Seventy Seven part 2
Seventy times seven. The perfect number that doesn't mean, "Forgive people a bunch of times," but actually means... forgive people. Period. Numbers are important in the Bible. Seventy sets of seven was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel. Three is number of power--Father, Son, Holy Ghost. And then there's 666. Which people like to refer to as the sign of the devil, right? But--and I have to give my pastor credit for this, because I got it directly from him--if we look at the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of the sixth book of the New Testament we see something very different. Romans 6:6 (NLT), "We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin." 666... is the number of MAN. And, specifically, the death of the old man and the birth of the new! We are crucified with Christ. What happened to Him on the cross happened to us on the cross. When He was lifted up from the earth He drew all men into Himself. And planted Himself in all men. Drew us out of Adam and into Christ. Drew us out of death and into life. And not just "life" but HIS life. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. That's what the gift of God is. That's what we should be focused on. Not "how many times do I have to forgive someone?". That's really kind of a selfish mindset. "What's the bare minimum of what I can get away with?" If your goal is to get away with something... you need a new goal. If your goal is to experience this life we've been given to the fullest, well, now you're talking. If you're goal is to experience the gift that you've been given by sharing it... by giving it away... then you've really found the secret of life. What I'm trying to say today is that we don't have to find "bad" things in the Bible to be afraid of, or worried about, or fight against. The Bible contains the gospel. Gospel means "good news." Look at 2 Corinthians 4:20 (NLT), "For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ, our "Amen" (which means "Yes") ascends to God for his glory." All of God's promises HAVE been fulfilled in Christ. That's a done deal. What happens is, when OUR yes matches HIS yes, that's when we EXPERIENCE those promises. Our response to what God has done. He made the Way of Grace. We respond with the Walk of Faith. Knowing and believing that we have what God says we have. That we can experience HIs life... because we died with Him. We died with Him on the cross, now we live with Him every day. Because He lives in us every day. When we start to understand what some of these numbers actually mean, instead of going to the worst case scenario with them, that's when we can get a deeper, fuller, better understanding of the finished work in our live. Who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and what that means for us. Those are the topics I wrote at length about in the "The Answer Trilogy." So if you want more, pick up Identity Crisis, Six Steps to the Throne, and EPIC. But in the meantime, stop living in fear and let the love of God--that is already inside you--flow out of you with every breath you take and every move you make!