Two Men part 2
In the eyes of God, there are only two men who have ever lived. The first Adam (man's representative before the cross), and the last Adam--Jesus. And here's the difference, "You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel" (Hebrews 12:24 NLT). See, Abel's blood spoke of vengeance. That idea of this angry, vengeful God--as seen through an angry, vengeful humanity's perspective--is what gets us into a lot of trouble sometimes. Especially when that's what we present to others in order to try to "scare them straight." We don't seem to realize that it is the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance. Seeing something BETTER than what they thought they had. Which, actually, is what the KJV says in our verse in Hebrews, "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Jesus blood speaks better things. Because it speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance. And that's what Jesus literally did on the cross. He cried out, "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do." And while I believe He meant that towards the people that were physically nailing Him to the cross, I also believe He meant that for all of humanity. Because, as we saw in the last Rant series, we didn't have a clue. We didn't know what we were doing. It was dark out, and we were just stumbling around trying to get something we thought we didn't have. Something we DID have, but something we thought was too good to be true. Something we thought we needed to earn, but something that was freely given. All we ever have to do, when it comes to the gift of God, is receive it and release it. Fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Stop looking for vengeance and start experiencing forgivneness. You have been forgiven, so you can forgive. (The whole, you can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have, thing.) And that's the difference between the two men. Its the blood. The DNA. (On this side of the cross, DNA is Divine Nature of the Almighty.) Its a better covenant with better promises. A better blood that speaks of better things. And watch this: God's heart beats with love in our chest, right? So the blood is what carries that love throughout the body. We are all parts of that body of Christ. We carry blood--LOVE--to each other. We are connected because of that blood (LOVE). See, there are only two men that have ever lived. And they both died on the cross. But the blood of Jesus--the everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of God--made sure that only One New Man rose again. And we're in Him because He's in us. We LIVE in Him because He lives in us. His blood flows through our veins. Of the two men... only Jesus, the Lord from heaven, remains. Its His life, and we're just experiencing it as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us! Its not a life of trying to get. Its a life of giving what you've got. Giving the LOVE that you've got. LIVING by LOVING!