The Power of Jesus's Outstretched Arm

 

I'm inviting you along for the ride as the Lord schools me on a bigger picture of His redeeming power. I'm not sure what the Holy Spirit is going to reveal during my "thinking out loud in the spirit". But, as I write this post, it is my prayer that His revelation will be a blessing to us all.

I'm in the middle of reading a really interesting book, titled Redeeming Your Timeline, by Pastor Troy Brewer of OpenDoor Church in Burleson, Texas. He presents an interesting concept of Jesus as a Time Traveler, being able to move in and out of the timelines of our lives, healing us in the past, the present, and the future. This book intrigued me because it fits so nicely with what I have experienced with the Lord in the Inner Healing and Deliverance ministry He has brought Mark and I. It has been my privilege to witness Jesus appearing in the memories of a person's wounded past to liberate them from the spirits of shame, guilt, unworthiness, etc, and then speaking to them [in the present] of their new identity as a valuable [and much loved] child of God. It's always a beautiful picture of what "being supernaturally redeemed" looks like.  

Pastor Brewer takes this idea of supernatural redemption a little further, explaining that Jesus can not only heal our past wounds, but can relieve our fears about the future, and help us to remain calm in the present. In fact, when He delivers us from the captivity of our past, it actually changes our now and our future! Our entire timeline can be redeemed! 

Before I go any further, I think we need to come to a mutual understanding of what "redeemed" or "redemption" actually means. I know, for myself, that I have sometimes been confused about the significance of such Scriptural words because they were never fully explained to me. So, I want to make sure we are all on the same page. I would venture to say that most Christians think of redemption as a New Testament concept; that it exemplifies Jesus's sacrificial death on the Cross. And it certainly does point to the fact that Jesus brings us deliverance from the guilt and power of sin through His death. But when researching deeper and accurate meanings of the words "redeem" or "redemption" in Strong's Concordance, I found that those words actually appeared far more often in the Old Testament! And the meanings have so much relevance for us today!

These are the meanings assigned to the words redeem, redeemed, Redeemer: 1) deliverance from captivity; 2) preserving the integrity, life, property, and family name of a close relative; and 3) complete sovereign freedom to liberate human beings. And we see these understandings in passages like Exodus 6:6, which says, "Therefore, say to the children of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will free you from their bondage. I will redeem and rescue you with an outstretched (vigorous, powerful) arm and with great acts of judgment [against Egypt]". Then there is Psalm 77:15, which reads, "You have with Your [great] arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph".  This concept of Jesus as redeeming with an outstretched arm will broaden our understanding of how He heals in the timelines of our lives.

But first, I want to point out Job, which is considered by many theologians to be the oldest book in the Bible. Job is quoted as saying, "For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at the last He will take His stand upon the earth" (Job 19:25). That is a picture of Jesus being in the past, thousands of years before He was actually born, as well as a prophesy about what He will do in a future we haven't experienced yet! In Isaiah 48:17, Jesus speaks to the prophet Isaiah, identifying Himself as "your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel". And in Isaiah 48:12 Jesus calls Himself "the First and the Last", which coincides with His identity as "the Alpha and Omega" in Revelation 1:8. So, here we once again see Jesus in the past and the future. The point I want to get across is this: Scripture tells us Jesus is the One who is, who was, and who is to come. But we must not see that truth through an impersonal lens, as if it is a nice theological concept, but somewhat distant in relevance to our own lives. On the contrary, Jesus can actually enter into the timelines of our lives -- past, present, and future -- and redeem them. And here is what is even more amazing ... when Jesus heals that wound in your past, it is actually re-written in your Book of life, which creates a new present and a new future!

Take for example, the man with leprosy that Jesus healed in Mark 1:40-45. Scripture says, Moved with compassion [for his suffering], Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Once again, there is that act of reaching out His hand in power.  In the Greek, that act is the word "ekkteino".  Ek means "coming out of place, time, or cause". Kteino means "to put to death". So, we can understand that, in the power that was in Him, Jesus entered into the timeline of the man with leprosy [to the place, time, and cause of his disease] and healed him [put to death what the Enemy had sent against him]. In effect, that changed the man's identity, which transformed his life in the present, and into his future. 

And guess what? He can do the same for me and you! He can actually redeem us through His outstretched arm [just as He did for the Israelites in the aforementioned passages in Exodus and Psalms]. He can travel through the times of our lives [past, present, and future] and free us from the effects of sin, transgression, and iniquity; and in the process, give us a new destiny, transforming our lives to reconcile with what He wrote in our Book of Life before He even created the world! The question becomes if we will allow Him to do that. Can we see how inviting Him into our past can profoundly change our present and lead us into a glorious future? We must understand that Jesus created Time, so it is an environment that He has sovereignty over, and He can change what happens there. He has the power to confront our past and redeem it; delivering us from the captivity and bondage of sin, preserving our integrity and who He designed us to be, and propelling us into a future that glorifies Him and His Kingdom! That portion of time that contained the sin has been cleansed and a new portion of time has been established. And we can operate in this new timeline knowing our Lord, our Redeemer, has sanctified us to walk out our purpose. No looking back -- let Him stretch out His powerful arm and receive your redemption!

