Exploring Despair in Biblical Narratives

Welcome Prayer Song Silence

I need to go over just a bit to get through the thought – thank you for your patience.

October 5th 2025 Part VII On The Spirit of Man

So we talked about the optional second cycle people might choose to enter into last week after years decades in the Wash Cycle. Many Bible stories feature people who fall into profound despair, proving (showing) that even the most faithful can struggle with anguish and hopelessness amidst all of their supposed knowledge. The setting of the book itself can be unsettling as Job finds himself the subject of an apparent bet between God and the accuser who claims that Job is only righteous because God has blessed him with prosperity and God tells the accuser to have his way with him and without any explanation AT ALL the man loses everything of material value to Him —his wealth, his children, and his health. Initially, Job responds with submission to God's will. However, as his suffering intensifies and his friends accuse him of hidden sin, he falls into a deep lament. He curses the day he was born and wishes for death. In his deep despair, Job grapples with the apparent injustice of his situation and questions “why” God is allowing him to suffer.

Most people can relate to the Story of Job on some level. We live our lives, feel like we deserve our blessings and don’t deserve our trials and live in the balance between. But the story of Job does not end with what a human being might desire, you know, with “God coming to Him at the end of the story, apologizing to him for his losses and suffering, but actually does something quite different – He ostensibly stands Job up in front of Him and we read in the 38th chapter, Job 38:1 Then YAHAVAH answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Then from verse 1 of chapter 38 through chapter 40 God questions Job about his qualifications as a man to question God. And the last chapter of the book (Chapter 42) opens the end of the story with, Job 42:1 Then Job answered YAHAVAH, and said, 2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Elijah's Despair and Encounter

The prophet Elijah experienced a profound case of despair after a major spiritual victory. After defeating the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, the wicked Queen Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah. Overwhelmed and exhausted, Elijah flees into the wilderness and prays for death, declaring, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life". God responds not with condemnation, but with care. An angel provides Elijah with food and water and tells him to rest. Elijah eventually goes to Mount Horeb, where he hears God not in the mighty wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a still, small voice. This encounter restores his purpose and reminds him that he is not alone. But again, and even in the face of having first defeated the prophets of Baal, Job was tired, hopeless and sought death. Elijah, one of the greatest prophets to ever walk the earth – despair, hopelessness and a desire for death.

Jonah's Frustration with Mercy

Interestingly, the story of Jonah tells us about a man who falls into despair because he was frustrated with God's mercy! Isn’t that telling? Its sort of akin to the parable of the prodigal Son and the righteous brother who took umbrage at the fact that his dad celebrated the return of his rebellious brother and was in despair from him extending mercy to him. In the story of Jonah, after refusing to preach to the people of Nineveh, Jonah is swallowed by a large fish. During his time in its belly, he experiences reasonable distress and prays for deliverance. But when the Ninevites he was sent to warn of their impending doom “repent” and God spares them, Jonah becomes angry and hesits outside the city and wishes to die, saying it is better.

The Reality of Despair in the Lives of Servants of God

In a simple illustration of a plant that gives Jonah shade in the hot sun that then unexpectedly dies so it is no longer of use to Him, God teaches Jonah a lesson about compassion by showing him that he had more love and concern over a single plant that granted him shade than for the lives of more than 120,000 people. Through this, Jonah was able to confront his own bitterness, anger, and frankly despair at the goodness of God. The point here is that Jonah’s despair over God’s goodness was a very human reaction.

Then there was Jeremiah, known as the "weeping prophet," he personally experienced intense loneliness, rejection, and emotional torment while delivering God's message to the defiant Nation of Israel. In the Book of Lamentations, he expresses his deep sorrow over Jerusalem's destruction, and the man of God says, "My strength and my hope have perished from YAHAVAH” and he goes on to describe feeling besieged by bitterness, isolated in darkness, and as though God had shut out his prayers.

Jeremiah’s experience helps show us the reality of despair and darkness in the life of devout servants of God and how our human existence is not impervious to such depths of hopelessness. Jeremiah comes to a renewed hope by remembering God's steadfast love and faithfulness, even in the midst of devastating circumstances – illustrating that we too, in the midst of our dark places we have an out – to leap in faith to Him we are not fully understanding but to whom we “re-surrender” ourselves over to until our broken hearts and lives are restored by the power of His Son’s resurrection from the dead.

