Luke 10:39 says, “And she [Martha] had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word,” (NKJV). What has God done so we can sit at the feet of His Son and listen to
His word? There are several things God has done so we can fellowship
with Him, His Son and the Holy Spirit. We are going to look at five of
them.
God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit have created us in Their image.
Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ (27) So God
created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male
and female He created them,” (NKJV). The Godhead has created mankind
with an inward desire to fellowship with them. If that yearning is not
directed toward God it will be focused on fellowshipping with idols.
Man will worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator (Romans
1:25). See Romans 1:18-32 for more about the sin of bowing down to the
creation instead of God. Let us cultivate our passion for the Godhead
by being in the presence of Christ our Lord. Each day we are being
transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).
God gives us a new heart and spirit. Ezekiel
36:26-27 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within
you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh. (27) I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to
walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them,”
(NKJV). God is telling us prophetically about the New Covenant that
Jesus will begin during His life and continues today. I love this
passage. God will give us a new heart. God will put a new spirit
within us. God will take the heart of stone out of us and put a heart
of flesh in us. He will remove our stubborn heart that is hard, and
give us a heart that He can mold and shape into His likeness. We will
have a humble and contrite heart that is willing to do His will. God
will put His Spirit within us and cause us to walk in His statutes, keep
His judgments, and do them. This is a wonderful gift from God to us.
It is an expression of His love toward us.
God puts His law in our minds and writes it on our hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-34 says, “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah– (32) not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to
them, says the LORD. (33) But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will
be their God, and they shall be My people. (34) No more shall every
man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the
LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the
greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will
remember no more,” (NKJV). This passage is quoted in Hebrews 8:7-13
and 10:16-18. This is the premiere prophecy of the New Covenant that
Jesus instituted during His life, and through His death, burial, and
resurrection. The LORD says “I will” six times in this passage. Take
some time to meditate upon each of those “I will” and thank Him for what
He has done so we can be in His presence. I think of 1 Corinthians
1:30-31, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us
wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
(31) so that, just as it is written, ‘LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE
LORD,’” (NASB).
God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, to save and deliver us from His wrath.
John 3:16, 36 says, “(16) For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. (36) He who believes in the Son has everlasting
life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on him,” (NKJV). In one act of kindness God has
loved the world: He gave His only begotten Son. He did this so that
whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life.
Perish means dying and going to hell where the wrath of God abides on
those who inhabit the lake of fire forever. The wrath of God is His
fury and anger which is poured out on those who have rejected His only
begotten Son, Christ Jesus. This is the greatest sin to commit against
God. We do not have to experience the wrath. God has provided the Way
to Himself. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” (NKJV).
God sent Christ that He might bring us to Himself. 1
Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for
the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the
flesh but made alive by the Spirit, (NKJV). Christ suffered once for
our sins. His suffering is effectual for delivering us from the debt of
our sins. In Christ we find forgiveness for our sins. Christ who is
the Just One died for you and me, the unjust. Jesus took our place.
God punished our sin through the chastisement of His Son. “The
chastisement for our peace was upon Him,” (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV). Christ
suffered for us that He might bring us to God. Christ was put to death
in the flesh but made alive by the Holy Spirit. Christ died while
hanging on the cross. Mark 15:37 says, “And Jesus cried out with a loud
voice, and breathed His last,” (NKJV). The Holy Spirit was involved in
the resurrection of Christ. The Holy Spirit quickened Jesus as He laid
in the tomb. The resurrected Man Christ Jesus brings us into the
presence of God.
So God has done these five things in Christ so we can sit at the feet
of Jesus and listen to His word. What God has done out weighs what God
is asking us to do: Sit at My Son’s feet and listen to His word. We
will receive many spiritual blessings as we fellowship with God, Christ,
the Holy Spirit and Their word.
