Reigning in life

"Reigning in life is a matter of receiving grace. 'For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ' (Romans 5:17).

Notice it is by receiving grace - not by what we do for God, not by keeping laws, but only by receiving grace - that we reign and rule in life." (Rob Rufus)

Receiving grace is not about understanding the definition of the word "grace" - The grace of God is not a message, but in fact a person (Jesus Christ). Many resist this teaching of grace in the same way that the religious Pharisees resisted Jesus - they are deceived into occupying their thoughts with their own behaviour (as we all are when taking our eyes off of Christ), instead of renewing their minds with the gospel that says that Jesus Christ has already "behaved" on our behalf (this is what Romans 5:17 is referring to when speaking of the "gift of righteousness").

Centuries of "church" have emphasised self-determination and a slave mentality, when Jesus has already quenched the wrath of God, thereby making us sons and daughters and no longer slaves.

I urge you to read and absorb the powerful truth contained in Romans 5:17, and notice the very significant use of words such as "receive", "abundant", "God's...grace" and "GIFT of righteousness".

My father told me a story about a man in the army who accidently drove his truck over a bridge and into a river. His leg got wedged underwater, leaving him gasping for air not far beneath the surface. Others jumped in trying to help him - his friend even broke a piece of the exhaust off to allow this man to breath while they tried to loosen him. Unfortunately he died due to aggressively panicking for air, pushing everyone away who tried to come near him.

It's the same with God's grace. God has freely provided everything we need in order to abundantly reign in life (and not just survive), yet we begin to panic in the midst of difficult times, to the point that we can't see God's provision already made available, and we spend years begging Him for it, when simply knowing the truth and resting in it is all that's needed.

God revealed His love and goodness by extending grace through Jesus Christ - and it is sufficient!

Enter His Rest

What is this “rest”?

Firstly, One thing is clear, the blessing of God’s rest is available for us today, and is not a glimmering hope of future glory (Hebrews 4:1, 6, 9).

In the Old Testament we see other forms of rest promised and provided by God. The Israelites were invited to enter into God’s creative rest by not working on Saturdays and trusting that God would provide for them - In a world of subsistence living, this was unheard of. Yet as the Israelites expressed faith in God in this way, it was a testimony to the other nations that their God was real and powerful and faithful to his people.

But this wasn’t the only rest God offered Israel in the Old Testament. He also offered them the Promised Land and rest from their enemies. He said he would go before them and defeat their enemies so that they could live securely in the land he had given them. All they had to do was trust him and go into the land—and he would protect them so that they could settle in the land and live securely, but they forfeited this rest because they refused to trust God’s promise by going into the land. The subsequent generation did trust God, and following Joshua they entered this rest.

But even this wasn’t the ultimate rest that God offered his people. 400 years later, with the Israelites living securely in the land, David in Ps.95 speaks of yet another rest that God’s people could enter - Now Jesus the Messiah has come, and his rest of salvation is available to everyone who responds to His call.

How do we enter it?

Hebrews 4 tells us that the key to entering God’s rest is faith—unwaveringly believing in his promises and grace-filled nature (Hebrews 4: 2, 3). God has done all the work, and all of what He has accomplished is directly for our benefit.

Hebrews chapter 4 tells us what this faith looks like:

Vs.10-13 explains the NATURE of this faith, that it is not merely a sub-conscious opinion (that most Christians have, and only when things are going well), but rather, it's a conscious effort to abandon the “wisdom” of man and to actively search for the promises of God. Truly believing that He is good and 100% faithful to every single one of them, and to REST in His GOODNESS and FAITHFULNESS without wavering (no matter how difficult times may seem to get).

Vs.14-16 explains the OBJECT of this faith – a great Saviour (Jesus Christ) who sees our nakedness behind any covering, and sympathizes with us in our weakness. A Saviour Who intensely desires to give mercy and grace as we understand His Rest, and draw confidently to receive it!

Listen closely—this is the hardest part to get:

Faith involves both ceasing from your works and making every effort (Hebrews 4:10, 11). This sounds like a nonsensical paradox but this is not the case. There is a sense in which biblical faith involves both passivity and effort.

It requires passivity in the sense that you stop depending on your own resources and depend instead on God’s resources.

Yet it requires effort to choose to depend on God. We instinctively rely on our own efforts and resources instead of on God’s. This is the heart of what it means to be fallen. Faith is counter-intuitive. To walk by faith (as a fallen human being) is a deliberate choice that is usually against our feelings and “wisdom” - It was counter-intuitive for the Israelites to not work on Saturday when they didn’t have excess food. It was counter-intuitive for the Israelites to go into a land full of strong enemies.

So what, then, "persuades" us that we need to stop trusting our own resources and instead depend upon God and his provision?

The answer is God’s Word – which is LIVING AND ACTIVE (Hebrews 4:12, 13). When our hearts are soft and receptive to God's Word, our eyes open to see how desperately we need to depend upon his provision. His Word supernaturally reveals the discrepancy between what we have and what God wants us to have, and it creates a healthy “tension” that motivates us to close that gap by DEPENDING ON GOD.

To try and convince people that God’s Word changes lives is very difficult. This is because it is not an intellectual issue, but an experiential one – i.e. softened hearts (Heb 4:7) with the desire to listen (Heb 4:2) will enter His rest. God's Word is not just "information" available to download, but His Word actually "does stuff" within you because it's truly "Living and Active".

The miracle of salvation has been done already; it’s about listening, trusting and resting in Him.

This rest is constantly available to us—are we consciously laying hold of it?

More than just forgiveness!

"For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Romans 5:10)

If your perception has been that calvary is only about the forgiveness of sins, afterwhich we as christians merely cower into an insecure leopard-crawl until we finally get to heaven, then you are about to receive some good news (and not from me, but from the Word Himself). Romans 5:10 indicates a distinction between us being reconciled through Christ's death, and access to a life of abundance through Christ's resurrection.

Throughout the Old Testament, the only thing necessary for the forgiveness of sins was a suitable sacrifice - all that was required was bloodshed. That is why scripture says, "when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Italics is mine)- His death/bloodshed was enough to reconcile sinful man to God.

However, more than forgiveness and reconciliation has been made available. This verse goes on to say that now having been reconciled (through His death), it's His resurrection (His life) that overcame death and thereby caused us not only to be forgiven through His blood, but ALSO able to walk in abundance, as overcomers and more than conquerors (boldly).

The first part of this verse refers to sinners ("enemies" of God), and proclaims reconciliation for them through Christ's death. The second part refers to those now reconciled (no longer "enemies" of God), and proclaims salvation ("saved") for them through Christ's life/resurrection.

The Greek word for "saved" here is Sodzo, and actually includes healing, deliverance, protection and to "do well". We tend to use the word "saved" to describe the "point in time" when we become a child of God, but, God's Word uses the Greek word "sodzo" to describe the whole realm of benefits we receive - past, present, and future.

The purpose of Christ (as seen here), is both reconciliation and abundant life, yet satan continues to deceive many believers to think that they "owe God" for forgiving them, while in fact God has so much more for us to walk into...here on earth.

The awesome thing about this abundant life, is that we don't work for it, but rather access it freely by faith - through revelation of God's love for us, and an intimate relationship with our Father. How can we work for something that Jesus has already paid for?

The reason why many believers don't experience fullness of joy and true abundant life, is because they aren't personally walking with God, in a relationship that truly believes and understands how much God actually loves them, and wants to lavish His glorious riches upon His sons and daughters.