TOPIC: “JESUS THE WORD OF GOD

TEXT: St. John 1:1-2:

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.                                                                                                                              Vs 14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”.

John begins his gospel by calling Jesus “the Word”.  This is the last of the four Gospels to be written.  The first three are called synoptic Gospels, meaning, to “see together”, contained many of the same stories and teachings, but were told from a different angle.  Yet at the same time each were fully inspired by God.  

There was a difference in John’s gospel.  John shows us a side the other writers didn’t touch on.  He gives us twenty one chapters which unfolds and presents a new facet of Jesus’ divine character, giving us three main characteristics of Jesus Christ as “the Word”:  (1) His relation to the Father; (2) His relation to the world; (3) His relation to humanity.

JESUS THE WORD AS RELATED TO THE FATHER:

To the “Father” Christ was preexistent with God.  Even before the creation of the world, Jesus has always existed.  He did not come into existence in Bethlehem, that’s when He was made visible.  But He has always been here throughout the endless ages of eternities past.

Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning”.  

This “beginning” is the “reshiiyth”’, the first in place, time, order or rank (a first-fruit), first-fruits, chief. This “beginning” was not a calendar date, it was a “Person”, “Jesus the Christ” Himself!

• Colossians 1:17-18: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  And he is the head of the body, the church:  who is “the beginning”, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
  This word “beginning” is from the root word arche’, meaning the beginning of a thing; chief (in relation to order, time, place, or rank; to have precedence in relation (rank or power)!

JOHN HIMSELF DECLARED IT:

• Revelation 3:14: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God”.
• Revelation 21:6: And he said unto me, “It is done”.  “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end”.

Jesus was Divine, having the same nature and essence as the Father.  The “essence” being the basic nature of something; a concentrated substance that keeps the flavor and fragrance, of that from which it is extracted.

• John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!  

So we know that God is a Spirit (John 4:24), but He put on flesh in Jesus Christ.  1John 4:8 states that “God is love”!  So Jesus was the very “love” of God walking around on two feet that was nailed to the Cross, rose from the dead on the third day with all power and gave us the right to “the Tree of Life”, which was eternal life that He had from the Father Himself!  

• John 5:26: For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself!

Life is from the root word Zoe, which pertains to plants, and animals, as well, but in relation to mankind when Jesus spoke of “life” He always used the word “eternal or everlasting” with it!  That’s because God made us “eternal people”!  God made man to live and not die, that’s why we’re made in the image and likeness of God!  Therefore we must “put on the new man, which is renewed (restored; revitalized) in knowledge after the image of him that created him (Colossians 3:10).  God is Eternal and “As He is, so are we, in this world” (1 John 4:17).  

• Colossians 1:12: Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
• Vs 13: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
• Vs 14: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.  
• Colossians 2:9: For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
• Vs 10: And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power
• Vs 11: In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.

 Isn’t He “Ummm Ummm good”!!!

• Psalm 34:8: O taste (experience) and see that the LORD is good!  Blessed is the man that trusts in him.

JESUS THE WORD AS RELATED TO THE WORLD:

It’s through Christ that God the Father created and now sustains the world.  Sustain meaning to strengthen or support physically or mentally.  Synonyms for “sustain” are:  comfort; help; assist; encourage.

• 2 Corinthians 5:19: To wit (know), that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
• Colossians 1:16-17: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:  all things were created by him, and for him:  and he is before all things, and by him all things consist (to be composed or made up of).

JESUS THE WORD IN RELATION TO HUMANITY:

• St. John 1:14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Yes, the Word took on “human nature”, but yet was without sin.

• 2 Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
• Philippians 2:6: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
  Vs 7: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
  Vs 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
• 1 Peter 2:22: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
• 1 John 3:5: And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

This is the basic statement of the “incarnation”:  CHRIST came down from heaven and entered the condition of human life through the gateway of “human birth” and became the “God-Man”!  God is a Spirit (St. John 4:24), He wasn’t seen until He took on a bodily form in Jesus the Christ – Mary’s Baby.  He was “incarnated – He took on a “bodily form”:  

• Matthew 1:23: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 
  He was a “man” but yet He was “God”!  He is the “light of men” and His “life” was the light for everyone who would believe.

• St. John 1:4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

This was the “light” that God was speaking of in Genesis 1:3, when He said, “Let there be light”.  This was not the “light” of the Sun.  If someone wants to be technical, that “light” didn’t come into existence until the fourth day, and this was the “first day” when God said, “Let there be light”!

“LET” (synonyms) [allow; permit; propose; cause; assign].  In no place where “let” is used is a “creative act” implied!  It is used in the sense of:  “made appear” or “made visible”, expressing permission and purpose in connection with already existing things!!!  The light, firmament, waters, earth, darkness and all other things mentioned here were already in existence but had been thrown into chaos, and the laws which previously governed them had been made void.  The PURPOSE for their existence had been annulled by “sin”.  But God Himself was ready to REPLENISH or restore the earth to perfection.  So He just says “LET THERE BE” [reappear or become visible] AGAIN!!!

