Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed compassion toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.” Luke 10:36-37.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Jesus came to save you and it was love that impelled Him to do that. Pure love. Not that you had loved Me but that I had loved you and sent Jesus that you might have life, eternal life, through Him. 1 John 4:9. He came to as propitiation for your sins. 1 John 4:10. Even when He was rejected by those who should have loved and embraced His mission among you, for the joy that lay before Him of saving you, He did not quit.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8.
No matter how much opposition and ingratitude, betrayal and rejection, Jesus faced, He had set His face like flint to save you.
I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord (Adonai) LORD (Yahavah) helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:6-7.
Why? Love. Everlasting Love does not give up.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2.
And now I speak to you who are reading this today, for many of you have become discouraged: Do not give up, you are on the verge of something great.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:3.
In Jesus you have been made righteous before Me with My own righteousness, and the righteous shall live by faith and faith does not quit. Do not be among those who draw back and perish but those who go forward and take the prize. Faith and patience obtain the promises. Do not be sluggish about this. Let no one rob you of your crown.
The mission I sent Jesus on is pure love and love is stronger than death. And as I sent Him to seek out and save the lost and to undo the works of the devil, so He sends you as His body in the world. I anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power and He went about doing good and healing all of the oppressed by the devil. Acts 10:38.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 12-14.
How will you do the works He did, which were miracles, signs, and wonders? The same way He did them as one of you: by faith in and obedience to My Words, and the Holy Spirit. And you have something else as well: His Name, to which every knee must bow.
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17.
So since you are to carry His mission further by doing the works He did and greater, consider again His mission statement:
“The Spirit of the Lord (Adonai) LORD (Yahavah) is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2.
So in our last Life Lesson, we saw that Jesus came to bring My Kingdom to earth. And when, at the disciples’ request, He gave them a basic model of how to pray He included the Mission which you are to carry on as members of His body the Church: “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Mattew 6:10.
Do you take this seriously? How do you bring the Kingdom to the earth? Every time there is a work done that undoes the work the devil has done in someone’s life the Kingdom has touched down on earth. My domain is operating because in My domain there is no illness, pain, death, abuse, shame, guilt, sin, or darkness. In other words, there is no evil. When glory invades the earth, the Kingdom is present. Glory is the exercise of power in love putting an end to evil and producing pure goodness.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16.
When Jesus healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute, those tormented by evil spirits, stopped storms, or multiplied provisions, the people glorified Me. Goodness had shown up, which is My domain, so the Kingdom had touched down on earth.
And He entrusted you with authority to do the same.
“And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Matthew 10:7-8.
Paul identified himself to the Church at Corinth as an apostle of Jesus by pointing out that he had performed miracles, signs, wonders, and works of power among them. 2 Corinthians 12:12. You should be able to say the same of your life as you go about bringing My Kingdom to the earth.
But how do these attesting miracles, signs, wonders, and work of power come as you go about telling the good news of the Kingdom? When My Words are preached and taught, they follow. Faith comes by hearing and miracles are worked and received by faith.
And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the Word by the attesting miracles that followed. Mark 16:20.
And faith works only one way: by love. These works are works of compassion.
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14.
You will not persevere in them without compassion in your heart. My love poured into your heart by the gift of My Holy Spirit. Again, to go forward you need the anointing and all you who believe have the same anointing I gave Jesus.
As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. 1 John 2:27.
Miracles confirm the Word preached and taught. Hear and be healed.
Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all. Luke 6:17-19.
I have put My Words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of My hand to plant the Heavens and establish them upon the earth. Isaiah 51:16; Isaiah 59:21.
Your mouth filled with My Words can accomplish much. It can bring down Kingdom living to earth. Days of Heaven on earth.
“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them as the days of Heaven upon the earth. Deuteronomy 11:18-21.
All this comes through My Word being established by believers in the earth realm. That was the parable of the sower, the first parable told by My Son, the seed of the Word that comes down from Me, from above, planting in your hearts to produce a harvest of the promise in that Word.
But let us return again to the passage from Isaiah that My Son read that day in the synagogue at Nazareth as He began His ministry. I had revealed My Son’s mission to Isaiah and My Son had located Himself in Scripture. And in studying My Word to Isaiah, you will understand why I sent My Son to you.
I sent Him to bring you good news of great joy, Luke 2:10, to set you free, to heal you, and to open your eyes to the truth about who you are in Me. Ultimately, to make reconciliation between us so I could show you favor. I anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.
And this passage is about the year of favor, the year of Jubilee! Leviticus 25:10. I had commanded My people Israel to keep a year of jubilee every fifty years. Leviticus 25:11. In that year all debts were forgiven, those sold into servitude because of their debts were released, and the ancestral land that anyone had sold or lost to their creditors was restored to such person as the rightful owner without payment. Leviticus 25:10-55; Leviticus 27:24.
Jesus announced Jubilee because by His life and sacrificial death your debt to My divine justice for all your sins would be forgiven and wiped out as paid in full, Colossians 2:13-15, and all you lost through sin would be redeemed, bought back, by the precious Blood of My Son.
And the good news is that the year of Jubilee, this year of favor that My Son announced at the beginning of His ministry in Galilee, is still on and will continue until He returns on the Day of the Lord at the end of time. And it can continue because Jesus extends beyond Jubilee, He is also your kinsman redeemer. Job 19:25; Isaiah 59:20. The kinsman redeemer had to be your brother, or closest relative, who had the means with which to pay your debts and restore your property to you that you had lost, and he could do this for you, indeed, was morally obligated to do it for you, even when it was not a year of Jubilee. Leviticus 25:25, 48-49; Ruth 2:20. If you had a kinsman redeemer, however, it was Jubilee for you.
So in that little synagogue in Nazareth the great mission of the Messiah was launched and His theme set. He came to bring you good news, to heal you, to set you free, to wipe out all your sins, and restore you to your rightful dominion authority that Adam had lost. To announce your time of favor from Me. To bring My Kingdom to the earth.
When Jesus left Nazareth and began His ministry some asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” John 1:46. And My answer is “Yes.” And know wherever you are, if you love Me and work for My purposes, Romans 8:28, you too can do great and mighty works with Me. Remember, as we just discussed, My Son told you if you believe you will do the works He did and greater.
And thus, the three wonderful years of My Son’s time on earth as Man began. Finally I was able to be One with the people in Whom I took delight through My Son—My Son could walk the roads, feel the sunshine, embrace children, heal the sick, and experience human life from infancy to maturity. And you could experience My embrace in My Son. I love you and you are precious in My eyes. I stretch out My hands to you all the day and long to put My left hand under your head and embrace you with My right arm. Song of Songs 2:6.
I love you. In the next Life Lesson, let Me take you to look at My message and works as proclaimed and done by My Son, My Word made flesh, so you can verify from Scripture that He is the promised Messiah. And He will come again, but not to take away sins for that was already done, but to bring total redemption to all who are eagerly waiting for Him. And you can be one of them.