Participating in His Body and Blood (audio)

 We should never underestimate God, because He is GOD! He is LORD of all, and only in Him will we ever find true rest and peace.

Man may vacillate, man may prevaricate, but:

“I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6).

Nations may come, nations may go, but:

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 33:12).

Psalm 37. In times of trouble we can rest in the LORD and know that He will be our refuge as we wait patiently for Him.

Psalm 37:7 (KJV):

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

After the death of Joshua and before the ministry of Samuel, Israel entered a period of troubled times where they forsook the LORD their God and “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). It was during this turbulent period in Israel’s history that God sent forth a series of judges to set things right and turn people from their evil ways to rest in the LORD, each time restoring rest in the land. The Book of Judges is the record of the judges’ repeated interventions on behalf of God’s people.

The judges in the Book of Judges were not like the ones we know in our modern society. The Hebrew word for “judge”( שּׁ֗פתֶ†shophet) means “to put right and then rule” or “to bring matters to the rule of right”. As God’s emissaries to the people, the judges, each in their own time, fulfilled a specific godly mission and walked with the power and the spirit of God to lead God’s people to victory over their enemies.

Four of these deliverers are specifically alluded to in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:32a,33,34:

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, [These are the only ones we’ll cover, since these are the four mentioned in Judges]…

who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

What enabled these men to overcome when the circumstances all seemed stacked against them? Faith! When they received a commission from the LORD, they banished doubt and jumped into the fray believing God, knowing it was the LORD Himself who went forth with them in the struggle. They acknowledged God’s Lordship and trusted in Him with their whole heart, and not in their own strength. In a word, they were “all in.”

They understood the truth of Psalm 127.

Psalm 127:1:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Let’s take a look at each one of these men and see how the LORD God restored rest to the land when His people turned from idols back to Him as LORD, and rested in Him.

Gideon’s Faith

Judges 6. In the time of Gideon, Israel was oppressed by Midian. Israel was so overpowered that they had to hide out in mountain caves and dens after planting their crops in the fertile lowlands. Midian would then sweep in and lay the land waste, devouring the produce before Israel could and then herding away all their livestock. It was at that point that Israel reached a turning point and directed their heart’s cry for help to the LORD Himself. Then God sent a prophet to tell them:

Judges 6:10:

.. ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

After this, the LORD sent His angel to Gideon to tell him that He would be with him.

Judges 6:12,14-16:

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”…

And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

The answer to all Gideon’s questions was “I will be with you.” So many times in life, the answer to all our misgivings is to acknowledge Him as LORD and to trust, not in our own might but in His. If the LORD is with us, who can be against us?

Gideon took heart and went forth, gathering 300 men, dividing them into 3 separate companies, and providing them each with a trumpet and an empty jar with a torch inside.

Trumpets, jars and torches are not battle array—unless the Lord is watching the city. God had promised Gideon that he would strike the Midianites as one man. To do that, he and his troops would all have to act in unison, following God’s instructions.

Gideon instructed them that after surrounding the outskirts of the camp in the middle of the night, they would blow the trumpets, smash the jars, and with torches in hand cry out “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” When they did this, the enemy were frightened to death; and in the confusion of the night, all began attacking each other as they fled to the point where only 15,000 of the original 120,000 were left. Then Gideon and his troop of 300 went on to finish the remnant off. What an incredible display of strength for such a tiny contingent! 

But even though they had vanquished the enemy, Gideon’s work was not over. He still needed to remind them who their true Ruler was.

Judges 8:22,23:

Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”

Israel must have believed Gideon, for the record later states that the country was in quietness forty years under Gideon. Seven years of oppression followed by forty years of rest—what great deliverance!

When we as one man acknowledge God as our Ruler and worship Him, there is rest in the LORD in the land.

Deborah’s and Barak’s Faith

Judges 4. Deborah and Barak were a formidable team, believing God together. Deborah was a prophetess who judged Israel; Barak was a believing army commander.

The Canaanites had cruelly oppressed Israel for twenty years. 

When Israel repented of their idolatry and cried out to the LORD for help, God raised up the judge Deborah to set things right again.

Judges 4:4,5:

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Deborah was fearless, so God spoke to Deborah to get the ball rolling. Acting on God’s guidance, she exhorted Barak to rise up and act on what God had already told him.

