Abide in Me...Partakers if...

(Heb 3:13,14)  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

Paul is here speaking to Hebrew Christians...believers in Christ. He clearly states that conditions remain in the salvation of Christians just as they did with the Exodus people in the wilderness. Salvation is here represented as a progressive work and not alone a moment of conversion after which the person cannot retract the new standing in Christ. "We are made partakers of Christ if....the text could as well be translated "We are made partakers with Christ if".....Paul is speaking to those who are already partakers of Christ’s forgiveness and justification but they must prove themselves faithful in order to become partakers of the final rest of Christ’s reign in the new earth. Popular Christianity rarely makes this distinction. There is something yet to be attained by the justified soul. All the resources are given freely by grace. We are counted as Sons of God but we shall be tested even as Adam and Eve were tested to see if we shall apply the gifts of God to  their intended goal. “He that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

There are two groups of people that do violence to the plain testimony and life saving counsel of these words. On the one hand there are those who assume that since man cannot set himself in right relation to God with his own works... then salvation (once one has come to Christ) must thereafter be unconditional and have nothing to do with any works at all. But it is God that works in us. If His works are not present it is a telling evidence that His salvation has been spurned, no matter what the testimony of the lips. On the other hand are those who assert that salvation is only gained by works of merit on the part of the recipient first, and this sets him in a right relation with God.

Jesus own teaching clearly and succinctly exposes the apostasy in both these distortions.

(John 15:1-12)  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciplesAs the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Fallen man must acknowledge his need of the righteousness of Christ. He cannot attain to it by himself. He can only receive it as a gift. But once he has received it he is called to cooperate with that power of righteousness imparted to Him. To fail to cooperate with the work of God in purifying the character and practice is to reject Christ in a more serious way that those who never accepted Him. Brethren, consider and cherish our High Priest, who has supplied such provision for the Sons of men.

Whose house we are...blessed hope! Hebrews 3:6

6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
What does it take to be counted as Christ's house? The answer is in the text! If we hold fast our confidence. Confidence is merely an alternate word for faith here. If we hold fast our faith we shall succeed. Faith in Christ is a living transmission of power. His life is imparted to the soul. We may have victory over sin which is otherwise the chord and ownership of Satan. Righteousness is the seal of God's possession. If we hold fast to faith in Christ's work for us in the sanctuary then His blood covers us and His life empowers us. Our part is to hold fast...to believe.  John 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Faith in Jesus is a belief that produces action. "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12. Fallen man cannot set himself right with God. The works of Judaism, Catholicism, or the host of other man made hybrids of faith are useless in this respect. To believe in Christ as our atoning priest is to disbelieve all these religious counterfeits. To believe in Christ is to cast off any confidence in creature merit. Once we accept what the priesthood of Christ means, and renounce faith in our own righteousness, then God will work His works in us.
Paul is referencing Psalm 95:8 in verses 7 and 8. God was making this point to the Exodus people. But they hardened their hearts. They would not trust in this specific truth. They covenanted with God on the basis of self confidence. It was destined to fail. Paul is admonishing the Hebrew Christians of his day to avoid repeating the mistake in their day of opportunity. The judaistic mindset would threaten their faith. The remedy was in considering what manner of high priest God had provided. To do so would repeatedly expose both the judaistic and Roman apostasies yet to come.  We live in a day when these apostasies are mature. How much more should we consider our High Priest and what He is to us!

Son Over All God's House!

5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

The words "But Christ" refers back to "was faithful" in verse 2, in other words Christ was faithful in His house just as Moses was in his. The "but" however puts forth the major contrast between the two. The Hebrews were inclined to deify Moses and the Old Covenant as the ultimate expression of God. To them a human Messiah was merely to endorse and forward their national aims and establish the rule of the law of Moses and the law of separation between Jew and Gentile. They were the chosen and the Law was their badge of exaltation. But Paul is here exposing their fatal misconception. Moses himself said that a greater messenger was to come..verse 5..."And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after".
The law was the transcript of God's character but Christ, the Son, was God made flesh. The testimony of Moses bowed to Him as a servant bows to the Son of his master. God had long foretold that the glory of the Old was to be but a servant to the greater glory of the new covenant. Some take this to mean the law itself has been demoted. But this would be mistaken. Christ was to show the fuller glory of the law in a living expression written into the flesh He came to rescue. What Christ would do in the humanity He took would gloriously establish the love of God as the center of His law and the hearts of rebels would be turned to allegiance to God.

