Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“Thus I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins . . . Then Jesus said,“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will recognize that I am he, and I do nothing from myself, but just as the Father taught me, I say these things.“

John 8:24, 28

Here Jesus again references His identity as I AM (Exodus 3:14). It is a clear statement of His divinity and of belief in Him being the ONLY way to be saved. Again, it isn’t Jesus telling us He will condemn us if we don’t believe. We ALREADY stand condemned as a species born in Sin. Jesus is here to do one thing: redeem us so that we do NOT perish. He speaks of being ‘lifted up’ an allusion to the bronze snake (more on that in a moment) and of BELIEF in Him being how salvation is achieved. Not Him the teacher. Not Him the prophet. Not Him the good man. Him the I AM. Jesus as Elohim Almighty. Yahweh. We need to recognize Jesus for who He is AND be willing to believe in Him, placing our trust on THE Way to salvation and LIFE.

“The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh and let him remove the snakes from among us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And Yahweh said to Moses, “Make for yourself a snake and place it on a pole. When anyone is bitten and looks at it, that person will live.” So Moses made a snake of bronze, and he placed it on the pole; whenever a snake bit someone, and that person looked at the snake of bronze, he lived” (Numbers 21:7-9). The snakes were poisonous. If you got bitten, you died. EXCEPT if you looked at the bronze snake that had been lifted up in the centre of the camp. All they needed to do was LOOK at it and BELIEVE. To raise their eyes and look on it believing Adonai would cleanse them of poison. The same Adonai who had parted the Red Sea. The same Adonai who had performed miracles, signs, and wonders in Egypt. The same Adonai who had shaken the mountain and spoken audibly to them in a way they all clearly understood. This same Adonai said looking at the bronze snake would save you. Period. Nothing else. Nothing fancy. Believe Adonai and look at the snake trusting it would work. That’s about as simple as you can get. Minimal effort. All based on belief and trust. If they did it, they got saved from the poison. Simple.

It works the same way with Jesus. “But what does it say? “The word is near to you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), that if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who is rich to all who call upon him. For “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:8-13). Jesus is an exclusive non-exclusivest. “and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Jesus came for EVERYONE in the world. Everyone who EVER lived and is ever GOING TO live. He came while we were still enemies of Adonai in our sins. He came before we knew who He was. He was lifted up for all to see. All we need to do is to SEE Him and BELIEVE in Him, TRUSTING that He will do what He says He will do. Simple.

Jesus pointed out His divinity so that we would understand that He was able to save us. Jesus ALSO pointed out His dependence as a man on His Father. Jesus was man and depended entirely on the Father for everything. We must do the same. We must believe Jesus was Adonai manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) and totally dependent on the Father (John 5:19). This is our example. To depend on the Father completely and trust in Jesus absolutely. It isn’t complicated. It’s very simple. It’s very understandable. Like a bronze serpent on a pole, Jesus is up there on the cross. Do we believe Him? Do we trust Him? Will we look at Him?Jesus was declaring it so that it could be this simple. So that it could STAY this simple. He is the only way for us to do anything but die in our Sin. If we won’t look, believe, and trust, then we will stay where we are. If we stay where we are, then we are separated from Adonai. If we are separated from Adonai, we will not get to partake of the things of Adonai. There is only ONE WAY to reconcile with Adonai: sin MUST be paid for. Jesus did that. No one else could. So we need to believe. We need to trust. And we need to look to Him. We do that in and through Ruach HaKodesh’s ministry which is pointing out Jesus to us constantly.

There are those who say Adonai isn’t being loving. Or that many paths lead to Him. But it is HIS HOUSE. He gets to say who comes in or not. It doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with whether you are a good person. It has to do with having a relationship with Him. If we have a relationship with Jesus, then we will be allowed in. Why? Because a relationship Jesus is the Way in. Why only Jesus? He knows where He lives. He said again and again throughout the gospels that you cannot go where He is going. You cannot find where He has gone. He is THE Way in. Period. He’s not trying to keep people out. But you can only get in His way because it is His house. He knows how to get in. We can’t. Adonai has determined the how. We know the why (Sin and Jesus’ payment for that Sin). All we need to do is look to Him for our salvation instead of ourselves. Why can Jesus do it and we cannot? He was divine. He was sinless. He paid for something while guilt free. He ONLY could do it. That is why He is THE Way. It is truth. It is real. Look to Him, believe Him, and trust that He has told us the truth and you WILL be saved. You WILL be allowed in. You WILL have life eternal: a relationship with Yahweh.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Colossians 3:10

“and have put on the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him” When we recognize Jesus for who He is, and we believe in Him, and we trust that He is who He says He is, able to do what He says He can do, our spirits are transformed into something new. A new creation. A spirit being of total renewed knowledge joined at the hip with Jesus’ own mind. In our spirits, we know all things. But just like Jesus when He was a man, we have to draw it out of our spirits into our minds. Jesus increased in wisdom (Like 2:52). He was God made manifest, but He still needed to learn how to access it through Ruach HaKodesh (1 Timothy 3:16). We need to do the same. But we are not floundering in the dark. Adonai gave us Ruach HaKodesh for just this purpose (among others). So that we could be guided and taught how to engage that which we have in our spirits who are joined as one with His Ruach. So we won’t be left ignorant, but can partake piece by piece, grace by grace, in the fullness of the Ruach of Jesus as joint heirs and the Bride of Messiah. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8