Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.Heb 10:23 And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy.
The Beginning
Gen 2:16 Then the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard,Gen 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die."
The result from eating the fruit of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil” is an evil conscience.
A Conscience that tells me if I'm doing good.
A Conscience that determines how I should behave, what I should do and not do....
It also condemns me if I am doing bad.
It exalts me and makes me feel good about myself if I do good. An addiction to feeling good by doing good develops, and I beam with delight as the conscience of approval brings my reward : “Well done, my good and faithful servant” - I've got to have more, what else can I offer up to get the next fix to fill my broken life with meaning.
I don't know what to do with the “bad” parts of me, so I learn to suppress them.
I try very hard to live out of, and increase, the “good” parts of me.
When I live the “good”, I feel more acceptable to God, and maybe even closer to God.
Conscience therefore becomes the word of God to me – I think it is the voice of God to me.
I start living a dual life – I hide and suppress my “bad” side, which pops out every now and then (generally at the most inappropriate of moments). I then find it more comfortable to avoid people. My relationships head south.
I learn to offer my life to the development of the “good” side of me – I do this by reaching out to God, I commit myself to Him, I get involved in all sorts of religious activities. If I fall behind on these, I feel guilty, then I feel I am no longer good enough, so I re-commit myself to Him, get on the drive again to improve myself and make myself more acceptable to Him.
This is where I lose my Identity, I lose sight of who I am
I live a pretense on one side, whilst also suppressing or hiding part of me, and never living out the true person of who I am.
When God said “Surely you will die if you eat of the fruit of the “Tree”, THIS is what He was saying...”you will lose who YOU are..”
Jesus later said in Matthew 11:28...”You will recover YOUR life..” in that you will discover and live in your original authentic identity ...
There's an irresistible pull, a spell, a bewitchment to live in this way, to try and live as a good person to appease the conscience.The pull can be so strong that I can give (offer up) my life to the service of an organization or ministry.
The ultimate end of this “pull” is to lay down my life thinking that this is the BEST offering I can give – martyrdom is seen by some as the ultimate “sacrifice” to please God.
Perhaps there is a further unthinkable step – Is there something I can offer up more than my own life, even though it is unthinkable ? – Something more valuable then my own life are the lives of our children. This is the ultimate offering to the conscience to present ourselves acceptable and pleasing to “God”. This is evident in many religions, as well as in many Christian ministers and missionaries, where the lives of their children are wrecked and abandoned by neglect, eager to please “God”
When God told Abraham (a pagan) to sacrifice his son, Abraham unflinchingly obeyed, knowing that this was the ultimate “good” that he could offer. What God was doing, was reaching into the very heart of mankind, to open up and expose the Roots of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, to expose the depths of our being which was entrenched in the system that Satan had enticed us into.
At the very last moment, as Abraham was about to do it, God stopped him, and in effect, said these words “I will supply the sacrifice that humanity requires, to root out forever the need to offer up something to prove your worth. I will show you that your worth is by birth, not by doing, and that your value is from Me, not from your sacrifice. I do not need an offering to make you acceptable - I love you, I always have loved you, and I always will ”
When Cain offered up his sacrifice, it was rejected for the same reason. It was the produce of the doing of his own hands, it was the offering of his own work. Abel's offering was born of God, it was not produced by the work of his hands, and was acceptable. Cain compared the approval of his works with that of Abel's by gift, and long-suppressed jealousy rose up ............ “Surely you shall die if you eat of this fruit........”
Father, Son and Spirit offered up the greatest sacrifice FOR US, to break the spell of our obsession to offer up our best effort, the obsession to prove the best in us, the obsession to gain favor with the “god of conscience”, the obsession to gain approval and worth by what we could do.
Jesus sacrifice was not FOR our Father as if He needed something to appease or change Him. Our Father did not need a sacrifice, WE DID, to fulfill the unquenchable desire and drive in us to present the best offering to the “word” of our 'evil 'conscience !!