Personal Reflections on Despair and Resurrender

I cannot tell you all how many times over the course of my walk with Christ where I have had to get into the dirt with my own soul and lay face down before my Maker seeking to be lifted up from such depths. It is an interesting event because the solution, as we will see, is NEVER EVER from our flesh – that only leads to more despair. Not it always lifts and we re-engage with the Divine when in the midst of our despair and hopelessness we resubmit ourselves (from the heart) to Him – wholly. But more on this later.

Then there was King David, who, in many of the Psalms attributed to him David expresses profound feelings of despair, loneliness, and abandonment. King David! In Psalms 13 and 42, he cries out to God, asking, "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? ... Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?" David's songs show his inner turmoil over his own sin and the pursuit of his enemies on his well-being. He describes weeping so much that his bed is flooded with tears. Despite his feelings of distress, David consistently returns to a position of trust and praise, reminding himself to put his hope in God.

Hope in Despair

Hope in the Living God in the face of personal despair is one of the most difficult things a person can do – but herein lies a little secret – there does not seem to be ANY OTHER response that will bring about the same effect. Anger, bitterness, revenge, reasoning, logic, systematic theology, fasting, giving all we have to the poor are all responses from the flesh and therefore produce more of the flesh and are not the go to, friends. The go-to is not our friends (as in the case of Job's friends) nor our Nation or people at church (as in the case of Jeremiah).

The answer is resurrendering ourselves to Him directly and alone – abjectly, resolutely, utterly. Too much? It seems like it in those moments of despair but once you have chosen to resurrender to Him alone, the load will lighten, you will be restored to the place where you have always been - as a created, limited, sinful creation of the living God who defies any real comprehension. This is the leap of faith.

But the coup de grace, the overwhelming illustration of hopelessness, despair, and what can only be seen as the biggest X factor in human history comes to us from the life of God’s only Son, Yeshua of Nazareth. It's important to take careful note of the surroundings of these events in the mortal life of Christ. We remember that the first moment of real despair occurred for our King in a place called, Gethsemane. The night before his crucifixion, the scripture says that Yeshua is for him to die than to live.

The Moment of Insufferable Choice

"overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." He prays to his Father, asking if there is any other way to avoid the coming suffering. Luke's Gospel notes that his anguish was so great that his sweat was like drops of blood. This was a moment of insufferable choice that He was making – to follow His own will (that of a sentient human being) or that of His Father. Once the decision was made, He was equipped to continue forward in the complete will of His father, and did what the writer of Hebrews described in the following way saying in Hebrew 12:2

Looking unto Yeshua the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Prophetic Description of the Messiah

Isaiah described the coming Messiah prophetically in the following way, saying, Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and YAHAVAH hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased YAHAVAH to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of YAHAVAH shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

The Cry of Desolation

We could stop here and feel relief but the most significant moment of despair and desperation, the Biggest X factor to me, occurs when the One and only sinless one, when the obedient One, the Light that was come into the world, the Word made flesh, the very pure and perfect Lord and Savior, while in the midst of His suffering literally and actually cried out from the physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological devastation of the cross and asked, “Why have you forsaken me?” (long beat) I mean, how can we make sense of this when we have trained and taught ourselves that God is good, kind, caring, gentle, compassionate, just and trustworthy? That He would respond to His own Son in the moment of His incomprehensible pain, and suffering, with silence, despair, destitution and feeling wholly alone in the universe He came to save? (beat) If this life is a proving ground for lost, weak and fleshly people can we really expect any other result from Him in the face of our growth and walk? I don’t think so.

I tend to believe and agree with the writer of Hebrews who wrote in chapter 11 about all the faithful saints in the Old Testament that suffered immeasurably in their lives opens chapter 12 with the following, Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him.

Spiritual Trials and Chastening

Endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.

The Leap of Faith

In some eras, even out to today, some believers have suffered incomprehensible physical trials. Today, our trial may be physical but they are profoundly spiritual, where each disciple chooses to submit themselves – their own mind, will and emotions up and over to the Living God in the face of despair or to walk in bitterness, anger or ruinous despair. It is here were we, in agreement with Kierkegaard and Shestov, with Dostoevsky, with William of Ockam, with Luther, and will millions of others, release our will and wisdom over and in the very agony of human despair we abandon our logic and reason and leap to Him alone.

In the first Wash Cycle of the Four L’s, there is a leap of faith also involved. It is when we come to realize that our lives are hollow and nearly void that we make the leap to humble ourselves, and pursue Light, Learning, Love and ultimately liberty. But that leap, while in the name of the exact same faith, is based in relative ignorance of things. So while the will is also being surrendered then and in the Second Cycle, the rinse cycle leap of faith is based on letting all of our so-called learning go as nothing more than limited raw materials about the God we love and in that love alone, rinsed of all presupposition and human logic, we choose to look to Him and Him alone, even if we too are hanging on the brutal question of, “why?” The pain of losing a loved one – especially a child, a spouse, a sibling, or someone we love dearly is incomprehensible to our ideals. We cannot help but think of things in this world based off human mechanisms – it's understandable.