2 Corinthians 3:
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:


8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

(Heb 3:1) Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

We are admonished to consider the High Priest Hebrews has just defined in Chapter 1 and 2. This will not be the first time that we are reminded to do so in Hebrews. The points of chapter 1 and 2 are obviously extremely important in two senses. Firstly we must accept that God, in Christ, took sinful flesh upon His own divine nature in order to be perfect a way of atonement for man, and bring him into harmony with the law of God. Any other flesh or method would not suffice for we trust and have scriptural testimony that God did what was necessary. (Hebrews 2, Romans 8:3). Secondly we must believe that Jesus is now ministering until He returns. The book of Revelation also reveals Christ as ministering in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary during John's day around 90 AD. (Revelation, chapters 1 and 2). Later we will see that He finishes the work for man in the second compartment or phase of the High Priest Ministry which is the beginning of the judgment and sealing up of God's church at the end of time.
The great irony is that much of the professed Christian church considers that Christ has long since finished His high priestly ministry because, some say, "the day of atonement was at His crucifixion". Christ has made atonement at the cross but this is distinct from the day of atonement prefigured in the sanctuary The day of atonement is a final examination of the professors of Christ foretold by Jesus in the parable where the guests are examined to see if they have on the wedding garment. (see Matthew 22:11).
Many now depict Jesus as king. In order to lay aside the Holy law of God as many have done, or simply to diminish its importance, this idea that His priestly ministry is already over has been adopted. It would imply that there is no judgment for Christians for it has all past at the cross. Our salvation is sealed and we cannot be lost by anything we may do. This is a terrible distortion coming out of Calvinism and it has many related variants.
But such folly need have no place with those who read the Bible as its own expositor. According to Hebrews and Revelation Christ is still ministering for us as High Priest and seeking help those who are tempted to overcome and walk in His ways. Salvation remains under condition of obedience. This is not salvation by works but rather salvation that bears works. It is the fruit of Christ's labor. He is there to minister repentance, if we fail, in order to help up recover and walk uprightly. He will remain in that role until just before He returns to earth to take His people with Him, thus He admonishes us to "be faithful unto death". Revelation 2:10. "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved". Matthew 24;13. We are in a saving relationship now by faith but we are admonished to hold unto that salvation by faithfulness in Christ. Romans 2 clearly reveals this truth.  He will come then as King when the judgment of those professing Christ is complete. "We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ" says Paul. The guests at the wedding must be examined to see if they are wearing the wedding garment. Profession of Christ will mean nothing if the guest has not actually worn the way of Christ, which is to keep the law of God. "Here are the that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12.
What is it then we are to consider about our High Priest? He is able to help us because He has championed our escape as a brother. The blood He pleads before the Father is His human blood, testifying that a way of restoration was successfully made, for it is innocent blood, the only innocent blood for the whole human race. This is what the blood of Christ means to us. It is the testimony not only of the sacrificial love of God, not only of the payment for sin, but it testifies that humanity yoked with divinity in Christ is in harmony with the divine law. All who truly accept this High Priest accept, not only that they are pardoned, but believe also that they may now walk with the supernatural aid of that perfect life power of Jesus and keep the Law of God by faith. Praise the God of love for providing our way in Christ!

Hebrews 2:18. He is able to succour them that are tempted.