[God gave the “light” an assignment and its assignment was “TO APPEAR” – MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE]!!!

 Genesis 1:3: “LET THERE BE LIGHT”. 

 This word “light” is from the root word, owr (ore), which means illumination (giving of light; to make clear; to provide with understanding; spiritually or intellectually enlightened); luminary [a notable person; one that enlighten mankind]; lightning, happiness, bright, clear, day, light(s) (ning); morning; sun).  Synonyms for “illuminate” are to clarify (become or make clearer); elucidate [to make clear, clarify; to explain].

God was “letting” (allowing, permitting, causing) the knowledge, wisdom, understanding, dominion, authority, and power, that the morning stars, and sons of God were functioning in between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 to return to His people in this creation He Himself was now replenishing!

Genesis 1:3: And there was “light”!   There were luminaries (notable people; those that could enlighten mankind)!!  Those that could do what the “morning stars and sons of God” were doing in Genesis 1:1, ruling and reigning over the earth, with dominion, authority, and power that God had given them!

There were worlds here before this world that we are living in now.  Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

THEN GOD “SAW”:  (ra-ah’/raw-aw’) looked, beheld, considered, provided, approved, discerned, mark, observed that “the light” was good.

Genesis 1:4: And God saw the light (owrs-people with His knowledge and life in them) that it was GOOD.

GOOD is from the Hebrew word towb, pronounced tobe, defined as a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women); also well; merry; fair; prosperous; precious; fine; wealthy; beautiful; favorable; glad; bountiful; cheerful; at ease; joyful; kindly;  loving, pleasant; sweet.  Good, in every sense of the word!

What “light” was it that God saw, that was “good”?  (1 John 1:5) “God is light”!  (Mark 10:18) “There is none good but one, that is, God.  It was like God was looking into a mirror at Himself; because that “light” or “luminaries” He was looking at was looking just like Himself!  He saw those (male and female) He was giving assignments of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, dominion, authority, and power, and they were carrying out the assignment!  He saw them doing what He was doing “BEING CREATIVE AND MAKING”!!

• ST. JOHN 8 (speaks of Jesus being the light of the world): 
  Vs 12: Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, “I am the light of the world:  he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.

This “light of life” has been shining from the book of Genesis:

• Matthew 5:14: You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:5: You are all children of light, and the children of the day:  we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

We too were pre-existent WITH THE FATHER: 

We were with God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the beginning when He said in Genesis 1:26: “Let US make man”.

• St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God: 
  Vs 2: And the “SAME” (that was US) was in the beginning with God. 
  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh.
  1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world. 

We too in relation to the world:

 We too in relation to the world are “recreating”.  Jesus is the Word and the Word is working in and for us as it worked in Him:

• John 14:12: Verily, verily, I say unto you, “He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to my Father”. 
  This “same Word” is the “true inner self” of every individual.  Man therefore contains within himself the capacities and capabilities of “Being” through his words, uses the creative principles of the “Divine Mind” of God to create.  We make our own world by our own words whether silently or audibly expressed.  So let our words carry “life”!
• Deuteronomy 30:14: The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou may do it.
• Psalm 141:7: Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cuts and cleaves wood upon the earth.
• Proverbs 18:21: Death and life are in the power of the tongue:  and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
• Matthew 12:36-37: But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
• James 3:6: The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:  so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

WE TOO IN RELATION TO HUMANITY:

We too in relation to “humanity” were made flesh!

• St. John 1:12-13: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God!

There are those of us that are here because God sent us here!  Those that came forth from God as Jesus did came from “above”, but there are those that are from “beneath”!  

St. John 8 (Jesus speaking to the Pharisees [the religious group] the Jews): 

Vs 23: And he said unto them, “You are from beneath (kato’teros) [hell]; I am from above (not beyond the blue but from the Father):  you are of this world; I am not of this world”.

Vs 38: I speak that which I have seen with my Father:  and you do that which you have seen with your father.

Vs 44: You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own:  for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Vs 47: He that is of God hears God’s words:  you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.

Look at what Jesus said in St. John 3:13: No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

We are not just “mere men”, but we are “gods”!  Jesus was God in flesh form, so are we God in flesh form in the earth:

• Psalm 82:1: God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. 
  Vs 6: I have said, “You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High”!
• John 10:34: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods”?
• 1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world!

