The One Who Bought The Pearl

Matthew 13:45-46 ESV — "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Isaiah 53:10 KJV — "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."

The cross was the ultimate manifestation of Jesus' heart to 'sell all that He had' to win our lives back. His heart won the Father's heart and His shed Blood satisfied the Father's justice and holiness.

Jesus. Faced with paying the ultimate price... paid it... He did not back down... a second Adam who is a quickening Spirit.

Sin is paid for but will we believe and then be made alive to enjoy the benefits of being alive? If we never believe we stay spiritually dead.

Mark 12:27a ESV — "He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

John 14:6 ESV — "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

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Jesus' Intercession On The Cross

"Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes INTERCESSION for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:12 ESV

That word 'intercession' is paga (Strong's H6293) in the Hebrew and it is not talking about verbal intercession. It is a physical word (attack, fall upon, parry, collide with).

The cross was Jesus stepping in-between us and God's wrath. It was Him taking our bullet. It was Him jumping into our problem and making it His problem.

"If you MEET your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him." - Exodus 23:4 ESV

It is the same word used here for 'meet'. It is a physical confrontation.

Jesus created (makes) a space for the transgressors (us) to come in contact with God.

An evangelist or missionary is an intercessor. They aren't just saying words they are coming in contact with God and bringing people into contact with Him.

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Shed Blood

 Leviticus 17:11 ESV — "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life."

Pondering Jesus' blood today. A sinless man shed sinless blood.

When a doctor draws blood it serves as a snapshot of what is going on right at that moment. 

We die and our blood dies.

Does a sinless man's blood die or is it frozen forever alive experiencing that horrible cross? Shed at His worst moment with all of our sin 'on' Him.

In a way Jesus is in two places. The life (soul) of the flesh is in His blood but He sits at the right hand of the Father. Did that blood get absorbed into the Earth or was it transported to Heaven?

Either way it is beyond precious.

1 Peter 1:17-19 ESV — "And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

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Season of Betrothal

We are betrothed to Christ. Not married... yet.

Engaged as a group and the marriage will be a 'us' thing also. Not individual... it is a concept presented in the Hebrew but we don't have it in our western culture.

Being engaged has it's own joys and troubles... life is happening but postponed... biblical engagement has no sexual intimacy... not before engagement or during... that is reserved for marriage.... that longing is healthy and once married a bond is formed both emotionally and physically.

The troubles of engagement are real... loneliness... the impending living arrangements may be anticipated but still the old 'life' dies and a new one is about to start filled with unknowns.

A believer lives a life of betrothal. We often say, 'One day things will be different.' and the they will be cause the marriage will happen and everything will be new again.

"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." - Revelation 21:5 KJV

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;" - 2 Corinthians 5:14-18 ESV

Internal 'newness' is available to us now. External newness will come later. Hope is available to us now. Fullness of joy later.

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." - Psalm 16:11 ESV

"But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." - 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 ESV

Life can often be like a woman longing for her prince charming to arrive... that isn't easy but it is a hardship filled with hope. Jesus is who we are longing for.... we have Him but we long for time when hope turns to daily living in joy unspeakable.

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What Does God Bless?

Jacob had a very loving relationship with his adult son Joseph. This last interaction is very interesting to me...

"Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." And he said, "Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them." Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. ... Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn)... When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, "Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head." But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations."" - Genesis 48:9-10, 12-14, 17-19 ESV

You see the love and tenderness but you also see the disconnect of expectations... father and son... the son was an accomplished man... God had used him to save 'the world' from famine but Jacob represented God... He was the honored one and the one with the power to bless...

God doesn't bless what we do in the way we want Him to. His priorities are different... He often blesses the thing of 'lower' importance to us. The thing we stumbled into versus the thing we worked to build.

Does He love us.... YES!... or course He loves us beyond what we can imagine. Jacob lost Joseph and got him back. A father couldn't love his son more than Jacob loved Joseph.

God can't love you more than He does right now. No matter what you do or don't do.

We push things in front of God and say... bless them... and it is good and right that we do that but we also shouldn't be surprised if He 'crosses His arms' in the blessing to bring an unexpected result.

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What Were Jesus' Commandments?

"In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." - Acts 1:1-5 ESV

"You are my friends if you do what I command you." - John 15:14 ESV

""If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." - John 14:15-17 ESV

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." - John 15:12 ESV

"And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." - Mark 16:15 ESV

I see three primary commands given to these people.... stay in Jerusalem... love one another... go into all the world and proclaim the gospel.

There are two who tried to leave...

"That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ... When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together," - Luke 24:13-16, 30-33 ESV

They knew that Jesus had COMMANDED them to be in Jerusalem. Jesus was so gracious... He didn't chide them... He just loved them and walked with them away from where they were supposed to be.

I think we can put way to much stock in programs and what we think God wants us to to do. Religion demands things that Jesus Himself did not demand.

Be in places where you receive power
Love people
Evangelize

Those are 'abiding' things not religious duties.

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." - John 14:21 ESV

What a great promise!

It happened to them at Pentecost. It can happen to us also... not through a program but by abiding in the vine... living with God and being where He Is revealed.

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Rejection

Jesus made sure that God won't reject you... not active rejection (exclusion) or passive rejection (forgetting).

You might say, 'God doesn't exist so why would I care about that?' 

You only even entertain that thought because you fear that He will reject you. That you will die and it will be terrible or that you will be gone and forgotten.

Jesus was both passively and actively rejected 'as you' so that you could be accepted forever.

John 14:2-4 ESV — "In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”"

This passage covers Jesus' death (where they knew He was going but didn't want to accept it), resurrection, ascension, session (being seated in Heaven at the right hand of the Father) and standing up to greet us.

Acts 7:54-57 ESV — "Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him."

If we remember Him He can't forget us... won't reject us... but if we never know Him...

Matthew 7:15-24 ESV — "“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock."

Those who want only gain will end up with only loss but those invest trust in the unmerited love of the Son will have a Father in Heaven.

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