06/03/2021
Through our belief in, and fellowship with, Jesus Christ we are freed from our sins. He, like us, is both body and spirit, and relates to us in an amazing, and loving way. He is both our High Priest, and sacrificial lamb in a single embodiment; given to us in the fullness of time, and in an instant. His name Jesus means “God Saves”, and His name Emanuel means “God with us”, together they make known that God has come amongst us to save us. He doesn’t come as many, but as one magnificent being, Christ, and in Him we find that the spirit and body have become one in perfection… united in the supercharged reality of the image God intended for us at creation… the spirit, body, and image of Himself He would call man.
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””
Matthew 1:21 ESV
When, through reading scripture, we find ourselves standing at Calvary while Jesus is nailed to the cross we see far more than His sacrifice for us. He is without a doubt the unblemished Lamb of God offered for us, and He is meant to be the ultimate blood sacrifice that would free the world eternally from its sin debt, but He is also the High priest who is presiding over that sacrifice, and asking God to forgive…
“And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.”
Luke 23:34 ESV
As High Priest He announces God’s forgiveness…
“And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.””
Luke 23:43 ESV
He offers Himself up as the sacrifice, and then declares the offering complete…
“Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.”
Luke 23:46 ESV
When we kneel in our prayer closets how do we pray? Do we pray only in the spirit, or also as man? When Jesus prayed was He not praying as both, and reconciling Adam with God both as the fallen man and the spirit? God created us in our duplicity, and together we are called man by God.
In the creation story God created man, and then He rested…
“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
Genesis 2:2-3 ESV
Similarly, when Jesus had given Himself for us, and completed what He had been sent to do, there was once again a day of rest… once more a day made holy.
“Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”
Luke 23:56 ESV
So Jesus is the mold from which we were stamped. He is both body and spirit, High Priest and perfect sacrifice. In Him we see God, and we humbly find our own bodily imperfections as well. In our prayers we are both spiritually lifted up by the Holy Spirit, and grounded by our humanity, but in both we recognize ourselves as the reflected image of Jesus, Emanuel, the man, the spirit, and the child of God. Will you open your eyes to this reality, and pray in this way? Will you let the Spirit speak, and the man cry in humble contrition?
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Colossians 1:19-20 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus who came, sent out of love, to reconcile us to you. Thank you for making us in your image, and then taking on that selfsame form as you bridged the gap between us that was created by sin. Help us Father to see Jesus as both man and spirit, made to be our High Priest, and Innocent Sacrifice, so that we might be taught, and then redeemed by His blood. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent His only begotten Son to not only save us, but to be like us in every way; even to be tempted as we are tempted. Praised be your name as we pray, and great is our love for you as we do so in body, mind, spirit, and strength. Merciful are you for your forgiveness, and amazing are you in the grace which flows from Jesus to cleanse us. Lift us up Father, and seat us at your table forevermore, made worthy by the blood of Christ, and the intercession of Jesus.
“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.”
Romans 8:3-4 ESV
Rich Forbes