As Jesus preached and taught the Kingdom there was controversy.  People thought He was strange when He came to them preaching and teaching repentance.  When He performed miracles, men thought He was just a Prophet.  When He spoke the Word of God with power men thought He was amazing.  However, when He proclaimed equality with God, men thought He was crazy, St. John 19:7, especially when He claimed to be the “Son of God”.  With that claim they wanted to kill Him:  The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God”.  Yet, He was not deterred from His mission.  We cannot be deterred or distracted by those that don’t believe the revelation truth’s of the Word of God that we proclaim either.  Neither can we compromise or water it down to appease “men”.  Had Jesus done so He would have debased Himself, but He didn’t, because He is Truth, He is the Way, and He is the Life (John 14:6).

JESUS THE WORD OF GOD, WE THE WORD OF GOD!  

What does the Word of God do?  It restores, heals, delivers, causes demons to tremble, open deaf ears, opens blind eyes, sets the captives free, shines bright in a dark world, raises the dead, turn situations and circumstances around.

That’s why we can no longer be silent but preach and teach the Kingdom, for it is written, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32)!!!

The Church (the Body of Christ) has to come to know and accept the reality that God is Spirit and He lives inside of us!  And if we the Church want to come to the fullness of God we have to know and accept the reality that we have to know Him by the Spirit!!

• John 4:24: God is a Spirit and they that worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in truth.
• 1 John 4:4: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

God is a Spirit and we worship Him in Spirit and Truth.  Just like the “wind” that is blowing, we cannot see it but we know it’s there.  We can feel it moving upon us!  We cannot see Him, but we feel Him move within and upon us!  Glory to God!!!

JESUS THE WORD OF GOD, WE THE WORD OF GOD!

• 1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world!

Jesus being the “Word” of God, we have to eat all of Him!  How can we do that?  By studying, believing and accepting His Word.  When we do this we become Him!  The flesh aspect of Him is no more except in us the Church His Body and He’s in us because we ate Him!!  He’s now in us and we’re in Him!!!

• John 6:48-51: I am that bread of life.  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven:  if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:  and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Jesus gave His flesh on the Cross and He said “It is finished”, and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost (John 19:30).  God was through with that “flesh body”!  

• 2 Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh:  yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth (from here on) know we him no more.

So I’m not looking for that “flesh body of Jesus” that hung on the Cross to come back and deliver me, I never saw it anyway, but now I believe He is here by the Spirit!

• John 20:29: Jesus said unto him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:  blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed”!

Let us like Jesus the Word, give out the Word to all men, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

For we are “the Word” made flesh as Jesus was (St. John 1:1-2, 14), and we are the “trees of life”:  

• Isaiah 61:3: To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
• As he is, so are we, in this world (1 John 4:17).  We are His flesh body in the earth now!
• Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
• 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is CHRIST!

Remember Jesus had twelve disciples that He taught for three and one half years, yet not all were in the inner circle.  There were three in the inner circle – Peter, James, and John.  

Let’s look at Thomas, to show how like Thomas, people can be under the Word and still not grasp the spiritual revelation.  St John 14, when Jesus was speaking to them about the promise of His return, Thomas had to be the one to say: 

• Verse 5, “Lord, we know not whither thou go and how can we know the way”? 
  Thomas denotes “understanding” that sits in the “frontal lobe” of the brain which controls speech; personality; higher intellectual processes (concentration, planning, and decision making); verbal communication:
• Proverbs 4:7: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom:  and with all thy getting get understanding.     
  And there was Philip who said to Jesus in verse 8, “Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us”.  Philip denotes “power”, and sits at the “root of the tongue”, which governs taste, controls the larynx and its vibrations:
• Proverbs 18:21: Death and life are in the power of the tongue. 
  Yet these men were with Jesus but had not been disciplined in the revelation of who Jesus really was.

But then there’s Peter, one of the three in the inner circle.  Peter denotes “faith”.  Actually in Matthew 10: 1-2, he was the first of the disciples to be called: 

• Hebrews 11:6: For without faith, it is impossible to please God. 
  In the beginning his faith waived.  When our faith waivers we to have not fully come into the understanding of who we are, whose we are and where we’re going.  Therefore Philip the “tongue” or “power”, will say, “Lord show us the Father”!!  

But when Peter which is “faith” lays hold of life and substance, the gates of hell or Hades shall not prevail against him (Matthew 16).  

Faith is the central part of the consciousness (one’s awareness) of a “Master”!  So in Matthew 16:15, when Jesus said unto them, “But whom say you that I am”.  And Peter said, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God” (vs 16), he (Peter) got the revelation!!!  He saw pass the “Man Jesus” and saw “The Christ”, “the Anointed One”!!!

When “faith” stands at the forefront, then our understanding will become enlightened and the tongue will speak with power and authority and say, “I know who I am, I know whose I am, and I know where I’m headed!!!

So where are we headed!!

• Ephesians 4:13: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!!!

In fact, Jesus said with this kind of “faith” “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18)!!

So our “faith” is in knowing “WE LIKE JESUS, ARE THE WORD OF GOD”!!!

