Word for Life in Love— Scripture Meditations By Stephen Brown
Luke 23:42-43 (ESV)
42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Paradise is being with Christ. We meet Him at the cross and go from there. The journey with Him begins in the heart and continues until we meet Him face to face.
The Law was the way to manage sin prescribed by the Lord. Its purpose was to teach us about God and to atone for sin.
Jesus freed us from sin for joyful obedience in the freedom of His life. The Law prepared the way for Jesus who is the way.
Ephesians 2:1-2 (ESV)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
Revelation 12:9 (ESV)
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
The devil and his angels are thrown down to the earth. He has become the prince of the air and deceives the whole world. The air refers to the breath of mortal man. It is the life of all creatures of the earth, the underworld of those dead to God and walk in the darkness of death.
The world of man is chained to death through deception, but is freed by the truth of God. The darkness recedes in the morning light.
John 10:17-18 (ESV)
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Because Jesus did this, we can lay down our lives for Him and take it up again in the newness of life in Him. For this reason the Father loves us.
Colossians 2:13-14 (ESV)
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
The record of sin written by our own hands has been transferred to the marks on His nail scarred hands. When we join Him on that cross by dying to self, we meet Him there and it is there we find ourselves. We become one with Him.
Hebrews 4:9-10 (ESV)
9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
The Sabbath rest for God and His people is the union of heaven and earth, of Christ and His Bride. The work of creation will be done.
The fire of the Lord will either refine man with the fruit of the Spirit, or reduce him to ashes. If nothing is there, nothing will remain.
Isaiah 48:21 (ESV)
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
Come to me all that thirst, and I will give you drink.
The curtain to the temple is torn, the way into the Holy of Holies is open and the living waters of His Spirit flows into the hearts of man, which are now the dwelling place of the Lord.
In the Old Testament, the temple was made by the hands of man. Though the tabernacle was a shadow of the one above, it was fashioned by the hand of man.
In the New Testament, the living temple of Christ is reborn in the body of Christ. This temple is the light of the world.
Exodus 24:1-2 (ESV)
1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
Those in Christ can rise to the mountain top and there experience the life of God. Those who only believe in Christ will enjoy a mountainside experience. The majority of the people on will only worship from afar at the base of the mountain. The mountain of God is Zion. The mountaintop is the new Jerusalem which descends from heaven.
Anyone can persevere to the end, and many will stop along the way, satisfied with the view and the lay of land. To all who will, keep on walking with the Lord.
John 16:13 (ESV)
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
The creation account in Genesis is true because the word of God is true. The Holy Spirit will reveal its truth and meaning as we mature in the word of Christ, as we transform our minds to the mind of Christ, growing and becoming more like Him.
Psalms 144:4 (ESV)
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.
The life of man is like a single breath of any creature on earth. It is a work of wonder and glory of life in creation with all its fragility and brevity. A shadow of the life above.
Life on earth is a shadow of life in heaven. It is into this darkness that God brings His light.
The Bible is the account of the light of God entering the darkness of man. It begins and ends with a light. He is the beginning and the end.
A new creation is formed before our eyes and we can see it as we are healed with the touch of the hand of God. He is doing a new thing. The Lord enters the flesh of man and man enters the light of God. This is where He will rest in creation and is where we will find our rest in Him.
Perhaps the US has been weakened and no longer a threat on the world stage as the main characters of the last days make final preparations for their part in end times. The question has been asked in the past, “Where is America in the last days?” Now the answer becomes clear. On the sidelines, a distant island across the sea, taken out of the way.
The word of God endures forever.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (ESV)
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
We in the body of Christ will overcome the world, shall wear the crown of life, have defeated death, and have the future of eternity ahead. We are in Christ who is of God, and we are one.
Psalms 40:8 (ESV)
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
Jesus fulfilled the law and if He is in our hearts, the law is within us, for it is the word of God. Our minds transform to do the will of our Father and forego conformity with the world. This is the fruit of the Spirit of life.
1 Corinthians 10:1-6 (ESV)
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
Israel was baptized into Moses, entered the wilderness with God in the lead and Christ who followed them. Nevertheless, God was not pleased and they were overthrown in the wilderness.