(Heb 2:18)  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

The love of God for us is deeply tender. Many wrestle with the idea that God. whom we say knows all things, might have to learn what it was to be tempted. Perhaps if we understand that there is something we are overlooking here,.... perhaps then the text might explain a bigger concept. Lost mankind needed a representative human head to plead their cause and to meet the just requirement of the law. Just as Christ has to learn obedience as a human, He also has to learn faith as a human. That means that as a human the Son of God had to learn what it meant to be tempted in a weak humanity that had to choose to depend on divine aid. This is all part of our legal redemption. This is all part of the perfection and restoration of humanity in Christ. The man Jesus, had to learn these things and perfect these qualities in order to qualify as our perfected high priest. In His pre-incarnate divinity Jesus lacked nothing. He could not even be tempted. But divinity was not in the grip of Satan..... humanity was..... and as such Christ took humanity to counter-work the Satanic spirit's power with His divine power. It was not so much that God had to learn...but that God was to teach humanity, in Christ, and prepare "such an High Priest" as we now have. Divinity knew how to prepare it. Humanity was needing that tender companionship of the divine nature. In Christ both things meet. This is indeed a great divine mystery which we shall study in eternity. Christ is all things to us. He is the ladder...reaching down from His power in heaven and touching the earth where man is. This is the love of God made manifest. Therefore the apostle pleads with us....(Heb 2:3)  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; My friend.....embrace the love of God and let it woe your heart into the kingdom.

Jesus! He is not ashamed to call us brethren.

Jesus! He is not ashamed to call us brethren. (Hebrews 2:11 KJV)  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren...

Here is one of the most tender thoughts about God. Our heavenly Father accepts us through the provision He has made in Christ. Morally weak, mortal, doers of shameful deeds, yet God in tender sympathy has provided Christ. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. He is not ashamed to stoop to the rescue of a wayward race. Jesus' beautiful parable of the prodigal son sets forth this same love. When the wayward son endeavored to return to the Father's house, while he was yet afar off, the Father ran to meet him and fell on him, embracing and kissing his son. This is a picture of us as sinners and our heavenly Father's longing for us while we are yet sinners. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
How is it that we know this love? The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He made His dwelling place with us. God took the rebellious race into His bosom by giving His only begotten Son to the race. Christ will bear the marks of crucifixion in the flesh of a humanity, which He has married Himself to, for eternity. We are adopted by the Divine. As the son of Jonathan was sought out and brought to David's table, so the son's of Adam, once subjects of Satan's rebellion, are brought to the table of God. Christ is our bread, our daily provision, out of the portion of the Father's own store.
No greater truth could be fashioned against the accusation of Satan that God was self serving, and that His law was self serving, than that the Word was made flesh, sinful flesh, the flesh of rebellion, so that the sons of the rebellion might be won to the fold of God once more. It is no wonder that the Spirit of antichrist seeks to deny this truth. No wonder that it will be one of the last great proclamations of the the truth of the 3 angles of Revelation 14:6-12. This is the heart and soul of the everlasting gospel. What could the cross mean if this truth were not at its root? It would be but an gesture, but it could not be our redemption. He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He is brother to us so that His redemption price can be accepted by the tribunal of God. No other way could be found. This is the gospel. This is righteousness by faith. This is the three angels message in verity. The Word made flesh is in a special sense to be understood and proclaimed, so that people may know their redeemer and find His perfect all sufficient redemption. All praise to our God and the Lamb of God.

One Man...to make reconciliation for the sins of the people!

"To make reconciliation for the sins of the people".

