u) REPENTANCE IS NOT DELIVERANCE. Repentance is our remorse, our willingness and decision to turn from our way and follow the light the Lord shows us. The goodness of God leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4b) and it is the beginning of our deliverance, not the deliverance itself. How are we then delivered?
After our repentance, the Lord allows the same powers in our character to do their foolish or sinful “deeds” through us again (and again… and again… and again…). But when we truly turned from our foolish and sinful way and thus decided to follow the Lord, we received from Him the power to overcome and subdue these powers. (Lk. 10:19, 20) In this Word, the Lord includes the power and authority to cast out devils and deliver people from evil spirits that are external to man’s character (which is exorcism).
But the principle in this Word also applies to the transformation of our character in becoming a new creature. We are now to exercise this power from the Lord and learn to “walk in our deliverance”. Then we are “delivered” from their power and are free, and that, either completely or partially. With a partial deliverance, we will have to go through a multi-stage deliverance which is usually necessary when we deal with great forces (powerful habits) which are in our blood since our birthday or we may have inherited them from the four generations before us. (Ex. 20:5; 34:7// Num. 14:18// Deut. 5:9// 2Ki. 11:30) Such a process also requires multiple repentances. Whenever we keep repeating these same “deeds” of the forces of darkness and evil in our life, it simply means that our deliverance has not yet been completed.
During this process we feel bad, under heavy pressures and nigh crying, but this is a very good sign. Our deliverance and glorious freedom is “around the corner”. All our bad even painful feelings and pressures will disappear and we will emerge into the joy of the Lord, if we do not give up the Light from the Lord. That Light from Him is, at the same time, destroying our self-deception; the darkness in which we had lived and did not see ourselves.
v) THE WOMAN (Eve) ate the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil because she was deceived. And when she handed it to Adam, he ate it also because he loved Eve more than he loved God and not because he was deceived. (1Tim. 2:14) Now after eating it, he died and was separated from God. That changed the history and destiny of mankind.
When the Father handed the fruit of the Woman (Israel-Church) to His Son, He also ate it because He loved Her and not because He was deceived. But He did not love Her more than He loved His Father! And after eating it, He also died and was separated from God. That also had changed the history and destiny of mankind, and drastically. This is how the “victory” of Satan in the Garden of Eden was completely and totally reversed.
There is one more important fact that we should SEE and understand in our mind and heart and spirit concerning the knowledge of good and evil and the fall of mankind. Adam and Eve chose the WRONG TREE to eat from and after 2,000 years we, in the Church, keep choosing the SAME WRONG TREE! We stuff ourselves with a lot of KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL which will never give us LIFE! Why not?
Because in addition to the knowledge of good and evil, this tree also REPRESENTS A SEPARATION FROM GOD! It enables us to become INDEPENDENT FROM GOD, to live our own life and act in our own will. We now have our eyes “opened” (to evil) and we are like gods knowing what God knows – good and evil (Gen. 3:5) and we do not need God to live our life. In this case, we do not and cannot eat from the TREE OF LIFE because Our Father will not permit us to eat from both trees at the same time! (Gen. 3:22-24) Why? Because we cannot be unified with God acquiring His Life and, at the same time, be separated from Him enriching and educating our own self life. Furthermore, LIFE comes from Christ through our cross, not through our knowledge! We must first DIE to our (intellectual) knowledge of good and evil, be separated from it and stop living our independence from God – then we may eat from the Tree of Life. Let us also see and understand that…
THE KNOWLEDGE FROM THIS TREE IS NOT THE SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST JESUS AS PETER ADMONISHES US TO “GROW IN GRACE AND IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD” (2Pet. 3:18), BUT IT IS A MENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. IT IS NOT THE SAME KIND OF KNOWLEDGE AT ALL!
Furthermore, the mental knowledge of good and evil puffs us up (1Cor. 8:1) and makes our natural and sinful life more prideful. The spiritual knowledge of Our Lord gives us His Life. Let us further see and understand that…
WE CANNOT MIX THE UNCREATED, ETERNAL AND SINLESS LIFE OF GOD WITH THE CREATED, MORTAL AND SINFUL LIFE OF MAN AND TRY TO LIVE BOTH, AT THE SAME TIME, DEPENDING ON OUR LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES.
That is why the Church in these days is quite DEAD – separated from the Life of God! She lives Her own life and not the Life of God. There is a lot of knowledge about His Life, but very little manifestation of His Life. Oh, there may be a lot of fervent preaching, sweating, screaming, jumping, laughing, joking, singing, waving of hands, praising, a lot of interviews and conferences, seminars and other activities showing life… but this is NOT the Life of Christ. It is the life of our emotional and intellectual soul, which has very little to say about the narrow way, about overcoming or about our transition from the natural to the spiritual, which is our transformation process into the Image of Christ Jesus, the Son of God… very little, indeed.
The Lord says: “Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Is. 53:1) Can we look into His eyes of flame (Rev. 1:14) and give Him an honest and truthful answer? Can we really do it in truth? That decisive moment in our life when He, the Living Son of God, will look into our eyes is “just around the corner”.
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To be continued next week in chapter 6 – part 1
brother Hanola
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