Developing Spiritual Perspicuity

Having made a leap of faith in the face of personal spiritual despair and rising all the logic and learning we have done that proves itself over and over to be limited in scope and breath relative to this life and our ideas about God, we might find this phase of our respective walks opening us up to a new phase of personal development. We call this phase or opportunity, the time to Develop Spiritual Perspicuity. The English word perspicuity comes from the Latin word perspicuitās which means, "transparency" or "lucidity". Therefore, perspicuity refers to something that can be "seen through" or understood clearly. What are we talking about here in this section of the Four Traits – we are talking about the subtle but present idea of knowing beyond knowing by seeing clearly beyond all obscurities in the Spirit what is the wisdom and Knowledge of God or what is essentially, what the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ brings to any and all that seek it.

The Model of Christ's Life

One of the first things to try and identify is the model of Christ’s life from which we can discern some important principles. We might liken His birth into the world like our respective births in this age of fulfillment where all human beings are born in flesh with a soul composed of mind will and emotions. Yes, Yeshua of Nazareth had a personal human will, and all the other elements of the human soul working within Him and frankly, in opposition to all that His Father asked.

The first insight we have into His mortal life might be seen in Luke 2 where after Yeshua disappeared from his caravan and was found in the temple we read, Luke 2:51-52 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. And His early life was spent learning, as Hebrews 5:8-9 says of Him Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Or when Paul succinctly wrote to the believers at Philippi the following, Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Mortal Life of the Messiah

I want to dive a bit deeper with you here, since we are seeking spiritual perspicuity, and suggest that in His Mortal life – from His physical birth to His physical death – the mortal Messiah and all He learned, said, did and overcame – was certainly for the world but indirectly, because it was first to His own brethren – the Jews, members of the Nation of Israel under the Law. Quite frankly, His life teachings and mortal ministry was directly and specifically to them, under the Law, to show them how to live according to that established environment but secondly, His mortal life was emblematic of our walk in the Four L’s for it was when He lived as a Man, sought light, learned obedience through the things He suffered, loved like no other (putting others first, and loved the worlds selflessly, sacrificially and insufferably) and finally entering into total incomprehensible Liberty.

Embracing the Four L Cycle

When did that happen? Only once He died to that natural flesh, and proved to have died to His will, ways, emotions and mind living only to the will and ways of His Father. The fact of the matter is, shockingly and frankly, when He called people to follow Him in His mortal life during His mortal mission, it was specifically to His own, who lived under the Law, and so to try and pursue such a life, to try and walk in His mortal footsteps is a misnomer and a miscalculation on our part today. We can see and understand this when we read about Him teaching and sharing ideas and insights with the people of His day and a non-Jew would struggle to genuinely understand in this day and age. The point is, harsh and as oppositional as it may sound, is for us to follow in the footsteps of His mortal life where He suffered, struggled, was tempted in all things then was taken by His own, tormented and put through conditions none of us could endure is to miss the point of following Him today. That type of following, if you will, is occurring in the four L cycle we choose to embrace as a means to mature – just like Christ matured in the same way. But as long as we are in that cycle, as long as we are washing away our natural mind, will and emotion, as long as we are trying to avoid sin, temptation and our flesh, we are ostensibly living and thinking like...

The Mortal and Resurrected Messiah

the mortal Messiah – a being who primarily came lived and died according to the environment of life under the Law. In other words, to follow the Gospel Yeshua is an act of the living flesh and will, it is religious, it is predicated on following “the mortal example” the material example of His existence which was not for not too us. Therefore, to pursue and devote ourselves to the mortal Messiah genuinely is an expression of learning to die, learning to allow, learning to suffer against the vissititudes of this world, this life, this flesh – with the end result always ending in despair, death, suffering. This is not to diminish the Mortal Life of Christ in the least. The principles, when embraced by His Spirit are invaluable – invaluable but always lead to death, pain, and suffering.

Having said this, do not mistake the importance of maturing in and through Him – just know that the end goal is not death and despair – that was the end result of material life, material religion, material law – and as long as we hold ourselves up to that standard we will struggle, fail, and wind up somewhere along the way asking God, Why? We will forever be engaged in the war of opposition – of surrendering our fleshly will and ways over, failing, repenting in His name, pleading to have the strength to be like Him, and sometimes even giving up because the reality is – we can’t do it and we never will – not as materially minded souls. So while we remain ever enticed by the mortal life and teachings of the Man, even to the point of wanting to emulate His mortal life in our own, we are frankly focused on the wrong template.