Isaiah 46:10     Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, And from ancient times the things which have not [yet] been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will do all that pleases Me and fulfills My purpose,’

God's Prospicience In His Provision

     Hmmm... never heard that word prospicience before? I hadn't either until my meditation on the healing properties of frankincense oil took me on a Scriptural and spiritual journey. It went something like this: suffering from sinus drainage caused by allergies, I turned to my essential oil of frankincense which possesses antiseptic and astringent properities [among other healing and therapeutic attributes], and I began to think about how long this aromatic resin of the Boswellia tree has been beneficial and valuable. Of course, my thoughts then turned to Christianity's most familiar idea of frankincense, as part of the trio of precious gifts brought to the Christ child by the three Wise Men. But, before I explain the prospicience of these gifts, let's learn a little more about the significance of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It goes without saying that gold was -- and remains -- a valuable commodity. But what about the other two?

     According to a website called Herb & Root, Frankincense and Myrrh are both tree resins, or gummy sap that oozes from the bark of two different trees native to the Arabian Peninsula and Northeast Africa. Incisions are made in the bark of the tree during important times of year, and the sap pours out and is collected.
     The sacred trees that produce Frankincense and Myrrh are almost impossible to grow outside of the Arabian Peninsula, which meant they were constantly in short supply and high demand in the ancient world. According to a famous Roman historian, the sap made the Arabians the richest people on earth by Jesus’s time, and more valuable than gold. Frankincense alone is responsible for creating the trade routes linking southern Arabia to India, the Mediterranean, and the Silk Road in China.
     It's not hard to understand that these gifts were brought to honor the baby Jesus. In fact, the three "Wise Men" were actually three "Magi" or spiritual advisors [also known as dream interpreters]. They held the same position as the magicians/astrologers/dream interpreters who Daniel competed with in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar. And I don't think it is too far off base to speculate that during the 70 years Daniel remained in captivity in Babylon, he taught the prophecy of a coming King of the Jews to his fellow maji and the expectation was handed down through the generations.
     Anyway, in Matthew 2, these maji came looking for the "child who is born King of the Jewish people", and they came bearing valuable gifts representing one kingdom (the Roman empire, having been sent by King Herod) to another (the Kingdom of God). They believed in the prophecy of a coming King and they came to bow before Him in worship.
     But I've always struggled with reconciling this image of gold, frankincense and myrrh being brought to the manger in which the baby Jesus was born. There has to be more to the story than they believed in an ancient prophecy and that this child was the fulfillment of it. I understand that, culturally, this would have been the appropriate gift to bring before any new recognized king, It just seems strange that a young, poor couple from the backwaters of the Roman empire would receive such treasure, and what happened to those valuable gifts?  Ahhh, that's where prospicience comes in.
     The word means "seeing ahead; knowing in advance; foreseeing". And I believe it is another characteristic of God; similar to His omniscience, which means "knowing everything". You see, God does know everything; He knows the beginning from the end. He says, in Isaiah 46:10, I declare from the beginning how it will end and foretell from the start what has not yet happened. I decree that my purpose will stand, and I will fulfill my every plan.
     God sees time and history differently than we do. We see it as a linear span; progressing from one point to the next. Time is multi-dimensional to God, and He sees it from a different perspective, having created it, and He can move in and out of it according to His will. He can see into the future, while still in the present, and can act in advance and deal with a coming situation to provide our every need when we need it. That's exactly what prospicience is and what He did for Joseph and his new, little family.
     You see, God foresaw that the government of Rome would not yield to His heavenly government's appearance on earth in the person of the infant, Jesus. He foresaw that Herod would try to kill the child and that it would be necessary for Joseph to escape with his family into Egypt, where Herod's power did not extend. Furthermore, they would be there for awhile as essentially refugees; [NOTE: Historical opinions as to how long the family remained in Egypt vary substantially; everything from one year in the History of Joseph, to eight years, according to Baronius, an Italian cardinal and
ecclesiastical historian of the Roman Catholic Church]. But regardless of how long they were there, Joseph would need to provide for his family while they traveled to Egypt [and back] and to pay expenses for as long as the family remained away from their homeland. The valuable gifts from the three maji would certainly have provided those necessary means of survival in a strange land. 
      Now, I know that there is no Chapter or verse that substantiates this theory, and I do not claim that it represents the truth of Scripture. But I believe that it has as much credibility as the unprovable traditions mainstream Christianity purports today, namely: as referred to in the Christmas carol, "We Three Kings" the gifts symbolize three aspects of Christ's future life. The gold represents kingship; frankincense represents worship, and myrrh stands for death and mourning. Or try this one: Mary and Joseph used the gold to pay for the stable; the frankincense to perfume it; and the myrrh as an ointment for the newborn baby. 
     I know the Bible is full of symbolism and allegory, but in this case, I believe that once we see the bigger picture of why the maji from the East understood the prophecy of the King of the Jews being born, and why it was expedient for Joseph to flee to Egypt to escape the long arm of Roman rule, it is not out of the realm of possibility that God predetermined to have valuable gifts brought to the Christ child that would provide Joseph with the resources to support his family until he could return to Nazareth and resume his work as a carpenter. 
     Whether my theory has any significance is not the purpose of this blog. Rather, it is to come to a higher understanding that God sees and knows and works in the dimensions of time, and while we may not perceive what He is doing, we can trust, just like Joseph did, that He is moving several steps ahead of us. He can foresee our future and He can act in advance to give us favor and provision at just the right moment. I invite you to look back over your life and see all the instances when His prospicience overtook you and confirmed His presence in your life.... and then thank and praise Him!

Matthew 2:11     And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.