Evangelist Mary Perry

TOPIC: “THE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION”!!!

TEXT:: 2 Corinthians 5:18-20:  (Christ our all-sufficiency):

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit (know), that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us:  we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

• Romans 5:10-11: For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Reconciled is from the root word katalas’so, which means to change mutually, in relation to compound a difference.  It goes to another root word katallasso, meaning “to change; exchange; hence, of persons, to change from enmity to friendship”.  Another root word definition is katallage’, meaning to exchange (adjustment), in relation to restoration to (the divine) favor: atonement; reconciliation.                                           
 [This word katallage’, denotes an adjustment of a difference; reconciliation; restoration to favor or restoration of the favor of God to sinners that repent and put their trust in the expiatory/propitiatory death of Christ].  Last but not least, it’s from “allas’so”, meaning to make different; change:  or to make other than it is; to transform.

Through Jesus the Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost, God has given us, the Sons of God, the “ministry and word of reconciliation” so that we can restore [rehabilitate; establish; reconstruct; renovate; renew; revive; resuscitate; refresh; regenerate; resurrect; rejuvenate; recuperate; recover; repair; retrieve; redeem] His people to the formal state or position the creation was in the beginning before it fell.  

Religious order have people sitting waiting for Jesus to come back and clean this mess up “down here” as some say, when He has already finished the work the Father sent Him to do:

• John 17:4: I have glorified thee on the earth:  I have finished th4e work which thou gave me to do. 

Truly, the creation is waiting for us, “the sons of God” to deliver them.  Amen!!

• Romans 8:19: For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waits for the manifestation (plainness; visibility; demonstration; exhibition; display; showing; disclosure; revelation) of the sons of God.

Reconciliation doesn’t just apply to those of us in this flesh realm we live in being reconciled to God through salvation only, but it also includes those that are in the spirit realm as well that we have to reconcile to God.  

• 1 Corinthians 6:3: Know ye not that we shall judge angels?  How much more things that pertain to this life.
• Hebrews 11:39-40: And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Judge means to distinguish, or decide (mentally or judicially); try; condemn; determine; call in question; esteem; avenge; conclude; damn; decree; ordain; sentence to; think.  

God’s “judgment” is righteous judgment and as He is, so are we, in this world, 1 John 4:17, then our judgment will be righteous judgment as well.

• John 20:21-23: [Jesus speaking to His disciples]: Then said Jesus to them again, “Peace be unto you:  as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”.  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost:  whosesoever sins you remit (aphi’emi) (forgive), they are remitted (forgiven) unto them; and whosesoever sins you retain (krate’o) (seize; restrain; send away), they are retained” (restrained; sent away).
• Isaiah 11:2-5: And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD:  and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:  but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:  and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Someone may ask, “How is it possible for us to reconcile those in the spirit realm”?  It is possible because the spirit realm is right here where we are and not off beyond the blue somewhere. 
 Hebrews chapter eleven is called “the heroes hall of faith” and it goes right on into Hebrews chapter twelve and verse one states: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

This lets us know that the heavenly host is right here where we are, watching what we do, so we need to stop griping, murmuring and complaining and run with patience the race that is set before us, and when we overcome we can deliver them.                                                                                                     Let’ go back up to Hebrews 11:39-40: And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.  

• Ephesians 4:11-12: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints (those also in the spirit realm), for the edifying of the body of Christ (those of us in this physical world):  vs 13: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of CHRIST!

So it’s not just the people in the natural realm we live in that’s waiting for the sons of God to deliver them, but there are those in the spirit realm that we to can and must deliver also!

• Jude 6: The angels which kept not their first estate:

First is from the word arche’, meaning a commencement, or chief; beginning or first in order; time; place; or rank; principality; magistrate; power; a ruler (to rule or reign over).

Estate is from peri’: meaning through (all over), in relation to “around”, with respect to place, cause or time denoting the subject or occasion or matter, circumstance or general period. It goes to per’an, meaning “to pierce”; through, in relation to across; other side; beyond; over.                         Webster defines “estate” as a condition or stage of life; property; possessions; a residence.

The “FIRST ESTATE” in Jude was a place of dominion, authority, and power in God that the morning stars, sons of God and even the Adam race of people, had pierced into with the ability to rule and reign over the creation in the beginning.  They were kingdom people, living and walking in immortality and incorruption.  God’s Kingdom has never been external, but internal!  It was internal then and it is internal now!  

• Luke 17:20-21: And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:  neither shall they say, Lo here:  or, lo there:  for behold, the kingdom of God is within you”.

But the angels or messengers [morning stars; sons of God; Adam race] that had this power, whether through pride or disobedience to God, “crossed over” from Spirit or Divinity, and moved or fell back into flesh or humanity!  