David, who probably knew the heart of God more than anyone else in the Old Covenant, said this of God in Psalm 40:6 “Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.
He offered His own Son, pure and spotless, perfect and righteous, the ultimate sacrifice that the Law required, (not God). The Law was based on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Law was given to shine God's light on the system of the “Tree” that man had entered into, to bring it to the fore, in full view and focus of our attention. The Law demands perfection by human effort, which is what the “Tree” demands. The Law exposes the inability of man to live in perfect righteousness, the inability to offer up a perfect sacrifice to appease the conscience, to remove conscience's condemning glare and gain the consciences perfect score and it's ensuing approval and delight.
Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law – The fulfillment of the Law (or the Tree's) demand was to sacrifice and offer up something or someone of the highest value, something or someone that would be scrutinized and found not wanting, perfect in every way, something or someone that would not induce the wrath and condemnation of the conscience, something or someone who would finally put to rest the impossible summons of perfect doing.
We know we can NEVER match this offering, but it is OFFERED ON OUR BEHALF – there is therefore no more sacrifice for sin, it is complete, the “insatiable” conscience is now satisfied, the spell and bewitchment is broken, we can rest from the tyranny of an evil conscience and it's ever watching eyes, and from the perfection that the Law and the “Tree” demands.
IT IS DONE !!
Jesus said - Mat 11:28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.............
Now what ?? What are we now to be conscious of - “Heb 10:23 .....let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess”
Christ in US, the Hope of Glory !!
Christ in our 'dark' places and our 'good' parts – I am complete in Him.
In due time, the Spirit teaches me about life, who I am, how loved and accepted I am, as I am. I find out who I really am, I begin to love myself as I am loved, and begin to love other people as I know I am loved - I recover my identity, I recover my life.
My 'bad' parts can be released from concealment, I can begin to drop my defenses, and that I am totally acceptable to my Father and always have been. I can openly talk to Him about all the thoughts and feelings that go on in me, even though some of them are out-rightly rotten.
My 'good' parts, which have developed into pretenses, can also be released as I recognize that they are just that – Pretenses and Facades... they are not me.
The Spirit of Reality transforms my mind as He leads me into the truth of who I am and who Jesus is and Who our Father is.
What emerges is His workmanship, the person 'inside' that He has always seen and known but to which I was blind, the beautiful magnificent person His eyes had set on long before the foundation of the world.
I am His love dream come true (quote by Francois. Du Toit)
I now can focus all my energy on LIVING life out of who I am.
Perhaps even my career changes, because the career I had chosen was based on trying to find acceptance and recognition and affirmation.
Perhaps the “ministry” that I am in becomes something I discard, as I recognize that it was just a tool to try and gain a “place” with God and man.
I become conscious of where I am; seated in Heavenly places with Him, in Him, embraced in the very Heart of my Father, and yet at the same time, on Earth.
I embrace my humanity and become very comfortable in my own 'skin', the new wine-skin fit for the wine of Heaven – I am born of the family of God by His doing, I am accepted in the Beloved.
I realize that I am deeply involved in Jesus' beautiful relationship with His Father, our Father, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit – In this relationship, I recognize that sacrifice and offering has no place in the economy of heaven, but that my heart is filled with joy and purpose and love, and it is a delight to participate in the giving and receiving in the wonder of this circle of life and love and friendship – David also spoke of this in Psalm 40:8 “I Delight to do your will.......”
I explore my newly discovered surroundings and the goings on of my 'home'.
I listen to the conversations, and get to participate with what's taking place.
Isn't this what Jesus did when He was on Earth ?!
He saw and heard what was going on with His Father and the Spirit, and lived that out – It's called the obedience of Faith in the Perfect Law of Liberty
I begin to eat of another Tree – The Tree of Life, producing the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
This is the Kingdom on Earth,
His will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven !
There is no End
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