[Printable version]
[Also published in Nuggets for the Needy]
Omega Message – August 1983
Mavis M. duCille
Hebrews 7:14-16 “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”
Some weeks ago the Lord brought to my attention the fact of the absolute necessity for overcoming.
The way out of the bondage of sin and self and humanness into the Divine nature, is through the “flaming sword” Gen. 3:24. Since these swords turned every direction, there is no way of escaping the fire of purification.
It certainly is not enough to say “I have accepted Jesus as my Saviour,” or to relax and feel O.K. waiting for Him to come and take us away to heaven. The forgiveness of sins brings one into the experience of knowing Jesus as Saviour, but after this experience, one should willingly and deliberately desire to know Him as Lord, which means giving Him perfect control over one’s life. There would be no place therefore for cheating, lying, drinking, swearing, malice, strife, bitterness, wrath, cunning craftiness and all unrighteousness. This can only be done by the regenerating, sanctifying work of Christ, which is the purpose for the indwelling Holy Spirit. God wants to destroy sin, and the Holy Ghost brings to us the Life of Christ Jesus which does just that.
Adam and Eve were tested or tempted in the garden; If Eve resisted they would have overcome the enemy then and there. Temptation does not necessitate a fall, but resisting builds strength and virtue.
The tree of life is made available to man through Jesus Christ. He is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. Unless we eat Him day and night we have no life in us – thus no overcoming.
Love, mercy and truth are conditioned by holiness, therefore when God establishes His law in man’s heart it constitutes a revelation of holiness – thus through GRACE man finds a true revelation of LOVE.
Blessed are the people who have been brought into a relationship with Jesus Christ through His blood and have been established in His grace, to embrace that LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST when man ceases to be an outsider of the Kingdom and realizes the liberty of the SONS OF GOD.
Overcoming daily establishes holiness as a permanent state of the soul. One writer said, “Our conscience and power of self-control act as a sort of watch-dog over our worse selves during the day, but when the watch-dog is off duty, the primitive or natural man is at liberty to act as he pleases; our soul has left us at the mercy of our own evil nature.
God’s divine power however, greatly counteracts the forces of evil. This power and anointing is Christ which can only be experienced as the believer gives way to the Holy Spirit. In this way, man is brought to the place where total redemption overcomes total depravity and God’s redemptive power shines forth in spite of ourselves. It is the Spirit that brings redemption; human nature can take no credit; the flesh is weak but the indwelling Christ has power over all THINGS.
When the believer comprehends Christ’s relationship to man as a whole, and to the Christian in particular, then he is enabled to declare as never before, the saving, keeping, resurrection POWER OF JESUS CHRIST, LORD, MASTER, KING. Giving way to the persuading influence of the Holy Spirit empowers believers to bring under subjection the dreadful and evil soul-nature which hampers and resists the power of the LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. Yes the Holy Spirit is always revealing US to US; that man, but his power of “an endless life,” might be lifted out of this carnal, natural state to the spiritual heavenly realm. We have been raised together with Him, Jesus Christ, and the vital union causes us to sit in heavenly places with Him. As we have borne the image of the earthly in Adam, so through Christ Jesus we will bear the image of the heavenly; a place not only over sin and human weaknesses but a place of authority and glory.
Prophet, Priest and King:
Prophet: Reveals or declares God’s will.
Priest: To take away the guilt of sin.
King: Having authority and dominion.
Union with Christ and participation in His Spirit, exalts us to the state with Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King.
Hebrews 7:24-26 But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood, therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our needs – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”
Down through the ages, God used a nation, a family or an individual to establish the type of the Great High Priest – Jesus Christ, after the order of Melchizedek, greater than the Levitical Priesthood or even Abraham himself. He holds his priesthood unchangeably – HE LIVES FOREVER MORE, therefore He saves to the uttermost, COMPLETELY, PERFECTLY: FINALLY, AND FOR ALL TIME AND ETERNITY.
Through the power of the Life of Christ, there is overcoming of sin, oppression, depression, and every attack of the enemy. Daily drawing from the source of spiritual life will emancipate the believer from the depravity of fallen man and establish a disposition of holiness within the soul.
The many and varied conflicts are to bring us nearer to Christ that the soul may be generated by the Spirit – immersed into His love, fellowship and His LIFE TO become that NEW CREATURE. The Creator must be allowed to do the creative work on the soul to make it eternal as the spirit so that His LIFE dominates and manifests itself within all of our being.
Christ therefore is the source of PURITY and POWER through which the believer finds healing and purification for the inner man.
