Fear No Fear

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

“Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am!”“

John 8:58

This year-long devotional is about Ruach HaKodesh. Yet lately, there has been a decided turn from the ministry of Ruach HaKodesh and His presence in our lives to that of Jesus. The answer is that while they are two separate personalities, they are at the same time indivisible. Ruach HaKodesh is Jesus’ own Ruach. They are the same in the same way that Jesus and the Father are the same. “My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish forever, and no one will seize them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can seize them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” Then the Jews picked up stones again so that they could stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not going to stone you concerning a good deed, but concerning blasphemy, and because you, although you are a man, make yourself to be God!” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? If he called them ‘gods’ to whom the word of God came—and the scripture cannot be broken— do you say about he whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. But if I am doing them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”” (John 10:27-38). Jesus and the Father are separate and indivisible. Jesus and Ruach HaKodesh have the same nature. They are all three of them ONE: “For there are three that testify, [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth”]” (1 John 5:7 – some manuscripts don’t have the last part). It is natural that we study who Jesus is in a study of who His Ruach is.

This is extra important when looking at today’s verse. This is one of the clearest declarations Jesus ever makes. There are some who say Jesus never claimed to be Yahweh. But here Jesus clearly identifies Himself as Yahweh. Pre-existant to His incarnation which stood before them. He is claiming to have existed before the man who was the start of the Hebrew nation (not humanity, but the Jews as a national identity and people). Only Adonai could be this. Jesus was saying that even as He was Jesus of Nazareth, He was also Yahweh Elohim Almighty. If you continue reading this section of scripture, you see the religious leaders IMMEDIATELY understood and IMMEDIATELY sought to stone Jesus for blasphemy. They hadn’t grasped all this theology of being the Light or going where they couldn’t follow or the truth being the only thing to set them free. They had been blind to who they were in alignment with and who they should have been grasping to have living in their hearts. They were totally confused about all of that. But as soon as Jesus spoke the truth about who He was, they understood the implication and set to stone Him right there in the middle of the Temple. Jesus slipped away (it was not yet His time), but Jesus had been understood.

We also need to understand because this is a pivotal part of who Jesus is: His eternal identity. This is how Jesus could be in Heaven even as He was on the Earth (John 3:13). This is also how WE, resting in Jesus, can be here on Earth and also in Heaven at the same time (Ephesians 2:6). This is the identity of Jesus that Ruach HaKodesh opened John’s gospel with: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him not one thing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). Jesus was Yahweh and Yahweh was Jesus. It was this divine Jesus who was with them in the Temple that day declaring His identity: “And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Without this revelation in your heart, you will not truly be able to accept salvation. If you don’t have this revelation in your heart, you will not truly be able to understand the cross. It was ONLY a fully righteous person who could pay for Sin. It was ONLY the divine who was fully righteous. Jesus HAD to be fully divine AND fully person to be able to pay for Sin which was entered into by a person and the debt owed. This is what Gethsemane was all about: Jesus asking for ANY other way and accepting this was the ONLY way and being willing to pay it for the joy it would bring (Hebrews 12:2) in eliminating the effect of Sin forever – even as His flesh recoiled from the horror and torment of becoming Sin (1 Peter 2:24).

All of this was decided before Creation (Revelation 13:8). Jesus was there. He was part of the decision. Why did Adonai have to pay the price for Sin? Because a human being could not. Adonai set up obedience to be a BLESSING and a BENEFIT. If they rebelled, negative consequences would occur. Adonai set it up this way to give us free will. To be able to give us authority. To be able to give us what makes us unique in all Creation. And He told us the consequences so that He would NOT have to let them happen. That’s why He warns Israel and Judah of judgment throughout the Old Testament. So that they will keep to His commands, so that they will repent, and so by doing those things Adonai will not have to let judgment come on them. In the New Testament, Jesus’ sacrifice is necessary so that Adonai will not have to judge ANYONE EVER. But only someone outside of Sin can pay for Sin TO SAVE THOSE IN SIN. Adam could have paid for his sin, but it would only be the just payment. He wouldn’t be saved, he would be consequented. When Jesus came as the Last Adam, He paid FOR US instead of for Himself. Only ADONAI could do that because only ADONAI was outside the system. That means that Jesus HAS TO BE Adonai. And Jesus was CLEAR about who He was so that those who heard Him – truly heard Him – would understand and be able to accept what He did and then explain it to others.

This is WHO Jesus is. This is WHY Jesus had to do what He did. This is what MAKES Jesus THE Way. The ONLY Way. And the SINGLE way set up before ANYTHING was created. Every single other way that you will EVER hear of is an invention of someone or something other than Adonai. These other ways will NEVER be correct and will NEVER work. They supply NO clarity. They supply NO peace. They have NO security. And they ALL depend on OUR efforts. Salvation was always impossible for anyone INSIDE Creation. It is only available by and through Adonai. He’s made that clear to us from the BEGINNING. We can choose to believe Jesus is Adonai or we can choose to believe Jesus isn’t Adonai. But it is ONLY this name – JESUS – by which ANYONE can be saved. It is who He IS.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: John 1:14

“And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The original word for ‘residence’ is ‘tabernacled’. Jesus tabernacled among us. He did in the New Covenant exactly as He had in the Old. He made a tabernacle in the middle of us and then He came down to dwell in it. He put His tent right beside and amongst our tents. He became what we were so that we could become what He is (2 Corinthians 5:17). What other god would think to do that? Or be willing to? The religions of the world always have humanity relying on humanity’s efforts AND almost all of them give you NO security (we’ll find out when we die). Adonai loves us too much to leave us guessing. Adonai loves us too much to let us even THINK of wasting our time trying to do it ourselves. He did it for us. He set up ALL the systems and ALL His words to us to show us that HE had to do it and we could not. He has been clear, merciful, and oh so gracious to us. He is consistent. He is persistent. And Jesus came to do it right along beside us. 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