A TESTAMENT IN FORCE
Monday – January 29, 2018
Monday again and right back into this wonderful Bible Study from the Book of Hebrews. We are not doing this in order to fill our heads with a lot of information or seemingly unrelated facts about Scripture. We are doing this to gain maximal revelation for our stage or place of maturity and further increase our faith. Our capacity for faith (a spiritual force) is from God, it is the faith of God, it is puny at first but we build our faith by the Word of God. Before we move to our primary text let us look at the potential of our faith, the faith of God.
Mark 11:22-24 (KJV)
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
The literal translation of verse twenty-two above is to have the faith of God. Remember faith is one of the fruits of the spirit, our spirit, and this is part of the divine DNA which we received from our Father at our new birth. Verse twenty-three tells us to decree a thing and it shall be done however we must believe it and possess it by faith before we see it. We command the mountain into the sea and it (the mountain) will obey for we have authority in the earth and the Blessing (Holy Spirit) backs that up. The Blessing will only backup the will of God. If there was ever a time in history that each of us need mountain moving faith it is now, it is our mandate, our responsibility, to fail is slackness and is sin. Now, let’s look at our primary text for this Bible Study.
Hebrews 9:16-20 (KJV)
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
We have been diligently studying the priesthood, specifically the function of the High Priest. We looked at Melchisedec who was King and Priest and how he was a type and shadow of Jesus and us. We then spoke of the High Priest of the Old Covenant and the Tabernacle with its furniture and the animal sacrifices. These were weak and could not eternally redeem from sin. Therefore, a New Testament, a new sacrifice of like kind (sinless man for sinful man) and a new mediator of this New Testament (High Priest) would bring an eternal redemption and inheritance. The Word was made flesh becoming like other men setting aside all that made Him God. We call Him Jesus, Emmanuel (God with us). Jesus, a derivation of the Hebrew name Joshua meaning Jehovah saved, functioned as a man and not God from the time He laid aside all that made Him God upon entering the womb of Mary until the Resurrection. The spirit (soul) that entered the body prepared for One to be called Jesus was the spirit of the Word absent what made Him God. That was all restored with the Resurrection. The Holy Spirit was with Jesus from conception to Resurrection (has been with Him for all eternity). For more on this see my teaching of Sunday 28 January 2018 (yesterday).
The terms of the New Testament started from the first moments of the Garden of Eden. Following the Day of Sin there was the need for a temporary animal blood covenant which would be followed by a fully redemptive New Blood Covenant. We see this taking shape on the Day of Sin when God tells the Serpent there is one coming to bruise his head (take back the authority stolen from man) and with Abram/Abraham starting in Genesis twelve. God wanted His children back, He wanted the restoration of His original intent, He wanted to dwell with and in us again, and for us to come boldly to His Throne as our Daddy. Father did not want a disconnected Kingdom but a family. At the end of the fourth day, the start of the fifth day, Jesus came, and gave Himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Four is the number of authority, power, and anointing, with five being the number of the Grace and Glory (goodness) of God. Jesus is the goodness (Glory) of God, we are saved by Grace (Jesus made that possible), and Jesus returned authority (dominion) to mankind on His ascension to Heaven, He returned the Blessing (power) on the Day of Pentecost.
As we start to wind it up for today let’s focus on the sixteenth (love) verse of our primary text. The testator is the one making the will which in this case is God. Just as in wills we make here in the earth a will (Testament) does not have force or kick in until the testator dies. Jesus, God with us, came, lived a sinless life, was made sin in our stead and died on the Cross of Calvary ratifying the New Blood Covenant. The interesting thing about this is that Jesus was raised from the dead, restored as God and now is our High Priest mediating the terms of this New Blood Covenant. He is now all God and all man. As a man He mediates this New Blood Covenant as our High Priest and as God, King of kings He leads the Kingdom of God. Now I come to what may well be the most important point of this entire teaching today. The New Blood Covenant, like the Old, not only has many benefits but many obligations or responsibilities to be discharged in order to receive those benefits. Unlike an earthly Will (Last Will and Testament) where the benefits flow automatically without any conditions concerning the beneficiary not so with this Blood Covenant. Our text in verse seventeen says: “For a testament is of force after men are dead”. This New Blood Covenant has no force so long as we are living to self, we must die to self and live to Him and then the New Blood Covenant will flow unfettered in our lives. Jesus died for us and we die (not physically) for Him. We die to self, we die to the flesh and live for Him, follow after the Spirit. If the terms of the New Blood Covenant are not flowing in our lives perhaps we are not dead to self.
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Until our next publication, I speak blessing into your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Numbers 6:24-26 (GW)
24 The LORD will bless you and watch over you.
25 The LORD will smile on you and be kind to you.
26 The LORD will look on you with favor and give you peace.’
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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