How is this an example for us? Going through the baptism of repentance does not guarantee salvation. It brings us to the beginning of our wilderness journey. Faith opens the door to salvation, but it is the obedience of faith that will allow us to reach the other side. We please God with our obedience, which is how we show our love. In this way we work out our own salvation.
Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God is not working in us if are not transforming our minds to will and work for His good pleasure.
The desire of our hearts is for the living waters of God. It turns the parched land of our earth into the paradise of God.
John 1:23 (ESV)
He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
The wilderness of the heart is where the Lord makes a way for the salvation of man. To make “straight the way of the Lord” is done by repenting of sin and turning in His direction. He always comes straight away.
Isaiah 44:3-4 (ESV)
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They shall spring up among the grass
like willows by flowing streams.
The Holy Spirit is the river that flows from Eden to the Garden of Eden Eden, or from heaven to earth. He is the living waters that flow from the throne of God to the heart of man. This is the river of life.
Man without the Lord is as grass, which is here today and gone tomorrow. But the leaves of the one planted by this stream will never wither and die.
Genesis 3:22 (ESV)
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
Adam would not be able to take of the tree of life until he had knowledge of good and evil. There were two paths to that tree. One is to obey God which is the preferred and the most direct route. The second is to disobey and learn obedience to the word of God. Jesus is that word.
In both cases, obedience is the way to go for life. The way is narrow, but it is the only way.
You are predestined to be you. To be truly you, you must be in the body of Christ. He will do this thing if you seek Him until you are found.
Isaiah 46:8-10 (ESV)
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
When we see Him face to face we will be like Him as suitable companions for eternity. In the end His word will be accomplished. The word became flesh and the flesh becomes the word.
Acts 10:45 (ESV)
And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
Day 1, Cornelius sees an angel of God at the same time of day when the temple curtains are torn at the time of day when Jesus died on the cross.
Day 2, Peter sees the heavens opened and is shown that the Lord has made all things clean at the time of day when Jesus was nailed to the cross.
Day 3, the Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit and the living temple of God comes into view.
Jesus said He would raise the new and living temple in three days, and so it was.
We are without form until God reveals us.
We are are empty until His light fills us.
We then become love in the image of God.
Satan mimics the incarnation of Jesus, the Son of God who is born in the flesh of man. He does so by entering the flesh of a man to frustrate the will of God. But the will of God is accomplished through the temptations of man. The one who faces temptations of the flesh, yet follows the word of the Lord is just the one sought by God as a son forever.
Psalms 143:8 (ESV)
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
The morning star has risen in the sky and darkness recedes in the presence of His steadfast love. The Son shows us the way we should go and is the way. He will lift up our life by our resurrection from the earth into His life in heaven.
To make the world a better place, begin with yourself. The kingdom of heaven is found within. It starts when the Holy Spirit is given to a person of the world and begins to transform the interior world of self into a dwelling place for God.
This is the world to overcome to be with Christ and is the light of the world.
Isaiah 43:11 (ESV)
I, I am the LORD,
and besides me there is no savior.
Acts 4:12 (ESV)
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
John 14:6 (ESV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
There is one God who has provided the one way for man to join Him. He became a man to show us and lead the way. That way is to give ourselves to Him just as He gave Himself for us.
This is a marriage made in heaven that unites heaven and earth into the new creation.
Isaiah 40:3 (ESV)
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
The voice is the spirit of Elijah given the tongue of John. Both are informed by the Holy Spirit of God. The highway for our God is the Way of Christ. The Lord is coming into the world, but it is the heart of man that is His ultimate destination.
Our obedience to His word is the path through the wilderness of the world that is the shortest distance between where we are and where He is. Come and see.
Job 19:25-27 (ESV)
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Despite all that befell Job, he remained faithful to the Lord. Abraham placed his faith in the Lord and it was accounted as righteousness to him. Job lost everything in the world, yet knew that God was everything to him. Abraham listened to the word of the Lord and in the obedience of faith lived according to the word.
We know our Redeemer lives and that we will see Him face to face. We have been given the Holy Spirit for faith that leads to faith. We have entered the body of Christ here on earth as children of God who will one be revealed as the sons of God.
We will see Him in our flesh which has transformed into the exact image of God in creation.
