Hi there,
So I just realised that the words Jesus spoke about new wineskins - that you don't put new wine into old wineskins - applied to Jesus facing the cross. Jesus didn't try to put the old Jesus on the Cross, but tried to put the new Jesus on the Cross. This is a marvelous thing to me, because it is the picture of backsliding, coming clean and making the cross the focus, not in an oldness of spirit, but new for new. When we backslide, we tend to make the cross our focus, but in the oldness of the letter - this isn't right! Rather we need to "remember" where we have fallen, and take up our cross, new for new. If we can do this, our sins will be forgiven old for old and new for new. We will be forgiven, because as Jesus says "no one wants the new wine, because the old is better" (Luke 5:39) the old is for the old, the new is for the resurrection of the new. By this we know we have the new, because we look forward to it without thinking of the old. The old is a pariah to the newness of the Cross, the Cross is constant newness to the resurrection.
There is madness in this, I do not say people should wish their backsliding not be backsliding. I am saying we need a whole new way of looking at the Cross and its Resurrection, when in reality we need it for nothing. It is the Law that keeps the old from destroying the old and the cross. We are supposed to be perfecting our lives in the standard set out by the Law, which in Jesus is the Law of the Heart. If we can do this consistently, then that which is old will be old and that which is new will be new. We will be obeying again the matter of the heart, not from the perspective of someone who is rushing to the cross, but not dressed for the occasion, but from the perspective of someone who is waiting for it. We need to keep waiting to be invited in, because if we do it without patience, the Door will never answer.
So do we fear that our cross will be made of no example? No, because the letter of the Law over the old is STRONG. We who remain in patience with the old, while focusing on the new, have a hearing with the Lord, not that His ways be changed, but that they be added to, in the light of faith that waits to join (in faith (in principle)). If the Devil can't hear principle, it is on his head, we being patient that he depart, cease to contravene the extenuation of the Law and cease to bring into doubt those that thought works of the flesh would save them. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, that He defends the Cross, even on the basis of the Spirit of the Law, which mature believers learn, to distance themselves from the evil of this world. Trouble may come, but if we have peace with the Holy Spirit, we know it doesn't come from within. Being ready to withstand the attacks of the Devil on the Church as a whole, is the beginning of the work the Holy Spirit has been called to do in this world.
EDIT: This is not meant to be an exegesis of life without the cross, coming to terms with the old terms of the Law, but a tracing back to God, the path God has said "I will find you" on.
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
So I just realised that the words Jesus spoke about new wineskins - that you don't put new wine into old wineskins - applied to Jesus facing the cross. Jesus didn't try to put the old Jesus on the Cross, but tried to put the new Jesus on the Cross. This is a marvelous thing to me, because it is the picture of backsliding, coming clean and making the cross the focus, not in an oldness of spirit, but new for new. When we backslide, we tend to make the cross our focus, but in the oldness of the letter - this isn't right! Rather we need to "remember" where we have fallen, and take up our cross, new for new. If we can do this, our sins will be forgiven old for old and new for new. We will be forgiven, because as Jesus says "no one wants the new wine, because the old is better" (Luke 5:39) the old is for the old, the new is for the resurrection of the new. By this we know we have the new, because we look forward to it without thinking of the old. The old is a pariah to the newness of the Cross, the Cross is constant newness to the resurrection.
There is madness in this, I do not say people should wish their backsliding not be backsliding. I am saying we need a whole new way of looking at the Cross and its Resurrection, when in reality we need it for nothing. It is the Law that keeps the old from destroying the old and the cross. We are supposed to be perfecting our lives in the standard set out by the Law, which in Jesus is the Law of the Heart. If we can do this consistently, then that which is old will be old and that which is new will be new. We will be obeying again the matter of the heart, not from the perspective of someone who is rushing to the cross, but not dressed for the occasion, but from the perspective of someone who is waiting for it. We need to keep waiting to be invited in, because if we do it without patience, the Door will never answer.
So do we fear that our cross will be made of no example? No, because the letter of the Law over the old is STRONG. We who remain in patience with the old, while focusing on the new, have a hearing with the Lord, not that His ways be changed, but that they be added to, in the light of faith that waits to join (in faith (in principle)). If the Devil can't hear principle, it is on his head, we being patient that he depart, cease to contravene the extenuation of the Law and cease to bring into doubt those that thought works of the flesh would save them. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, that He defends the Cross, even on the basis of the Spirit of the Law, which mature believers learn, to distance themselves from the evil of this world. Trouble may come, but if we have peace with the Holy Spirit, we know it doesn't come from within. Being ready to withstand the attacks of the Devil on the Church as a whole, is the beginning of the work the Holy Spirit has been called to do in this world.
EDIT: This is not meant to be an exegesis of life without the cross, coming to terms with the old terms of the Law, but a tracing back to God, the path God has said "I will find you" on.
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