The space of one chapter in Hebrews covers the direct truth of Christ's exalted position in the Godhead. The point is easily made. But many chapters are dedicated to convincing the readers of the great mystery of Christ's adoption of human nature. In chapter 4 Paul is still emphasizing that Jesus was touched with the feeling of our infirmities in order that we may have confidence in Him as a fitting High Priest.Why so much emphasis and why so much resistance on the part of apostate and Laodicean Christianity? The Book of Revelation will add to the answer in a very direct way.
In chapter 5 of Revelation a great crisis is brought to view.
(Rev 5:1)  And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. (Rev 5:2)  And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Rev 5:3)  And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. (Rev 5:4)  And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
The redemption of mankind and his vindication in the judgement is here symbolized in the 7 seals along with the judgment of Satan's kingdom. The law of God holds a case against man. The penalty of death must be paid by the offender and a vindication must be made in order for the kingdom of humanity to reign once more.
Man is the offender. How can he pay the penalty of death and yet also vindicate himself? It seems impossible. For a time no man is found worthy to open the seals and to let the redemption proceed. John weeps for he foresees the extinction of His race and the loss of God's bride, the church.
Let it be made clear here that no other being can substitute for the offender. Man must pay the debt and man, if he must somehow continue, must redeem the disgraceful failure. This is a specification of the law of God. A man must pay. A kinsman alone can redeem, else all is lost for mankind. This is part of the sacred law and is intricately bound to its ability to keep the kingdom of God safe from the infiltration of evil. It must be a son of fallen Adam that takes the challenge for Adam had no son's before the fall. It must be a seed of the fallen Eve that bruises the serpents head in order to the accusation of  Satan regarding man and the just and holy law to be answered. John then sees the Hope...Behold the Lamb of God!
Then in the midst of this great tension One is found. People do not pay enough attention to scripture. This One must be of the same flesh as all other men unless the law of God is to be set aside and Satan win the argument. Thus we see that Christ, in order to be a sufficient High priest must become one of the fallen sons, must pay the penalty and must, as a man, redeem the failure if the race is to be vindicated. No other man could do it. All had failed. Even though there were humans in heaven...none were found worthy of this great a challenge. But Christ was the unity of divinity with humanity and with God all things are possible for fallen man. Christ gave back to the race what Adam had lost, a heart of righteousness and a connection with divine aid. All this is bound up with the the truth that Christ took "the offending nature of man upon His own sinless nature". This is the wonderful condescension of God to man.
Rom_5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom_5:15  But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

"We have such an high priest" but the devil seeks to change how we see that!

Made in all points like unto His brethren says the book of Hebrews."We have such an high priest" but it is the devil's aim to eclipse faith in this High Priest, as scripture reveals Him, by creating a counterfeit view of Him.

Thus a false christ and a false view of salvation is created. The law of God is diminished and the human standard is exalted. This is the work of antichrist and it will deceive many who think themselves perfectly loyal Christians. Jesus first warning to this disciples regarding the end of time, was take heed that ye be not deceived and that many false anointed ones would come claiming His name. Matthew 24.
There is a great misconception in the deceived christian apostasy as to what Antichrist denotes. We see here that the antichrist spirit is a deceiver spirit. Deception poses as one thing and is actually another thing. Satan first came to Christ posing as an angel of God. Matthew 4. Paul warns that Satan's angels (messengers) will appear as angels (messengers) of light. Many assume that Antichrist will only appear as one man in direct opposition to Judaism and an empty Jewish Temple. This reveals that their teachers are not dependent on scripture but on humanly devised fables. Hollywood, Satan's soap box, will even preach this false sermon in color on the big screen. Satan has nothing to fear in this type of preaching. It is his.
The scripture reveals that antichrist is a usurper spirit that permeates a christian apostasy from the truth from the days of John the apostle. But these individuals and this movement appears in all outward likeness as followers of Christ and believe themselves to be Christians just like Judas did, until his time of exposure.
The reformers exposed this fact of an antichrist apostasy to the revived Christian church but the counter-reformation of the Catholic church set in motion many notions to counteract the truth, and today that denial has been well planted in the compromising seminaries of a dying Protestantism. The false Sabbath and the false doctrine of Christ's becoming "holy flesh" at His birth now have become "orthodoxy" in the great ecumenical adulteration of churches. Now they look outside the "christian fold" for the appearance of some future secular Antichrist politician. Thus Rome is able to cast her spell upon the confused masses of apostate churches and invite them to recognize her as the mother of the Christian church. The tentacles of Roman doctrine have reached so far in the the struggling reformation that one might think all is lost. But it is just then that God reveals His power. Revelation reveals that at that time of the end now upon us there will be those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:12. Their faithfulness proclaims Babylons fall for Christ's truth walks on the earth in their flesh. His banner cannot be denied and the nations of the earth and its apostasies have one last chance to repent. Will you keep all of God's commandments by faith or will you buckle under the ecumenical pressure to fit in with the "orthodoxy" in the guise of false love on the two distinctive doctrines of antichrist? Let us stand with God.