They lost “spirit fellowship” with God.  But through Jesus the Christ, we can be and are restored back to “spirit fellowship” with God, and we through Christ can reconcile others in the natural and spirit realm back to God.  Well, at least, those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit! 
 1 Corinthians 6:17: He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit.

• John 4:4: God is Spirit and they that worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
• 2 Corinthians 5:19: To wit (know), that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us, the word of reconciliation.

Hebrews 4:15: For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

The temptation of the “woman” in Genesis 3:6: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.  

This led to the fall of the creation.  Jesus was tempted in all those same points in Matthew 4:1-10, in His wilderness experience, and conquered them by using the Word of God on the devil: vs 11: Then the devil leaves him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

• 1 John 2:16: For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Remember, God is Spirit, so for Him to feel what we feel, He had to put on flesh as a man, and as a man, He felt what we felt or feel.

We are still talking about “reconciliation”.  Jesus felt what it was like to die as a sinner, because He was made or became sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him:  2 Corinthians 5:21. 

Jesus had a “soul”, He knew what we went through emotionally:  Matthew 26:38: Then said Jesus unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”.

• Psalm 16:10: For thou will not leave my soul in hell; neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.  [Also Acts 2:27]. 

Hell in Hebrew is sheol, Hades or the world of the dead. In the Greek “hell” is from the root word ha’des, meaning, “unseen”, the state of departed souls; grave.

Religion teaches that “hell” is a place where people go after death, but there are those alive that are living in “hell” right now because of circumstances they may be dealing with.

Remember that our God is a “consuming fire” Hebrews 12:29.

 Jesus felt what it is to die lost.  He felt the “tormenting fire that is not seen”, or HADES.  The “fire of God’s torment is not seen”!  That’s why it’s called “hell”.  Why “hell”, because “hell” is “hades” – it is a “torment that is not seen”.  It is the “unseen torment” that Jesus dies in.  He dies in the unseen torment of hell itself, the fire of God’s judgment.  But before He dies, He returns His spirit back to the Father. 

• Luke 23:46: And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”:  and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.                                                        His spirit was in fellowship with the Father immediately after death.  Why?  His spirit experienced death on the cross before He physically died.  His spirit knew what it was to be separated from the Father.  His spirit experienced death or separation from the Father.  

What Jesus experienced after death in relation to torment of those who die lost is this: It was His soul going through the judgment fire.  That’s why it is written, “Thou will not leave my soul in hell”.  His spirit was in fellowship with the Father because Jesus gave it back to the Father before He drew His last breath.  He said, “Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit, it is finished” John 19:30.  He gave His spirit back to the Father before He drew His last breath physically.  Because His spirit already knew what it was to be separated from the Father and that’s why He said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”?  His spirit was experiencing death, but His soul experienced torment after death.  That was the “ghost” Jesus gave up, not the “Holy Ghost”, but the “ghost” (His soul).  That’s what experienced the “hell fire” or judgment fire of God! Why, because the soul is the emotional realm that had to feel the torment of the judgment fire after death.  That’s why it’s written, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell?  Not His spirit, but His soul!  What was it?  It was the part of Him that was man.  The spirit part of Jesus was God – the soul part of Jesus was man.  God does not have a soul, God is Spirit.  You can’t hurt God’s feelings or offend Him.  Jesus had soul because He was man and it was the man part of Jesus that had to experience what it was to suffer torment after death.  It was the soul that had been given to Jesus Christ as the Son of God and therefore the very spirit of God knew what it was for the soul to feel the very pains of a person that is in torment.  This is why so many Christians are “tormented” today?  It’s because their spirit loves God and is free from sin, but their soul is tormented because of unbelief.  That’s why He said “the fearful and unbelieving shall be cast into the lake of fire” Revelation 21:8.  This is why so many people including Christians have to go through fire to get them to the place God want them, because their very soul itself would never believe God.  For many of us we don’t wholly follow God because we allow our family to control our soul, our friends to control our soul.  They can pull us completely away from what God wants out of our life by controlling your soul realm.  The spirit of the person truly wants to do God’s will, but their soul (emotions) won’t let them.

• Hebrews 4:11-12: Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
  The Word of God divides between what is spirit in us that loves God and what is soul in us that doubts God.

I don’t just want to be free from sin in my spirit, but I want my “soul free from torment”.  I want my emotional department free from torment and out of hell!  “Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”.  What example?  The people of God that never entered the promise land because of unbelief.   The very ones that heard the messenger say: 

• Numbers 13:30: And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it”.  
  But they believed the spies with the evil report:
• Vs 31: The men that went up with him said, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we”.  “There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants:  and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” Numbers 13:33. 

This is what the “spies of religion” are saying today, “No one can enter the promise land until Jesus come” – “you can’t be perfect till Jesus gets here” – “you can’t live in divine health till you get to heaven” – “you’re in the flesh and as long as you’re in the flesh you’re going to be sick with something”.  Don’t let what happened to the Israelites happen to you, because if you do, the Word of God will go right down and divide between that which is the part of you that has believed the message of salvation and the part of you that does not believe in perfection!  That’s why many Christians are tormented, because of unbelief!

