to pray for each other.

The calls for a prayer request, as we know, are constant.

For many different issues in our life.

Illnesses, injuries, accidents, personal challenges, and losses, and so many different matters.

Loss of job, loss of loved ones.

Our prayers for one another are very, very important.

We have to follow the example of our elder brother in asking God to give that grace to each other.

And to pray continually for one another.

The ministry of God's church should be a ministry that prays for the church as well.

If we could all do more of that and follow the example that just these few verses tell us about the work of Jesus Christ.

He's our advocate, our intercessor, our high priest who understands, who has been there, and who is willing to show grace.

If we can emulate that, copy that in our own personal dealings, few points.

Member to member, member to minister, minister to member, minister to minister, minister to church.

We could see God do things far beyond what he might be doing even right now.

In Romans 8, there's a very strong admonition that builds on this. Romans 8, verse 31, Paul says, Paul says, Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?

It's God who justifies. We've all been justified through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ and our sins forgiven.

And all the sins that we might have brought to us as we observe the days of the love and bread can be forgiven in the same way or next month or in six months from now.

God justifies us. Who is it who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God who makes intercession for us.

How often do we condemn? Who do we condemn? In our hearts.

Words sometimes fly back and forth and accusations and judgments even to the point of condemnation.

Keep us sometimes in certain groups and parts of the body of Christ at odds.

Who condemns? Christ died. If we can remember that, then maybe we can find a way to work through the friction.

The difficult, the challenges, the interpersonal relationships that we have with one another.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness, peril or sword?

The implication is nothing will separate us from the love of Christ.

And so we should pray that we might have more of that and see more of that.

In verse 37, and all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come.

Christ triumphed over all powers, all principalities, all angels, all of that spirit world that is, Christ triumphed over it.

And He has dominion over it. And it has no place in our lives, in the church, nor does it, should its influence, raise its ugly nefarious head in our midst in any way.

Through envy, through anger, through fear.

All of these things that we are to put off as we put on righteousness, holiness, godly conduct, as we eat the unleavened bread in the next few days, brethren, let's keep that in mind.

That it is that life of Christ that we are to be putting on and letting come into our life. And we are eating a symbol of the bread of life, the very life of Jesus Christ.

And if we can do that, we can come closer to accomplishing what is said here.

In verse 39, As you have come to this point after Passover, in preparation now for the days of Unleavened Bread, we have seven days ahead of us.

I hope and pray that all of us can appreciate the very moment that is available to us in our own lives today.

The time in our lives is now to prepare as kings and priests in God's coming Kingdom.

And all that we do builds toward that.

And we who are alive and remain, if I can borrow that phrase, in that we are alive and we remain in the church, in the faith.

We who are alive and remain have these words to comfort and to encourage us, no matter what the recent weeks or months have brought in our lives to bring us to this point. We have come through a very inspiring occasion of the Passover service and now stand as we begin the days of Unleavened Bread.

Use them well. This is our moment. This is your moment.

To deal with the issue of sin and to determine to make a better year for yourself before God and as a member of the body of Christ.

So use it well and make it a moment that defines your life and that you look back on and you remember quite well.