Salvation is for Today

Luke 4: 18 – 19

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Stop for a moment today and consider this passage. This is from the book of Isaiah and it is what Jesus read in the synagogue.  His speaking of this passage marked the beginning of his public ministry. If God sent Jesus only to die on a cross bearing the sin of the world, then why this scripture? If eternal life was the only thing on God’s mind, why did Yahweh anoint Jesus to do all these other things? My point is that we have narrowed our focus as to Jesus’ purpose and in so doing have missed the greater blessing.

John 3: 16 reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” I suppose there is no other scripture in the whole of the Bible that is more well known than this one. We make our children memorize it in Bible School, put it on bumper stickers and even billboards. It is a wonderful passage, but it is not the whole story. Jesus didn’t stand up in the synagogue and say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me so that none shall perish but instead have eternal life.” Why? Because that was not his singular purpose nor his anointing. It explains God’s love but not Jesus’ purpose. If you want to know the reason God sent Jesus you must read 1 John 3: 8, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” This scripture discloses Jesus’ purpose. Let us go further, though, to see what Jesus, himself, says about his purpose in the earth. John 10: 10 reads, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Abundant life, free from the works of the devil, is the gift Jesus came to give us. Yes, eternal life is part of that package but that is the end game, not the whole thing. God made the earth for us to live in and enjoy. He gave us this planet to be our home, not heaven. He didn’t create earth as a testing ground but rather as a home. The point is, the time we spend here is not simply a waystation. Life here isn’t just passing time until we get to heaven. We are supposed to have abundant life here and now. Look again at today’s passage. Clearly that has nothing to do with heaven. Those conditions do not exist in heaven. Adam’s job was to make earth look like heaven so that we would have a heavenly home right here. Jesus prayed, “Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven,” (Matthew 6: 10). Earth is to reflect heaven.

Jesus came to restore our original purpose to us and to return the earth to us as our heavenly home, a home made in the image of heaven. Then God will come here and live with us. We’ve got to stop waiting to get to heaven to start fulfilling our purpose. We’ve got to stop waiting until heaven to start living, especially living in the fullness of God’s intent for us.

Redemption? Yes, it’s a big deal, but it is not the end of the story. It is the means by which God put us back on track. We could not have the abundant life Jesus came to give us until we were cleansed of the sin which stained us and our existence. Furthermore, I do not think eternal life is the evangelical message; it is not the salvation message. The word salvation means, rescue or safety, deliver, health, victory, prosperity, help, and welfare, (Strong’s 3444 & 4991). It does not only mean deliverance from sin. The savior came to give deliverance, health, victory, prosperity, help and welfare. In other words, he came to give us an abundant life right here, right now. This is why I think evangelism is important, but it also points out why our evangelistic message is presently off target. We are trying to get people into heaven while Jesus is trying to save them from their current peril and give them a great life now and forever.

Eternity is now. It began a long time ago. God has plans to get us into heaven but the good news that Jesus shared is that our freedom and victory begins now. This is not the good news we have been carrying to the world, however. God wants people to know they can be free now. Jesus came to set the captives free. Amen? The good news of the gospel is that God wants to bless you now, in this life. He wants to free people from torment and hurt. He wants to mend their hurts and restore them to good life. People need God now, not just in heaven. The message of the gospel is that God loves you now. Salvation emphatically is not, buy your ticket to heaven and then suffer until you die. That is not God. If you know God at all, you know that is not His heart.

To be clear, the evangelical message, the message that all the world needs to hear is that God wants to be your savior today. He wants to move into our lives and improve them. He longs to give us perfect peace and joy in this world, right now. Yahweh is a now God. Jesus came to give us abundant life. Abundant life is that life which in intertwined with our beloved, our Father, Yahweh. He who loves us has sent His son to restore us back to health, welfare, liberty, prosperity and joy. This is the good news of the gospel. Tell that to someone. Heaven is here and now for all who live in Christ. Now is the salvation of the gospel. Now is life and love in the Son. Jesus is here now to give you a good life. “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope,” (Jeremiah 29: 11). Tell someone the good news. Jesus has come, and he has life and healing in his hands. This is his salvation, and ours. Amen.