The spirit part of Jesus was God, and the soul part was man.  The soul part of Jesus felt the anguish of the fire of torment after death and He had to feel it.  He had to experience that torment to know what it was for the soul of a person to suffer after death because of unbelief.  With this, His soul felt hell after death, not His spirit.

• Matthew 10:28: And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:  but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (unseen torment or unseen fire).  

This is what a lot of people are experiencing right now – “unseen fire”.  Tell them that they are in hell right now and they don’t believe it.  They don’t understand how God uses this kind of judgment!  The soul is the part that’s in the hell fire.  Jesus didn’t use “the spirit” here He used “the soul”.  Why?  Because the Word of God divides between the “soul” and the “spirit”, and that’s what’s happening to a lot of Christians, their emotional department becomes destroyed in the fire of judgment and that’s why many Christians have nervous break downs and mental collapses!  It’s out of unbelief!  There are a lot of “good people” that are in torment.  Their spirit makes them do the things that are good, but the soul part torments them.  “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell”!  Jesus had to be baptized with fire!  

Luke 12:50: But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?  The “fire baptism of judgment”, in God, was that baptism!

• Matthew 20:20-23: Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.  And he said unto her, “What wilt thou”?  She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.  And Jesus answered and said, “You know not what you ask”.  “Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with”?  They say unto him, “We are able”.  And he saith unto them, “You shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with:  but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father”.
   (Expl):  “To sit on my right hand and on my left” – there is no such thing – “but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father” – meaning – the goats are on the left hand, and the sheep are on the right hand (Matthew 25:32-33).  When the separation comes about it happens in the spirit and all the people who are sheep gets to sit on the right hand (which are “the righteous being in the place of power” in God, right here and right now)!  The goats on the left (are those that are always bucking and kicking against God and His Word in disobedience and unbelief and it puts them in a place of the judgment fire or tormenting fire of God and it’s happening right now for many while they’re alive)!

Jesus was baptized with “the fire judgment of the Father”!  This baptism was not with water – but with the “cup” that He drank in the garden.  Now every man has got to be tried by “fire”! 

• 1 Corinthians 3:11-15: For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest:  for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.  If any man’s work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  If any man’s work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss:  but he himself, shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 

Meaning, some people will get into “life” through the fire of judgment.  Though we all have to go through the fire, but when we’re talking about this kind of fire which is the fire of judgment because of rebellion, you lose everything that you’ve done.  Those that believe and trust God go through the fire of purification – that’s why Jesus said, “His soul was not left in hell” or the “unseen fire” because He loved, believed, and trusted the Father.  So by Jesus feeling the fire of His soul, His Spirit was able to preach to spirits that were in prison.  At the very same time that His “soul” is experiencing what man feels, His “spirit” is preaching to those very souls that were in torment, in prison or in “hell”.

• 1 Peter 3:18: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:  by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
  (The biggest problem we as Christians are having is coming from across the pulpits of religious order through the “priests” (preachers), or “Levi” or Leviathan spoken of in Job 41:1). That’s why some had to be saved by fire because of rebellion – so they have to go through the fire of judgment to salvation – others are saved by water (the Word):
• Romans 10:9-10:
  
  
  If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
•  Ephesians 4:8-9: Wherefore he said, “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men”.


We know that God gave diversities of gifts to His people as recorded in 1 Corinthians 12.  But in this particular verse, the "gifts" God gave to men were those particular people in Ephesians 4:11: And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; vs 12: For the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  vs 13: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.


Still talking about reconciliation:  it is for the creation to be reconciled to God:  

Revelation 14:9: And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and shall be tormented with fire and brim stone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever:  and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name. 


 In the Greek it reads:  the third messenger followed them saying, with a great voice, if anyone that worships the beast and the image of it and receives a mark on the forehead of him or on the hand of him, even he shall drink of the wine of him and the anger of God having been mixed undiluted in the cup of the wrath of him, and will be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and before the Lamb and the smoke of the torment of them goes up to ages and ages and they do not have rest day and night those worshipping the beast or religious system. 



The key here is “those worshipping the beast” which puts it in present tense.  Those worshipping the beast have no rest day or night and the smoke of their torment ascend up forever and ever or age after age!  

• Revelation 14:14: And I looked and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.  

This message is letting us know about reconciliation and that the “soul of Jesus was not left in torment and neither will souls that have to go through torment to be reconciled will be left in hell”.  If God delivered His Son and He had to look at His Son in this way - because He had to put the sins of the world on His Son.  So the Father had to look at Him as a sinner so that He would be a fitted sacrifice to deliver us!  But He delivered Him!  Now we’re looking at the “soul structure” of the people and the “physical body” that gets destroyed by hell fire in the unseen torment that the “spirit” may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. The "day of the Lord Jesus" is already happening right here and right now.