The Template for Mature Believers

What is our template as matured believers? The risen, resurrected God Man – the one who victoriously overcame all things on our behalf in and through His Mortal life, through the faith and love He possessed which we never will, and which was specifically for His own, which we are not, BUT we walk and live by and through the POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION not His struggling suffering flesh. So, to make it clear – the very birth and life in his flesh was to show His own how to live according to God under the Law – to fulfill it yet without Sin, so as to ultimately offer Himself up as a sacrifice for sin on behalf of His brethren and ultimately the world.

Religion teaches people to follow the Mortal Messiah. The word recites and repeats His moral teachings and ways and we believe that this is what it means to be His. It’s not contextual, possible or true. But it is what causes people who fear God and want to live well and want to go to heaven to focus on – “what He said and did in the context of His very particular and purposeful mortality and the mission to offer Himself up to the world as both an example to His brethren under the law and a universal payment for sin.

Insights After Resurrection

But pay careful attention to the following instructive and contextual insights mentioned in the text after His resurrection. Let’s start with something Paul wrote in Titus chapter 1: Certainly, there are major issues all around us with social situations, personal injustices, addictions, struggles and sadness but I tend to agree with Paul who wrote in Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. What this seems to suggest is we are the judge and jury of what we allow and do in our lives – no one and nothing else unless we break the laws of the land in which we live. That – and this is important – but that as disciples and followers of Christ, who cleansed us of all sin and by faith are deemed pure, “all things are pure.” How could this be? Because through Him, the resurrected Christ, the sin and the sin nature of humanity is removed and those who look to Him in faith are in fact, pure. “To the pure,” Paul says, “all things are pure.” And this seems to suggest that we are personally the judge and jury of everything and if we find something impure, as a follower of Christ who has made us pure, we are still choosing to assess it through limited human means. In other words, when and if a believer truly walks

New Identity in the Risen Christ

In the Spirit of Christ in this life, they are liberated from the impurities of it all around them just as the risen Christ was when He rose from the grave. What could tempt the risen Lord? Not His flesh. It was put to death for us. And certainly not His mind, will or emotions – they were new, raised from the dead and truly alive. Friends, religion keeps us in the state of “pure and impure” living – it tells us what is evil and what is good. But walking in the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ gives all people the living, inward ability to see all things, all people, all events as pure, and to therefore love them despite the things that hold them captive and bound.

Paul ends chapter five of Romans, after talking about sin and the Law he says, Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In this passage Paul speaks of sin reigning unto death – that speaks to the death of Christ my friends. Then looking to Romans 6 listen carefully to the words Paul uses when continues with his thought there, saying,

Walking in Newness of Life

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Now listen – Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

What we are talking about here, folks is our new identity in the Risen Christ, not our religious identity in the mortal Christ nor in our former Identity in bodies of corrupt flesh. These identities are clearly associated by the post resurrection apostle Paul with the resurrected Lord, you know, the one who OVER came all temptation, the one who fulfilled the Law given Moses, the One who did not sin, the one who died for the world. If He had not had the victory over all those mortal things, as proven by BOTH his resurrection, His ascension and His promised return to those who received His Messiahship, then we ought to be following Him after the mortal model until His victory is won. But because we conclude that He has had the victory, we cannot reasonably pursue discipleship by reading and committing to His nascent human walk as a mortal.

Freed from Sin

Our entire being, our mind, our will, our emotions and our hearts are turned over to the power of what raised Him from His former life to the eternal life abiding in Him as a result as Paul adds at verse 5, Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: That was for them then – who were waiting on His return to participate in “the likeness of His resurrection” But this fact does not change the teaching that Paul is giving to them as he adds 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. In our new identity, walking in the power of the resurrected Christ, there is no room for trying to live by the former man or woman, no room to be tempted in all things.

That day and age was tied to our infancy as believers, when we were, like Christ in His mortal life, “learning obedience through the things we suffer.” But Paul is trying to bring these believers at Rome to another place, and so he says, 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. Herein lies the mindset of all who believe – Just as Christ died once and He will never die again, we too, if we died with Him, presently live with Him, by the power of His resurrection and not in the struggle of His learning, struggling and overcoming temptation as Paul continues and says, 10 For in that he died, he died

Spiritual Freedom Through Christ

unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is only one way to reckon ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin and that is to consider ourselves alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” listen – and to be dead to the Law – which the Gospels are all about Him fulfilling! We can say this because we know (listen) we know that “By the Law is the Knowledge of Sin.” When we read and try to follow the Christ of the Gospels we are almost literally following and trying to keep the same Law that Christ came and fulfilled. This absolutely MISSES that mark of what being a disciple of Christ is all about.