...This is a deceiver and an antichrist??? 2John1:7

Made in all points like unto his brethren. Hebrews 2 gives us this great truth by which to defeat antichrist.

How important is it to believe the assertion of scripture that Christ took upon Himself the seed of Abraham and David...the fallen sons of Adam? John answers this. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 2John1:7. It is apostasy itself to deny this point.

There was no way that Abraham or Mary, who was Abraham's distant offspring, could pass on to Jesus any other flesh than their own. It had to be the seed of fallen Eve that bruised the head of the serpent. Gen.3:15,16. John will not teach anything contrary to the scripture which has gone before him. This leaves us with scriptural proof as to what flesh the antichrist spirit will deny that Christ came in. There is another ear mark of the Spirit of Antichrist which we may know. It will think to change times and laws. Daniel 7:25. As surely as it has fulfilled this prediction in boasting to change the law of God and its the day of worship it has also attacked the scriptural doctrine that Christ is come in the flesh of the fallen race.
"The official and "infallible" doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, as solemnly defined as an article of faith, by Pope Pius IX, speaking ex cathedra on the 8th of December 1854 is as follows:--
By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a special grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore is to be firmly and steadfastly believed by all the faithful.
Wherefore, if any shall presume, which may God avert, to think in their heart otherwise then has been defined by us, let them know, and moreover understand, that they are condemned by their own judgment, that they have made shipwreck as regards the faith, and have fallen away from the unity of the Church.--Catholic Belief, page 214.
This conception is defined by Catholic writers thus:--
The ancient writing, "De Nativitate Christi," found in St. Cyprian's works says: Because (Mary) being "very different from the rest of mankind, human nature, but not sin, communicated itself to her."
Theodore, patriarch of Jerusalem, said in the second council of Nice, that Mary "is truly the mother of God, and virgin before and after childbirth; and she was created in a condition more sublime and glorious than that of all natures, whether intellectual or corporeal."--Id., pages 216, 217. {1905 ATJ, CWCP 37.3}
Satan cannot claim a race that has not transgressed the law of God since the law contains the terms of citizenship to God's kingdom. It is in fallen flesh where Satan's claim of the race resides, thus Christ came to fallen flesh to rescue it from that possession. If you must regain a territory from enemy invasion you must ultimately meet the enemy on  that territory and overcome them and possess it yourself.
Satan must keep this point subdued  (that Christ restored the power of obedience to mankind in fallen flesh, in Himself) if he wants to keep unlearned Christians in opposition to the law of God, and in acceptance of the change of the law of God and it's creation Sabbath.  If we understand that Christ succeeded in making a way for fallen man to return to allegiance to the law of God in this life then Satan's scheme is undone. We will recognize Antichrist's deception. More on this great truth next time. God be with you readers and with your faithfulness to the truth of Christ.

Catholic bishop admits that they changed the Sabbath!

How was Christ like us in the flesh?

How was Christ like us in the flesh?
(Heb 2:17)  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren...