 This is reconciliation, God bringing people out of that hell or state of torment.

• Revelation 14:14: And I looked and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man [this is seeing Jesus come with clouds – whom we are]:  having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle:
•  Revelation 14:15: And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, “Thrust in thy sickle and reap:  for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe” (dried - so reap it). 
• Vs 16: And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.  [This reaping is the separation of the tares from the wheat.  He is reaping the tares and the wheat.  He is gathering the tares out of the wheat and He is reaping the harvest].  These are the ones that have to go through the judgment fire to get to salvation]. 
• Vs 17: And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 
• Vs 18: And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire;
   [this is the body of messengers (a group of people)]:  what is the messenger saying – he’s saying that – “him that over-cometh shall not be hurt of the second death” – [because he has power over the judgment fire]:  and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth:  for her grapes are fully ripe. 
  Vs 19: And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth:
  (John 15:1) Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman”:
   Vs 4: Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me:
   Vs 5: I am the vine, you are the branches.  He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit:  for without me you can do nothing.

Vine is from the root word am’pelos, meaning, a vine as coiling about a support; around.  “Coil” is from the Latin, meaning “to gather together”:  (these are those that has encircled or has become a part of the circle that makes up Christ’s Body – but won’t accept the truth of the gospel in its fullness now - but God is yet pruning and purifying them to bring them into reconciliation in Him).

[This is telling us that these people that are being gathered are part of the vine, but the earth nature (carnal nature) is in them (the vine of the earth):  and he gathers them (the vine of the earth) and cast them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

Vs 20: And the winepress was trodden without the city, [the trodding is done outside the holy city] and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs (stadia or stadiums).  

[He’s saying that the blood {the life of the flesh} (they lost their lives)]:  He destroyed their bodies in hell.  Why, because they wouldn’t believe the message of Truth.  The same thing He did to the children of Israel.  He over threw their bodies in the wilderness because they wouldn’t believe the two messengers.  

 When God sends the kingdom message in its fullness to you, you can either receive it or reject it.  If you receive it you can have life but if you reject it you will have death. 

This is God treading the winepress.  

The word “thousand” represents repetition.  It’s repeated over and over.  Most preachers apply this to “Armeggedon”.  They say the blood is going to run two hundred and fifty miles to the horse bridle.  God here is talking about the repetition of the judgment of God that goes on through the ages and He gathers the “vine of the earth” and throws it into the winepress of God and He treads it until He treads the very life flow out of them physically until He destroys the body, that their spirit may be saved yet as by fire:   

• 1 Corinthians 3:15: If any man’s work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss:  but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.          
• Revelation 13:18: Here is wisdom.  Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:  for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.  

The six hundred three score and six – six hundred six and three score, “666” (the number of man).  Meaning, “Man has sinned against all three manifestations of the God-Head”.  Man sinned against the Father in the Old Testament; man sinned against the Son, between the Old and the New; and man is now sinning against the Holy Ghost in the church!

• Revelation 14:20: He treads the winepress without the city, and blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles.
  [The bit is put into the horse’s mouth – and with that little bit you can turn the horse’s whole body because the bridle gets hold of his tongue].
  (We saw that happen as we grew up on the farm when our father harnessed up the mules to pull the plow, he placed that bit in the mule’s mouth so he could control him).
• James 3:6: The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:  so is the tongue amongst its members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

 [The same thing the rich man said]:  Luke 16:24: And he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame”. 

He had lost his life.  He had lost the “blood” that gave him life.  The Lord was trampling on him because he was in the “winepress”.   Now he was ready for his tongue (the religious language he had been speaking) to be bridled up with the Truth of the Word of God so he could get out of that torment! 

• Revelation 14:20: the blood comes out to a thousand and six hundred furlongs or stadia.        

In the arena of life this thing happens continually.  It is a stadium (field; arena; warfare) that happens throughout the ages repeatedly.  That’s why it says the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever:  and they have no rest day nor night, whosoever worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name Revelation 14:11.                

But God is revealing His Son to His people to deliver them from the destruction of death.  That’s why He said fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (the unseen world of hell fire) Matthew 10:28.  

Then He comes back and says, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell” Acts 2:27.  Why, because God had judged sin in Him (Jesus). Once He judges it in those that reject the truth then reconciliation will come for them.  Don’t feel like you can do what you want and be saved later.  You will be a long time getting back to reconciliation with God.  We’re preaching that God truly loves the creation and has made provision to redeem you.  Babylon or religious order doesn’t preach that because they believe people are to burn in hell eternally without any reconciliation, that’s not love.

• Romans 8:20-21: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same, in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb: Revelation 19:9. 