Creative Power

Genesis 1: 2

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

Through this Word of the Day devotional and Ivey Ministries, you are continually encouraged to learn about the Holy Spirit and to develop a relationship with him. This week, I will endeavor to assist you in that pursuit by showing you some of the verses about the Spirit and by sharing some background information.

Today’s verse represents the first time the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible. God didn’t wait long to introduce him. In fact, we hear about him before any mention of the Son. Verse one reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then God begins describing the creation of the earth and that formation starts with the Holy Spirit. We find out in the book of John that Jesus was in the beginning and that nothing that was made, was made apart from him, but we see that Holy Spirit is central to creation. Even now, he remains the creative power of God.

The Spirit hovered, many manuscripts say, over the surface of the waters. He was awaiting the Father’s vision and command. Then when God spoke, the Spirit created, or brought into being, that which the Father designed. This process of creation is how things work today also. Father began His book by demonstrating a key principle of life and of the workings of the Kingdom of God. Creation happens in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

I told you that Jesus was in the beginning (John 1: 1). His role is significant but not so obvious. The power of creation begins with an idea or a vision. In this case, God had a design in mind for the earth. We know from Matthew 6: 10 that God’s idea was to create earth in the image of heaven. So, He had a clear picture in mind. The next thing He did was to speak. What did He speak, one might ask. He spoke The Word. That is where Jesus made his entrance. The Word is Jesus and Jesus is the Word. As soon as the Father spoke the Word, the Holy Spirit took that Word and materialized God’s vision.

We can do the same thing. We have an idea in mind, employ the Word of God by speaking it and then the Holy Spirit springs into action. He has hosts of angels and spirit beings who hearken to his command. This is how things get done in the earth. That is why it is so important for us to develop a relationship with the Spirit; to get to know him. Through our partnership with him, all things truly are possible. Jesus said he could do nothing of himself (John 5: 19). It was only through his collaboration with the Spirit that he could do anything. We know how successful Jesus was so there should be great motivation to learn to work with the Spirit as he did.

Today is a step towards knowing him better. We learned that he is the creative power of the Trinity. Knowing that might well change our perceptions of creating what we need in our lives as it probably affects our prayer life as well.

Blessed and Blessing

Ephesians 1: 3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

There is so much good news in this passage that it is overflowing. First, it is good news just to hear that God has blessed us. He has given us His blessing in Christ. I think of a priest blessing a person and then apply that to God performing a blessing over each and every one of us. The thought of it brings a good feeling to your heart.

As we look at the blessing He gave us the news only gets better. God blessed us with every spiritual blessing that exists in heaven. In other words, He gave us every blessing He has. Do you want to shout yet? Not yet, okay, apply Jesus’ prayer to God’s blessing, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6: 10 KJV). Jesus knew the blessing that was upon us by the Father’s will and he prayed and taught us to pray that the father’s will would be fulfilled on the earth just like it is in heaven. Think of it this way, if you think heaven is a wonderful place, perfect even, then Jesus’ prayer means for us to have that same heavenly outcome here on earth. That is exciting!

Some people might get hung up on the wording of today’s verse because it says that God has blessed us with every “spiritual” blessing and subsequently think that is limiting language. Well, it’s not. Everything physical had to be birthed spiritually first. Even your job and your paycheck are spiritual blessings. Everything the Father touches is spiritual. Therefore, when He blessed you with every spiritual blessing that means He blessed you with all good things.

Let us not lose the genesis of this verse though. Paul writes, “Blessed be God.” Do you see that? Paul revealed that God, the Father, has already blessed us with every spiritual thing in the heavenly places but Paul blessed God in his present moment. Apparently, we humans have the capacity to bless God. Wow! You can bless God. What an awesome privilege! And what power we have that we can bless the Lord. Today is a good day to bless the Lord, our God and Father. You know how so enjoy being a blessing to the Father today.