The Sheep And The Shepherd (Part The Fifth)

Posted on April 27, 2015by 
Yesterday, I told you that the most important word you need to learn is, “ZOE”! This is the very life and nature of God that was given to us when we were “born from above.” It is given to us the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord! The entire Gospel message is about ZOE!
This life is seen everywhere in the Scriptures. From the very beginning the Bible presents the Tree of Life! The tree of life in the Garden of Eden actually signified the divine life that we receive. It is the uncreated, incorruptible, indestructible, eternal life of God — the ZOE life.
What you may remember is that Yahweh actually gave this tree of life to Adam as food:
“Yahweh Elohim made all the trees grow out of the ground. These trees were nice to look at, and their fruit was good to eat. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew in the middle of the garden” (Genesis 2:9-8)
Now remember, this was before Adam fell and sin entered the picture. Then, in the book of Revelations, you see the tree of life is mentioned again:
“Blessed are those who cleanse their garments [an image of spiritual cleansing] so that they will receive the right and authority to eat the fruit from the tree of life and may enter the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14)
Oh Praise Yahweh! The blood of Christ has washed away our sin so we can be nourished from the tree of life, the eternal life! This was God’s original plan! The fact that the tree of life was mentioned in both the first AND the last books of the Bible shows us that Life, the ZOE life, is a central theme in the Bible! Yahweh wants us to receive His Eternal Life!
Read John 10:10, again. But this time replace the English word, “life,” with the original word, “ZOE“:
“I have come that they may have ZOE and may have ZOE abundantly.”
See what I mean? Christ came so that we could posses and enjoy the Eternal, Divine Life of Yahweh! That’s right! He didn’t come so we could feel good about ourselves; He didn’t come so we could impress our friends and families; He didn’t come so we look more impressive and have big fancy cars. No! He came and sacrificed Himself and endured the pain and shame of the Cross because He wants to share His Divine Life with us! Because we are living by His life, we are able to express Him to those dying and alienated from Yahweh’s fellowship. THIS was His purpose!
The moment we believed into the Lord Jesus Christ, not only did we receive redemption, we also received the Divine Life: ZOE! His Life and Nature was planted into us! We were born again with the very Life of Yahweh! As Peter declared,
“You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God’s everlasting word that can never be destroyed. That’s why Scripture says,
“All people are like grass,
and all their beauty is like a flower of the field.
The grass dries up and the flower drops off, but the word of the Lord lasts forever.”
This word is the Good News that was told to you. This brings us back to God’s original intention for us, which is that we would have His life
Look, the Lord isn’t interested in us becoming more refined and cultivated, in our own life and through our own effort. No, no! He wants His ZOE Life to be implanted — then increased in us! He wants each of us to live by His ZOE life and to live out His ZOE life.
Oh, my friends,we need to quit thinking of our faith as simply what we believe and going to church as another social club we joined. Our belief in the work of Redemption and being “Born Again,” is more than simply Religious terms we throw around. They describe exactly what happened to us! If we could simply understand that we need to live out this Divine, Eternal, ZOE Life, we will quit wasting our time trying to fix our “bios” or our “psuche” lives. We will stop spending our time scanning the “self-help” books and “Dummies Guide to a Better Life.” We will quit trying to fix or improve ourselves. No, we will be able to sit back and remember that Christ came that we may have ZOE, and have it more abundantly!
We need to focus on that Eternal, ZOE Life in our spirit. We need to feed and nourish this ZOE Life by eating and drinking Christ in His Word, spending time with Him in prayer, and experiencing Him day-by-day as our life! As we daily care for this Life within us, the Eternal Life will increase and grow within us, expressing the Glory of our Lord and King! Rejoicing in the Life He has given us!
Nickolas
(I send out messages like this each morning in emails, and if you are interested in receiving them, send me your email address and I will add you to the list: Mail List)
About these ads
This entry was posted in Daily Thoughts, Series: The Sheep and The Shepherd. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply