Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Ecclesiastes 3:3 (emphasis added)

Well-known, but not well-loved; this verse is often quoted by those who have a desire to either be religious or SOUND religious. Why would ANYONE want to be religious? They are literally the ONLY Jews that Jesus didn’t get along with. They were the ones who wanted His head on a platter. Jesus spoke truth to them and they did not like it. He pointed out they had missed it, they were in the wrong, and their hearts were both hard and poisoned. The religious elite were the ones who killed Jesus. Yes, they were Jewish. Yes, the Romans helped them. But it was the religious who killed the Lord.

Today’s verse is part of a larger section talking about time. When it is time for things to happen and that all things have a time to occur. Verse 1 says “For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth.” The religious will take this and say that the Lord is Sovereign and only if He wills and when He wills does healing occur. The Lord most certainly IS Sovereign, but He also sovereignly gave us free will. That means we need to agree with Him that what He wants to do is right. That means that we need to give Him permission to move in our lives. Around us, in us, on us, and through us. His timing, His way. We submit and let Him do His thing.

Now, we LIKE the positive verses about this. Like Galatians 2:20 or Philippians 2:13. But we DON’T like the ones that include WAITING. Philippians 2:14 tells us to “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” We still don’t like it, though. We want it NOW. Or even sooner. The thing we need to digest is that while God’s timing isn’t OUR timing (Acts 1:7); that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen (2 Peter 3:9). Our eyes need to stay on Jesus.

Jesus preached His first sermon in a synagogue in Nazareth – His childhood home. “Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”” (Luke 4:16-19). In the Greek, the year of the Lord’s favour reads as: the acceptable year of the Lord. That’s Jubilee.

In the Law, every fiftieth year was very special. “So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, and you must proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your Jubilee; each one of you must return to his property, and each one of you must return to his clan” (Leviticus 25:10). Back in Nazareth Jesus continued: “Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read”” (Luke 4:20-21). Today. The day He spoke – over two thousand years ago – was the dawn of the Messianic era when Jesus of Nazareth became our Jubilee. In HIM we have freedom from enslavement to sin and bondage to the curse. Every day from that day onward is a day we can celebrate the separation from us of sin, death, and the curse. We are free, free, FREE. Now what?

First off, we get into the Word on a daily basis to learn more and more of what that freedom entails. To daily join Jesus in His resurrection – through communion is a great way to symbolise that – and put our old self up on that cross where it belongs (Matthew 16:24-26). We need to not rest on past victories, but always put the flesh down so that we can abide in Jesus. “Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25).

Secondly, we need to focus on what He tells us to do. We are in the same boat Jesus was. “So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed” (John 5:19-20). We are to be in the place He puts us, when He puts us, and do what He put us there to do.

When Jesus was on earth He healed MANY people many times (Matthew 12:15; Luke 4:40; Matthew 8:16-17; Matthew 9:35). There were other times that He only healed very few (Mark 6:4-13; John 5:1-15). We’re not called to understand all that is going on. We’re called to obey. To have FAITH to the end (Mark 1:22; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27). There is NO indication in the WORD that healing is meant to be anything but ALL THE TIME. There was no ending announced, prophesied, or looked for. The Lord God is consistent in His nature, His works, and His desire for His people. The Lord does not change (Malachi 3:6).

There is a time to heal, and that time is – IN JESUS – always NOW. The Word on healing went out. His bruises, His wounds, and the stripes that were laid on Him brought us healing. He took the punishment for us. He took the penalty. He took the suffering. He took the sickness. He took the disease. He took the anxiety, the fear, the depression. He took it ALL. And He left it in the grave when the Father resurrected Him by the Holy Spirit of Life. In Jesus, by Jesus, and through Jesus WE TOO can have healing. We can leave behind all the sickness and join Him in His resurrection unto life (Romans 6:5). Take it. Take the healing from His outstretched hand. Believe it and receive it because He already gave you the faith for it.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Genesis 22:8

““God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.” A question that wasn’t answered for thousands of years. A question answered in Jesus. In order to qualify for a sacrifice a lamb had to be male, perfect, and a year old (Exodus 12:5). A year old lamb had not had sexual relations yet. It was pure. It was best if it was a first-born male (Exodus 13:2). The lamb that was perfect was to be blemish free – no physical defects and no disease. All humans are after the image of Adam (Genesis 5:3). We all are fallen. We all are selfish. We all have sin. We don’t qualify. So the Father provided a perfect lamb – His Son Jesus. “On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b