The Law and the Spirit

The Gospels tell us the story of what He faced, and how he responded as a Jew to the Law but that has no bearing on us as we are not under the law. So show me a church than teaches the red-letters of the Gospels and uses them to govern each other and I will show you one thing – a group of religious people focused on following the Mortal Messiah who did not come to them nor address them rather than the resurrected one who did. It’s not that the Mortal Messiah was ever wrong - never – and the principles taught and found in the Gospels serve to make us all sinners when or if we seek to follow them. But the gospel focus on how to live, act and be comes from the Spirit of the Risen Christ, as that is who was victorious OVER sin and death, and not on the mortal Christ who had a very different aim, purpose and intention in his humanity.

Can you hear it? Do you see it clearly? To see it is the beginning of what I call, Spiritual perspicuity. To see it is to let go of the former models of Christianity, the religious models, and to begin to be absolutely free in Him now by allowing the wholly unencumbered RISEN Lord to reign over you – from the heart. But Paul does not stop there but adds

Living Under Grace

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. The key to that passage is found in the world “reign” as the Greek, written in present active indicative means, “don’t let sin continue to reign over you like it once did.” That word reign is a derivative of the Greek word, “kingdom,” meaning a reign like a king over you, where all we did, said and thought was governed by our sin nature our former woman or man. Paul adds, 13 Neither “yield” ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but “yield” yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. The term yield is akin to saying, “surrender over, walk side by side or hand in hand with – and we can see that to walk in the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ is an act NOT OF THE WILL but an act of surrendering over to, walking hand in hand with – something that is really only possible (in my estimation) when we choose to allow God to rule over us rather than our former man or woman.

Paul says to those believers in that day something I plead for you to try and understand – ready? He says 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. So, here’s a clarifying question for you – What Laws was the mortal Messiah under in His mortal life and What Laws was the resurrected Christ under after He overcame it all? Speaking to the former, Paul says that the Mortal Messiah was born under the Law – so He was literally under it all – proving that His mortal life, as depicted in the Gospels, was addressing a very different audience than the world at large and that He acted and said things particularly and specific to them/then. Of course, the principles of His teachings are true but the question is do we walk in that Spirit or By the Spirit of the Risen Christ? And I think that it is very safe to say that as a victorious resurrected being He was under no laws at all – making Him both sinless, and free and

Living in the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ

Alive in the most sublime sense of the word. I am not going to read the rest because it tends to slip away from the point but suffice it to say in this age of fulfillment, His true matured disciples actually and literally walk in the power of the Resurrected Christ, and not by the flesh, not according to law, not even to the teachings and trials of the Mortal Messiah, but when we have made the choice to die with Him (because He did not remain in the grave), and so we also are raised with Him and to walk in the power of that victorious model – and no other. The real power, the real fruit – meaning the best, sweetest, purest fruit we could and will ever offer up to God with our lives comes not from religion, not from the flesh, and not by obedience to Law (which only makes us sinners) but to be dead to the law and to actually choose to walk in the newness of His resurrection.

Understanding Our Relationship with Christ

For those in that day, they were to actually be married to Christ. Did you know that! Listen to what Paul writes now in chapter 7 as he says, Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Then to chapter 8 where Paul adds the most clarifying statement, saying, Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Yeshua from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. I commend you all to seek and allow the Spirit of the Risen Christ to reign over you from the heart.

Spiritual Perspictuity

I encourage you to let go of all religious affiliation, get bold and walk straight into the throne room of God, just as His resurrected Son had the right to do the same, and after or while seeking light, and learning of Him, and loving as He commanded and walking in the total liberty of being a child of the living God you will identify more and more with the Risen Lord, literally letting Him live through you and to then walk in what scripture describes as NEWNESS OF LIFE. Turning to Ephesians 3 we get an introduction to what walking in the Spirit of the Resurrected Christ looks like as we develop a stronger and stronger sense of possessing what I am calling, Spiritual Perspictuity. Ready? Listen closely to the words Paul writes even to them then, saying Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; (did you catch that? And now he explains the mystery, saying) 6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift

The Grace of God

of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

“The unsearchable riches of Christ.”

Conclusion

We will embark on this next phase in our maturation in our final part next week.

Questions/Comments Prayer