We saw that Christ had to be made perfect in His humanity. Divinity was already perfect. He had to accomplish what Adam failed to accomplish in humanity by taking what was left of humanity after the fall.
Adam was created perfect with the opportunity to hold to it.To be created perfect is not the same as choosing the way of perfection. Adam failed to choose the way of perfection and as a result we inherit his then broken nature. If Adam and Eve had succeeded in the task of overcoming Satan they would have passed on a nature invested with moral strength. The temptation could have been removed from the offspring of Adam. But the result of Adam's failure results in our inheriting a spiritually handicapped nature which is the natural prostitute of Satan.
God cannot legally prevent us from inheriting that weakness which is quickly controlled by the prince of the power of the air. Ephesians 2:1-3. But He can send the Son to our rescue and in Christ our weakness is combined with the well spring of divine strength. Christ Himself took our weakness, the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3) and was made, or took upon His unmade divine nature, a made-ness that was in all points our own weakened humanity. Through suffering He had to forge out a new and living way for the human family. Christ literally had to train the human will to bow to the will of the Father. In the Gethsemane trial the struggle was so intense that His humanity could have expired, but an angel strengthened Him so that He could offer up His life on the cross.
We obey by the power of His life. He obeyed by complying to the divine life within Himself. There had to be a cooperation of the humanity of Jesus with the divinity of the Godhead which fullness was in Him (Collosians 2:9). This translates to us as obeying the will of the Father but it does not exclude the divinity of Jesus itself. A cooperation had to happen between Jesus' two natures for the Word who had a nature was made flesh and took on flesh. The divine will of Christ was already one with His Father's will. But Christ became human and therefore must contend with the will of the flesh.This involved great suffering for Him in His human experience. Christ knew the instinctive will of the flesh to avoid suffering and embrace pleasure. This instinctive and impulsive will had been strengthened over generations. As man indulges this will then propensities to sin are developed in the mind. Christ had to continually choose to crucify this impulse without a single failure. Therefore He had no propensity to sin, but many assume this to mean that Christ did not inherit any tendency of the flesh. If that were the case Christ could never have crucified the flesh for us. He could not be our atonement. Thus Satan targets this truth to cause man to doubt it. If we doubt it we shall doubt that complete crucifixion of the will of the flesh is a condition for us. Thus the Antichrist spirit denies that Christ came in our flesh. Apostate Christianity has for centuries denied that Christ took sinful flesh and looks for other means for man to be made acceptable to God. This lie takes two forms. Salvation by works (human merit) and salvation without law (salvation in sin).
But Christ perfected that way that Satan denies.This was the price of our redemption and the work of our uplifting. An enduring link had to be forged between the humanity and divinity of Jesus, all the way to the extreme temptation of the Gethsemane and into death itself. That was the only perfection that could be offered up as our atonement for it not only provided perfect payment, rather it was a perfect payment for it provided a perfect restoration for the race in Christ alone. Nothing else could suffice.
The enemy of souls exhausted every energy of his evil force upon the Savior but he failed to even once cause a single yielding of the humanity of Jesus to his suggestions. Jesus could say..."which of you convinceth me of sin" John 8:46. Brothers and sisters...because of this we may receive this power of Christ's perfect life, but can you see the great cost of your redemption? Can you see how we must never boast that man alone can do as Christ, rather we must acknowledge that we may only receive what Christ alone can impart to our otherwise helpless state. The Captain of our Salvation was made perfect through suffering for our sake. This was love incarnate.

Christ...made perfect through suffering! How?

Christ...Made Perfect Through Suffering. How?

In the last thought we looked at why the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering and I asserted that fallen man, without Christ, cannot be made perfect through suffering. That is because the dying nature of man cannot bring life out of death. The just shall live by faith. Works cannot make them live. As one ancient fellow Celt wrote.....

Going to Rome

Going to Rome

Perchance you might find Christ there!

But you will not find Him there

Unless He go in your heart! 

But this must never be taken to mean that when one receives the free gift of divine nature that suffering has no value. Suffering, as God permits it to come, has value to the child of faith. Where God is there is a new creature. Then all aspects have changed. All things have become new because of a new principle in the soul... Then suffering can reveal perfection's work just as fire reveals the gold in a gold rich ore. 

 (1Pe 4:12)  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: (1Pe 4:13)  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 

The trial of faith is for the purpose of revealing the qualities of Christ in us. Faith is strengthened with the exercise. The suffering itself has no magic in it.Without the gift of Christ's divine nature there is nothing to be refined. The dead human agent must receive the gold of Christ into the heart first by faith in order for suffering to work out anything of value at all. Suffering does not make gold...it only reveals the gold if it is present.