You can’t eat what religion is giving out, it will kill you. God wants to reconcile His creation unto Himself and He is going to win!!!  God is going to reconcile the entire creation unto Himself!  Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell!  And I’m glad God has delivered my soul from “unseen torment” through faith!

We all have friends that believe they’re saved but they don’t believe that they can totally overcome in their flesh body!  Their soul has to go through the judgment fire of God so that their spirit may be saved so as by fire!  That’s why Jesus felt what He felt in His soul department so that He could redeem us!  Thank you Jesus for REDEMPTION!!!

Jesus didn’t just make “atonement” for us but He “reconciled” us!

• Romans 5:10-11: For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled (transformed and joined) to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life (Zoe).  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the “atonement” (restoration to the divine favor of God).

In the Old Testament, there were no “putting away of sin”, and no “reconciliation” between God and man.  There was only “atonement”!  The “atonement” was a covering over, a passing by, but when Jesus Christ came He fulfilled all righteousness, and took care of all the sins of the past, which had been merely covered and passed over through the forbearance of God.  In the Old Testament God typically accepted the blood of sacrificial animals slain by the thousands in the tabernacle of the congregation, and later on in the temple, as a temporary covering for sin, upon the promissory note that when Jesus Christ came, He Himself, by His own blood, would make full and complete “reconciliation”.  For Israel it was called “atonement”, but for us it is called “reconciliation”!

• Romans 3:23-26: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:  that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus.
• Hebrews 10:1: For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.  Vs 2: For then would they not have ceased to be offered?  Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
   Vs 3: But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.  Vs 4: For it’s not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  

Atonement in Hebrew is kaphar (kaw-far’) meaning to cover (with bitumen); to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel: purge; reconcile; forgive; pacify; disannulled; appease; put off; pardon; pitch.  It’s from another root word ko’pher, meaning a cover; a village (as covered in); a redemption-price:  ransom; satisfaction, pitch, used as money.

• Genesis 6:14: [The Lord speaking to Noah]:  Make thee an Ark of gopher wood; rooms shall thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch.

This word “PITCH” and “ATONEMENT” in Hebrew is from the same root word “kaphar” and “kopher”, which means, “to cover” or “to coat”!

The “pitch” was to “keep out the waters of judgment” so that those in the Ark were kept safe.  The Ark itself was not destroyed by the waters, and it kept those within it safe from the waters!  How many know that Jesus was killed, but He was not destroyed.  He rose the third day and destroyed all the works of the devil, 1 John 3:8, and freed us from those works through His death!!!

• Romans 8:1-4: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Under the Old Testament there was no “full reconciliation for sin” but only “atonement” (a covering or “passing over) for sin, until the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ came and made “the once and for all sacrifice”!!!

We are covered and reconciled by His innocent blood! 

• Hebrews 9:11-12: But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  Vs 22: Without shedding of blood is no remission.

That’s why those sacrifices in the tabernacle and the temple were never “finished”.  They were repeated year after year.  That’s why those saints then were pardoned, but never justified.  But after Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, it was “finished”! 
Now we're not just pardoned but we are justified:  Romans 5:1: There fore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “pardon” doesn’t appear in the New Testament.  In the Old Testament, it’s from the root word nasa’, meaning, to lift (bare) up, (take, carry) away; forgive; spare.  

• John 19:30: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
  Finished is the Greek word tele’o, meaning, to end; complete; execute; conclude; discharge (a debt); fulfil; accomplish; pay; perform; expire; make an end.  This word tele’o doesn’t only mean to terminate a thing, but to carry out a thing in the fullest extent]!  Finish is from another root word tel’os, meaning to set out for a definite point or goal; the point aimed at as a limit, meaning the conclusion of an act or state, signifying what is paid for public ends!
• Hebrews 9:22: Without shedding of blood is no remission (annulment; cancellation; pardon; forgiveness; suspension; abatement).
• Hebrews 9:11-14: But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh:  how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Now we are not just atoned for and pardoned but justified and reconciled or “apokatallas’so”, meaning “to reconcile fully”!  This means that we have been “changed from one condition to another so as to remove all enmity and leave no impediment (defect) to unity and peace with God”!

• Ephesians 2:15-16: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
• Colossians 1:20: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Because of the blood of the sacrifices in the Old Testament, God was able through forbearance, to keep His composure.  The word forbearance is from the root word anoche’, meaning, “self-restraint” in relation to “tolerance”, until the “perfect sacrifice, Jesus, the Lamb of God was offered”!!!

• Romans 3:23-26: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:  that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus.

BE YE RECONCILED TO GOD BY ACCEPTING THE FULLNESS OF THE TRUTH OF HIS WORD TOTALLY DELIVERING YOU RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW WHILE YOU’RE ALIVE SO THAT YOU CAN STAY ALIVE!!!

Pastor Gracie Perry