LENTEN MEDITATION 37 ~~~ KEEP CUTTING !

LENTEN MEDITATION 37 ~~~ Keep Cutting !
For the Year of Our LORD, 3.13.2008



Let us hear the Word of The LORD JESUS CHRIST once more:


And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off:
it is better for thee to enter halt into life,

than having two feet to be cast into hell [Gehenna, Gk.]
the fire that never shall be quenched:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out:

it is better for thee
to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye,
than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

For every one shall be salted with fire,
and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

Salt is good:
but if the salt have lost his saltness,
wherewith will ye season it?
Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Mark 9:45-50

Have you ever wondered why The LORD gave the explicit instruction to the Israelites concerning who could NOT serve in the Tabernacle/Temple worship? In Leviticus 21:16-24, The LORD instructed Moses that no-one with any bodily infirmity or handicap could officiate in the Tabernacle or Temple worship. That man could not offer the sacrifices, nor the bread, nor enter into the Veil, nor come nigh the altar. He could, however, eat of the bread.


Now we know the GOD of all compassion and mercy would never discriminate against persons who were handicapped or limited in body or mind. Indeed, HE+ is of tender compassion with those who are encased in such prisons within their bodies. HE+ promises His+ children wholeness of mind and body, upon Resurrection, if they enter into His+ Covenant through The LORD JESUS CHRIST.

But why would HE disallow those handicapped persons (Israelites who were already in His Covenant) to officiate in worship ceremonies, to perform them before all the people? Did HE think the worship service would be too marred by someone who stuttered or who moved with a limp or whose crippled arm couldn’t handle the sacrifices rightly? NO.


Let us remember here what GOD, the GOD of hope, told Moses: See that you do everything exactly As I have told you. It was to be done with strict exactness because it was a pattern of things in the Heavenlies. [See Hebrews 8:5 and Exodus 25:40].


In the Heavenly Kingdom, there are no handicaps, no lameness, no bodily limitations of form nor mind. The pattern was established to bring forth hope of the coming promise, the coming kingdom, in which there will be NO HANDICAPS !

Thus, when the handicapped person saw the worship service done by persons who were “whole,” they could take heart that some day… yes, GOD is faithful… some day they too would be whole. That day was a day of hope for them. The pattern of things to come was intentionally set before them.

This is why Our LORD said, “ It is better to enter into life halt or maimed or having only one eye,” than to practice sin and miss Eternal Life in the Kingdom of GOD. Once we enter into Life in the Kingdom of GOD, the Resurrection, there will be no handicaps. Our severed hand or foot and our missing eye will be restored in His+ Kingdom.

However, if we continue to practice sin, we will enter into Gehenna, even having all our body intact; our whole bodies, souls, and minds… with which we practiced sin… will do us no good in Gehenna, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.


Dear Gracious and Life-Giving Heavenly FATHER,
I come to THEE this day with the burning desire to cease from all sin, all Self-centeredness, all thoughts unworthy of Thy SON JESUS CHRIST. Help me to move from Self-indulgence to a life centered upon pleasing THEE. I Thank THEE for the hope of Eternal Life through Thy Beloved SON, the worthy Lamb of GOD, Who taketh away the sins of all the repentant, both handicapped and whole alike. LORD, let me never, ever out-live my love for THEE.

This I pray, in the name of The FATHER, of The SON, and of The HOLY SPIRIT, both now and forever.
Amen
+ + +.