Genesis 3:2-3 (ESV)
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Eve innocently answers the serpent with a distortion of the word of God. The deceiver uses the word and our understanding of the word to weave a new word of deceit that appeals to the desire of our flesh.
Faulty understanding of Scripture can weaken our witness to the it’s power and truth, thus weakening our armor against falsehood and deception.
Acts 9:5-8 (ESV)
5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
After his encounter with Jesus, the eyes of Saul were opened to his blindness. The light of the wisdom and truth of God would begin to reveal the darkness of the way of man in the light of the Way of God.
Jesus was in the tomb for three days after death and before His resurrection. Saul was blind for three days before his sight was restored. The the old man dies to make way for the new man. His zeal for the knowledge of men faded and was replaced by his zeal for the Lord. The eyes of his heart had beheld the light of creation.
The separation of light and darkness takes place in the heart of man. This begins a new creation of man in the image of God.
Acts 9:5-8 (ESV)
5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
After his encounter with Jesus, the eyes of Saul were opened to his blindness. The light of the wisdom and truth of God would begin to reveal the darkness of the way of man in the light of the Way of God.
Jesus was in the tomb for three days after death and before His resurrection. Saul was blind for three days before his sight was restored. His zeal for the knowledge of men faded and was replaced by his zeal for the Lord. The eyes of his heart had beheld the light of creation.
Why is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden? Because that is the path we would choose to eat from the tree of life.
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
We understand from this verse that Satan is a beast of the field from the perspective of God. Any man or angel who lives apart from the light of God may be considered in this manner. In Revelation, a beast rises from the waters of mankind filled with that darkness.
The serpent opens the door for Eve to question and doubt the word of God. Incomplete understanding and faulty interpretation can undermine our response to the Lord and to others. This is fertile ground for deception to take root and grow.
What we say and how we say it can reveal our maturity in Christ.
Why did he choose to speak to the woman?
Maybe because she’s the mother of the living from whom would come the light of the world.
Lord where I am formless in the darkness of the earth, create me in the image of Christ.
Where I am empty, fill me with the light of your life.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Christian orthodoxy has the gospel as its foundation. The words of Scripture are brought to us by the Spirit of truth who gives expression to the word of God. They contain the Spirit of truth in much the same way the Holy Spirit descended on the flesh of Jesus and there remained. He is the essence of our core belief in Christ and the witness within who brings and strengthens our faith.
Jesus is gone for a little while, but the Holy Spirit descends on the body of Christ as we wait for His return. The power of the Spirit will resurrect His bride from within the body of Christ and we will be changed as we meet Him in the air.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NIV)
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
In the twinkling of the eye we are reborn and changed into the sons of God.
In the twinkling of the eye we shall be made in His image and be like Him.
His light draws us ever closer to the light of the world until we see Him face to face.
Matthew 19:14 (ESV)
but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus came into the world as a baby to become the Son of Man.
When we are reborn into the kingdom of heaven, we arrive as a child of God. We have arrived at the place we belong.
God is the light and life of creation. The new creation is man made in the image of God.
Acts 7:49-50 (ESV)
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
Heaven is Eden and the garden of Eden is the earth of mankind. The house of the Lord will not be a work of the hands of man. God has laid the cornerstone of the new and living temple which is the body of Christ. It is here He will find His rest on earth in creation, in the perfected flesh of man
John 3:16 (ESV)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Those who are in the body of Christ have received the salvation of God. Those in the Bride of Christ will be like Him.
The body of Christ is saved from out of the world. The Bride of Christ are those who overcome the world.
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as the righteousness of God. When we believe God, His righteousness becomes ours.
Abraham conceived Isaac, the son of promise, when it was impossible for him to do so. We are reborn as a child of God into His life and love after God made a way.
Isaac conceived Israel, which means “God prevails.” God will prevail in us as we wrestle in our wilderness time on earth.
Abraham and his descendants will inherit the promised land. God is the inheritance of the body of Christ, who is the kingdom of heaven.
Isaiah 14:13-14 (ESV)
13 You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
Satan seeks to be like the Most High by doing it his way, which is the road to destruction.
Jesus has shown us another way which leads to life. When we see Him face to face, we will see that we are like Him, the Most High. It is the Lord who will lift us up to sit beside Him.
