RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER
Thursday – July 5, 2018, Tamuz 22, 5778
Welcome back to this wonderful faith building Bible Study from the Book of Hebrews. What a marvelous Book, oh, how wonderful is the Word of God, all of it! The featured picture today is of Patti and me at John Martin Manor in Waterville, Maine many years ago on one of our Maine visits. She is even more beautiful and elegant today in the presence of her Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Father. Can you image what it might be like to be taught in person by our Savior Christ Jesus. Patti knows exactly what it is like and soon so shall we. Now, let’s turn our attention to our Bible Study reading our primary text aloud.
Hebrews 12:1-3 (KJV)
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Can you imagine where we would be if Jesus had taken the attitude: “you want me to do what?” I have been discussing this week the wonderful Bible examples of faith, even contemporary examples of faith, but understand that Jesus is our premier example, He is the gold standard for faith. I am talking about the hope of faith declared and the realization of that hope by faith in love (agape). Our Bible hope is the desired thing like healing according to the will of God. It is always the will of God for us to be healed, it is always the will of God for us to have way more than what satisfies our needs, and any other benefit of the Kingdom. Of course, none of the promises of God just fall upon us just because we got saved. These promises are made a reality the same way as our salvation. We must hear the good news of the Kingdom, build our faith, acting upon the faith, receive the desired thing, and then walking it out in thanksgiving until it manifests in the natural. When we declare it as received it may not be present in the natural but we do that by faith declaring things that be not as though they are. Scripture then assures us that then and only then will it be manifested. Jesus demonstrated this over and over, the whole of the Word of God demonstrates this pattern over and over. The thing must be declared before there is any chance of manifestation.
As we move on I want to take a moment to review the phrase in Hebrews 12:2 which says: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. Since the word “our” is in italics we should read the verse without it present which would tell us that Jesus is the author and finisher of faith. Ok, let’s break this down further. The word “author” means ‘chief leader’. The word “finisher” means ‘complete or consummate’. Jesus is the one shining example in Scripture without flaws. Remember, in Revelation He declares the following.
Revelation 1:8 (KJV)
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter (like our A and Z), Jesus is the beginning and the ending. The perfect example of faith is seen in Christ Jesus. Our faith begins with Him and ends with Him. We cannot exercise Bible faith apart from Jesus. Jesus is the foundation upon which our faith rests and Jesus is the One who watches over our faith, our words to perform them. We are in Him and therefore totally dependent upon Him (Christ Jesus). We use the name of Jesus (which is also our name), and the authority of that name because only that name in our mouth causes every knee to bow.
As we reflect on Hebrews 12:2 just think about the unwavering faith that Jesus had to have in His Father, in the Word of the Father spoken through the Prophets over the centuries, and the Power of the Holy Spirit. We are not called to die for God in any fashion at any time so that is not the future God has for anyone but it was the reason Jesus came. Because He lives we can live also, He died for us, the just for the unjust, so that we do not have to die spiritually or physically. In this present time, we do die physically but in just a little while that will be no more and we all will have eternal uncorrupted physical bodies just like the one Jesus has today. Scripture says that we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. As I finish for today let’s review the third verse in a different translation of the Scripture. We must be focused on Jesus like a laser who is restored as God, seated at the right hand of the Father, and we also in Him. We can learn from the whole Bible but Jesus is our focus.
Hebrews 12:3 (MSG)
3 When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
1 Corinthians 10:10-12 (KJV)
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Lord willing, I will pick up right here tomorrow. Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (KJV)
11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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