In the last month or so, Father has given me a foundational focus that everything is IN HIM -- "in" generally meaning within, inside, absent outside of, totally and only IN Him. Everything is IN Yahusha (Jesus) -- everything. This is really hard to grasp in fullness, so I suppose that is why it kept coming up in my thoughts and in scripture... only the Father's grace to help me begin to truly understand. I would like to share this as a blessing for you as well. I began reading Ephesians 1 this morning based on a question a brother had asked about the different sign/seal that is prevalent in the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is true... in the Old Testament, the sign that the people belonged to the Father was the Sabbath. Both Exodus 31:16 and Ezekiel 20:12 clearly say that the observance of the Sabbath by the people was that sign. In the New Testament, it is just as clear that the sign -- or seal as it is specifically -- upon the chosen people of God is the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14 and 2 Corinthians 1:21-22). The Sabbath was the physical rest of the people on the 7th day before Yahusha. Once Yahusha came and fulfilled the Sabbath and all the requirements of the law unto righteousness, through the Holy Spirit Yahusha then became our physical and spiritual rest every single minute of every single day. What He did then now enables us to enjoy this Sabbath rest IN HIM continuously without interruption or delay. It is a complete spiritual rest -- IN CHRIST -- by the Spirit, the seal that we are His. This is not to disannul the observance of the Sabbath day today, as this is a way we acknowledge the Sabbath rest of the Father and the Son, understanding that it is a shadow of greater, eternal things to come. I digress a bit, but I though this point was profound and worth adding. (While on this deep topic above, I am reminded of a previous post where I made my own attempt to describe the beautiful truth that the Son is the Law based on what the Spirit showed me at that time. If you are led to read it, you can access that post here.) Now back to Ephesians 1... as I was reading this morning, verses 3 and 4 (above) caught my attention. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6 (NASB) As I was thinking about it, I rearranged the wording a bit in hopes I would gain further revelation and understanding. As much as we know and believe the scriptures as we read and study them, I find myself craving another level of understanding that will help me to grasp it fully in my spirit to the point it is so in me that I live it out -- all the time, as naturally as breathing, to the point I would never even have to read it again. In other words, it is literally written in my heart and mind; in is IN ME. This is how I re-wrote out these verses, along with my own comments: Just as He (Yahuah) chose us IN HIM (Yahusha) before the foundation of the world, He [also] blessed us with every spiritual blessing that we would need in the heavenly realms IN YAHUSHA, so that we would be holy and blameless before Him -- all IN LOVE. He chose us and He blessed us -- IN YAHUSHA -- before the foundation of the world, so that we would be perfect (holy, blameless, complete) before Him. We first belonged to Yahuah -- before the foundation of the world -- and then after the fall of mankind, He redeemed us back to Himself -- IN YAHUSHA. He predestined and pre-planned for us to be adopted back as His sons/daughters IN YAHUSHA through the kindness and grace of His will, freely bestowing this upon us IN THE BELOVED (and the Beloved is the Son in whom He is well pleased as stated in Matthew 3:!7). As I wrote this out, I was moved to tears with more understanding, just shaking my head in overwhelm of this truth. Yes, I know this, but I want to KNOW this -- that He thought of me and chose me before anything was. He pre-planned the means of my salvation through the humbling of His Beloved Son unto the destructive death that should have been mine. He gave me His Son that I might have all that He offers me IN HIM. And if He chose me and provided this remarkable means for me to come back to Him, He certainly will not leave or forsake me, He will not condemn me, and He will not ever stop His work in me until His Son is fully formed in me and I can be restored to Him, my Father. The cost was great, the plan is set, and no one can snatch me out of His mighty hand. Surely I know now that I am in Him and He in Me (John 14:20) and that I am my Beloved's and His desire is for me! (Song of Solomon 7:10) (NOTE: It is worth the time to read all of Ephesians 1, as there are at least eight instances of the power and blessings that are IN HIM.) Not too long ago as I was pondering that all things are IN YAHUSHA, I wrote down several of the scriptures that affirm and confirm this. I also looked up this word "in" in the Greek, since many of these IN HIM scriptures are found there -- post Yahusha's finished work. This word is G1722 in the Greek, and it means "primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (place, time, or state),... a relation of rest". And there we have it... REST that can only be found IN HIM. I will now share some of the scriptures that use this word "in" when referencing what we have and who we are IN HIM (all scriptures are from NASB version). Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 ... for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’ Acts 17:28 Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. John 15:4 ... to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead [a]in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus... Ephesians 2:6 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ... in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:14 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:2 Truly IN HIM, we lack NOTHING! How can we when we are IN HIM and are one with Him? But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 A short while back, I laid down to take a nap. Just as I was dozing off, I could clearly see a man very close up looking intently into a microscope. He was looking so closely that it was as if I could see the lens of his eye. The first thing I thought of was that I was being watched very closely. But then, I thought of the apple of the Father's eye, as the scripture says "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me in the shadow of Your wings" (Psalm 17:8). As I thought more about this, I could see more of this truth that we are IN HIM. It is as if He is so close to us, watching us as if through a microscope, that we are literally in His eye, as the apple of His eye. I looked up the "apple of the eye", and I found that first this generally refers to the pupil of the eye. However, looking further I found the following on the gotquestions.com website:
God held the Israelites as the apple of His eye, rebellious and stiff-necked though they were in the wilderness. Being the apple of His eye, they were most cherished. And God’s care for His people has not diminished with time. He holds His children close, and He can protect us as easily as our eyelids protect our pupils. He does this because He loves us in Christ. He has a parental, protective love for us, and the biblical descriptions of His love are eye-opening, to say the least." The people of God are literally IN Him -- even in His eye -- so close that we are not only protected and guarded, but we are equipped, sustained, and made righteous IN CHRIST! And we are cherished and loved, also IN CHRIST. There is no doubt that we are of the Father and will return to the Father from where we came -- all because now we are IN THE SON. If we walk our journeys of faith in full submission and obedience IN HIM, then we can rest assured that we will forever have all we need for complete victory and we will assuredly reach the place of perfection IN CHRIST. We can clearly see even in just the scriptures shared in this post that He is all in all... He is everything!! He is SUPREME, and we are IN HIM to receive all that He is and has, now and into eternity -- if we will believe and obey. In closing, the scripture below is the perfect summary and is one of the most powerful scriptures in all the Word. All the fullness of Yahuah dwells in Him, and the Father has given it to us! How glorious is our King Yahusha!! He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Colossians 1:15-20
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Special NoteThese writings are written in love and a spirit of servitude. They are not designed to judge but make us think. We are all sinners in need of saving, and we all need encouragement and absolute truth to endure on the narrow road to sanctification and ultimately eternal life. Categories
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