The Jordan Valley

The Promise Land is Near

What Prevents Us From Fully Embracing His Word?

6–9 minutes

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At the conclusion of His ministry, Jesus reported to His Father that He has imparted to us the Word of God, further asserting that the Word of God constitutes the ultimate truth. Consequently, it is imperative for us to wholeheartedly embrace His Word in order to receive the countless blessings that God has designated for us. The Word of God must be fully assimilated by us to transform it into truth. Regrettably, we often regard these words merely as references and fail to accept them in their entirety. This article seeks to examine certain misconceptions that hinder our understanding and application of His Word.

Word of God Appears To Be Mysterious

We concentrate solely on the promises contained within the scriptures and neglect to read and comprehend the remaining texts. Furthermore, we often employ the Word of God as a means of judging others as sinners while failing to apply its teachings to our own lives for the purpose of self-edification.

The primary reason for our waning interest in His Word is that we often perceive the Word of God as mysterious and challenging to comprehend. When we fail to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to illuminate our understanding of the Word of God, it becomes exceedingly difficult to grasp its meaning. Moreover, we tend to reduce the significant provisions of God, such as the forgiveness of sins, to meaningless and redundant rituals, thus leading us to lose interest in discerning the truth. God’s concern regarding our negligence is evident in the following verses:

Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning. I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something foreign.
Hosea 8:11-12 (NIV)

As people have made sin offerings as a periodic fee for committing sin, God sent His Son as a one-time atonement for our sins.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:10-11 (NIV)

Despite this gracious provision of God, we make provisions to seek forgiveness redundantly, thereby rejecting the one time provision of God, not willing to be alive to God.

Reserving Certain Portions of the Scripture Exclusively For Jesus

We attribute certain Words of God exclusively to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we hesitate to claim those promises for ourselves. One such passage is Isaiah 42:1-7, which discusses the coming Messiah and how God the Father adorned His Son with His Spirit. Believers commonly interpret this promise as having been fulfilled at the moment of Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16-17). However, this promise extends beyond Jesus and applies to the children of God, not through the ritual of baptism, but through the understanding and belief in the works of Jesus (Ephesians 1:13-14).

This misconception endures as adherents are led to believe that, despite Jesus having lived in flesh on this earth two thousand years ago, He was both fully God and fully man. Jesus is identified as both the Word and God, who incarnated as flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). When the Pharisees and Sadducees esteemed Abraham and Moses above Jesus and dismissed His teachings, He affirmed His preexistence, declaring that He existed prior to Abraham.

Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
John 8:58 (NIV)

This belief provides a rationale for sinners to persist in their transgressions, presuming that Jesus’s holy life was attainable solely because He is God, thereby suggesting that, as humans, we are incapable of emulating His example. In their determination to continue in sin, they have replaced biblical teachings with information sourced from social media, opting to rely on falsehoods while dismissing the truth. Jesus came to this earth as a man to save humanity by teaching and demonstrating that a man can obey God the Father until death, just as He obeyed His Father in every respect (Philippians 2:5-8).

As Jesus, lived as a man and obeyed God until His death on the cross, it is now possible for every individual on earth to obey God until they reach the end of their mortal life. Since Jesus came as man, every prophecy regarding Him will be fulfilled only when the outcomes of these prophecies transform us into a new creation. Until then, those prophecies remain in a state of progress; however, we often assume that with the birth of the infant Jesus, many of the prophecies have been fulfilled. This is not the case; it is only when He enters our lives that those prophecies begin to accomplish the purpose of God. The purpose of God’s sending His Son is to create us in the image of His Son. For this reason, Jesus, who lived in the flesh, condemned sin.

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh
Romans 8:3 (NIV)

With a clear comprehension that Jesus was indeed a man during His ministry on this earth, there is no longer a need for us to reserve certain Words of God as exclusive to Jesus; rather, they equally apply to us as well.

God Expects Us To Take The Role Of Jesus On This Earth

I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
Isaiah 42:6-7 (NIV)

All believers uphold the promise of God as conveyed through the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29) and seek to receive the Spirit by any means necessary to serve God externally, while, at the same time, living as worldly individuals internally. Nonetheless, this promise becomes significant only when viewed in the context of the authentic and personal transformation that God has enacted for all people residing on this earth. These promises, which are intended to bring about transformation, often fail to change our lives—not due to their in-authenticity, but rather because we approach their practice with a greater zeal to preach them than to embody them.

We may readily provide sight to a physically blind individual to advance our healing ministry, yet we neglect to open the eyes of many who have been blinded by the god of this age, preventing them from perceiving the light of the Gospel. Jesus conferred this responsibility on us during His ministry on this earth.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

Furthermore, the scripture conveys that Jesus represents the fullness of God while He lived on this earth in the flesh. This reality enables all who receive Jesus to embody the fullness of God as they navigate life on this earth.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Colossians 2:9-10 (NIV)

With the fullness of God residing within us, we are entrusted with the solemn duty of perpetuating the ministry of Jesus during our earthly life. Just as Jesus came as our elder brother to render us worthy of calling His Father our Father, we are called today to become brothers and sisters to many who remain unaware of their forgiven sins, guiding them to comprehend the truth that will reconcile them with our Heavenly Father.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NIV)

Because of the glorious responsibility entrusted to us by God Himself, let us remove every obstacle that hinders us from embracing the Word of God and dedicating our lives to fulfilling this responsibility without offering any excuses.

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