The Third Day of Redemption
The Third Day of Redemption
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:1-3)
And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. (Luke 13:32)
As Christians, our goal is the Fullness of God, plus immortality in the body. It is that which was lost in the beginning, through disobedience to God. It is prompt, complete, cheerful obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ that is the path to the Fullness of God and to immortality.
Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Christ lives, serves God, and ministers in the power of an endless life. This is to be true of every member of God's elect, of the Christian Church, of the Royal Priesthood.
There are three great days of redemption. The first day began with the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
The foundation was laid, during the first two days, for the third day. All we have hoped would be true of our salvation will occur during the third day.
The third day of redemption has begun! It will extend from now to the coming down from Heaven of the new Jerusalem through the new sky to be installed on the new earth.
In the third day, as He said, Christ and His Body shall be perfected.
To forgive a person for eternity is not to make him or her in the image of God. To make people in the image of God is to create behavior in them that is the same as God's behavior. How wonderful to be in the image of God—to always behave as God behaves!
To always behave as God behaves is the highest joy and privilege anyone could possibly experience.
To keep forgiving our sins without correcting our sinful bondages would be the worst destiny God ever could assign to us.
I have come to the conclusion that God leaves passages in His Word that can lead to a false conclusion. If an individual has an honest and good heart, the passage means one thing. If an individual is wicked and is seeking to gain God's rewards without obeying God, the passage will mean something else.
The following is one example of a passage that can lead to a false conclusion:
And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. (Romans 11:6)
A substantial part of the Christian churches have been led astray by a wrong interpretation of Romans 11:6. Because they are hoping to gain God's blessing, and yet behave unrighteously, they interpret "works" to mean righteous behavior.
We ought to know better than this—that God would contrast Divine grace with godly behavior; but our desire to "get to Heaven" and still practice sin prevents our understanding that God never would provide an alternative to righteous behavior.
If we have an honest and good heart we understand that God would not provide an alternative to upright behavior. In fact, God has issued a new covenant because the Israelites did not keep God's commandments that He gave through Moses.
So we search for an explanation. As we read carefully the early chapters of the Book of Romans we find that by "works" God means "the statutes of Moses," not righteous behavior. If salvation comes to us through the grace that has been given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, it is no more by the statutes of Moses. Then all is made clear.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law , but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law , but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (Romans 4:13-16)
Romans 4:13-16 indicates to us that Paul's discussion in the early part of the Book of Romans is directed toward Jews who were having a problem letting go of the Law of Moses.
This is confirmed by the sixth chapter of Romans, that Paul wrote to assure the disciples that he did not mean because of "grace" we now are free to sin.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (Romans 6:12)
Since the Apostle Paul declared in Galatians and Ephesians, writing to the saints, that if they walked in the sins of the flesh they would not inherit the Kingdom of God, we know that Paul was not teaching that we are saved by grace apart from godly behavior.
But when Paul tells us that "grace" means if we live by the Spirit of God we are free from the statutes of Moses, then there is no inconsistency.
Now we come to another example of an incorrect interpretation leading us to destruction. The incorrect interpretation arises from a dishonest and evil heart.
The Book of Hebrews teaches that, unlike the Covenant of Moses which forgives sin, the new covenant, the Christian covenant, takes away sin permanently.
I think taking away sin permanently is interpreted to mean that whereas at one time "stealing," for example, would cause us to be guilty in God's sight, once we receive Christ, if we steal it does not leave us guilty of sin.
This interpretation has given rise to the statement that "God sees us through Christ." The idea is that if we steal, God sees only the honesty of Christ.
This is what " taking away sin " has come to mean, as I understand it.
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