But the thought that suffering cannot perfect the natural man is accepted by another class to support a religion of the lovers of pleasure. They think that indulgence and avoidance of self control exalts their faith in the righteousness of Christ. They miss the argument of Paul.."shall we therefore sin that grace may abound? God forbid!"

But how did Christ perfect a salvation for us through suffering, since we cannot, of ourselves, perfect anything but sin through suffering?  This has to do with the yoking of two natures in Christ. It was to be seen that our humanity in the hand of divinity could abound in righteousness were heretofore it abounded in sin. The Captain could sail the ship of humanity through the storm that no other sailor had weathered without failure. We must keep this in mind when we seek to attain the perfection of Christ. If any man manifest this perfection  it is only as an outgrowth of what Christ alone attained. "I no longer live....Christ liveth in me" says Paul. It must be Christ's gold that is refined for we have no gold at all. From righteous Able to the last believing souls on earth....none attained the spotlessness life that Christ alone did ..they only became conduits for the manifestation of His perfection. "I am the vine"...says Christ...."ye are the branches." The branch cannot bear fruit of itself. Hang a  pruned off branch on a string and see what it will do. But the pruned vine with its root is another story. Let this remind us of our comparison to Christ lest we exalt ourselves. Oh the glory of Jesus our Deliverer! He is the man that is made more precious than the gold of Ophir and His gold overlays the heavenly temple, for He is all of the tabernacle of Life to the helpless human agent.

(Heb 2:10) ....To make...the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

(Heb 2:10)  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Chapter 2 of Hebrews opens with the assertion that we ought to give more earnest heed to the things revealed in Christ and by Christ. Later we shall see that the whole description of our High Priest culminates in chapter 7 with the words...."We have such and high priest"... That is to say the the whole of the 7 chapters is dedicated to giving more earnest heed to the revelation of God concerning the nature or qualities of our High Priest and how that affects us. Therefore when someone says that such a subject as looking into the nature of Christ's humanity and divinity is not necessary, they are perhaps in ignorance, saying that the word of God is not entirely necessary and that we ought not to bother giving more earnest heed. There is only one being from whom such a suggestion would originate and that is the enemy of souls. His greatest fear is that we give more earnest heed to the word of God concerning what the scripture reveals. It is to reveal this fowl spirit that the apostle John writes when he says that it is the spirit of Antichrist to deny that Christ is come in the flesh and in the context of Romans 8:3 that is our fallen flesh. We can see then that the thing that Satan and sin stands the most to lose by, is that the followers of Jesus consider and apply what is revealed regarding the humanity and divinity of Christ. The enemy will heap reproach on the subject through the mouths of Laodicean professors who are in their stupor unable to discern the gold from the dross.

It is with this warning in mind that we consider the curious words concerning Christ incarnate in our flesh.."that he was made perfect through sufferings." To the children of this world these words would merely mean that man can be made perfect..that is acceptable to God...by works of penance or self inflicted hardship. That is because they know nothing of the context of the statement and the real depravity of the natural man. The words just before have asserted (Heb 2:9)  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

If mankind could perfect itself then why would the Son of God have to take our humanity and die in it for all of us? Notice also that it was the captain of our salvation that was made perfect. This reveals that man, by himself, is in need of a Savior. To undertake works of denial and ritual piety in order to make ourselves perfect would mean that the whole of what we have just read concerning Jesus was either denied or misunderstood. It is an insult to God for man to think that he can approach God by his own works of self purification. The proclamation of this cutting truth however undermines every false religion of the planet including the one that sits in the temple of God endeavoring to show itself that it is god. That is why all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Their testimony condemns the pride of every false religion and all "Christian" apostasy. With this sobering thought in mind we will continue tomorrow with the question of why and how Christ was made perfect through suffering in terms of what type of High Priest we need.