Judges 4:6,7:

She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedeshnaphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun.

And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army [the king of the Canaanites], to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?

How would you like to receive that commission as a commander?

• Organize your troops

• I (the LORD) will draw out the enemy and his hosts

• I (the LORD) will give him into your hand

Sounds like guaranteed success to me, simply by following orders!

Judges 4:14-16:

And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him.

And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot.

And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Haroshethhagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

What an incredible victory! Not a man left in the army of the enemy. Deborah and Barak rejoiced in the LORD with a victory song.

Judges 5:1-3:

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day: 

“That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord!

“Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; to the Lord I will sing; I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Judges 5:12:

Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song:

arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

Judges 5:31:

“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!

But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”

And the land had rest for forty years.

From twenty (20) years of oppression to forty (40) years of rest—what a time of refreshing they enjoyed!

Darkness falls when men forsake the Lord. The sun rises again when we turn our faces to Him. May we go in the might of His Light! That will truly be a new day for us and for our nations.

God has not changed. God’s will for His people is still that there be rest in the LORD in the land.

Samson’s Faith

Judges 13. Even in the most desperate of times, God is not constrained in raising up deliverers for His people. The name “Samson” means “little sun.” Samson would be a sunrise for Israel.

Israel had been under the yoke of Philistine oppressors for forty years. Samson’s mother was barren, but in these dire circumstances the angel of the LORD promised her she would bear a son who would save Israel. She was to dedicate him at birth to be set apart to God for life.

Judges 13:5:

for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

A Nazirite was a man or woman consecrated to the service of God by asolemn vow of separation. In an ordinary vow, you might dedicate amaterial possession to God. If you took the Nazirite vow, you were consecrating your entire self to God’s service.

Having been dedicated as a Nazirite by his parents, Samson was to be one separated to God his entire life. As the young Samson reached maturity, the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him. 

Later when he told his parents that he wanted to marry a Philistine woman, they didn’t understand why. But God was behind it.

Judges 14:4:

His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

After a series of aggravated conflicts between Samson and the Philistines, they captured his wife and her father and burned them alive. As if that wasn’t enough, they raided Judah and demanded to have Samson delivered to them in bonds. At that point the men of Judah weren’t much help.

Judges 15:11:

Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”

The men of Judah had resigned themselves to the idea that the Philistines were rulers over them. They had forgotten Gideon’s words: “The Lord will be Ruler over you.”

Samson knew better. He allowed them to deliver him up in bonds to the enemy, but that would not be the end of the story.

Judges 15:14-17:

... Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.

And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.

And Samson said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.”

As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi [meaning, “the hill of the jawbone”].

How could any one man strike down a thousand? Only by faith— believing God. Samson believed God, no holds barred.

We too can vanquish our enemies when we recognize the one true God as the Source of all our strength.

Samson judged Israel 20 years. Israel again came to the realizationthat only the LORD could rule over them. When God’s people turned back to Him in earnest, there was rest in the LORD in the land.

Jephthah’s Faith

Judges 11. Jephthah judged Israel when they were severely distressed by the Ammonites, who had oppressed them for eighteen years. 

Though a mighty warrior, Jephthah was the son of a prostitute and thus ostracized in his early years. But when Israel needed a deliverer, they turned to Jephthah. He agreed to be their head if the LORD would give the Ammonites over to him.

You’d never know about Jephthah’s previous rejection in Israel from the way he went on to deal with the enemies of God’s people. When they accused Israel of being the aggressors, he responded in no uncertain terms that the LORD was the one and only true Judge.

Judges 11:23,24,27:

So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you [Amorites] to take possession of them?

Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess…

I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.”

Judges 11:29-31:

Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah,…

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 

then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

The Hebrew word translated “burnt offering” is ע֗לחָ†‘olah. What sets this particular sacrifice apart from others is not that it was burned with fire, since many offerings were partially roasted and then eaten. The distinguishing factor of the ‘olah was that of all the sacrifices, it was the only one wholly burned — completely consumed. What made it distinctive was not the burning, but the giving in entirety. The whole animal was brought up to the altar and offered as a gift to the LORD.

Like the other judges we have been studying, Jephthah was able to deliver God’s people because he gave his whole heart to the LORD. That is why he made such a vow.

Judges 11:32,34,35:

So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand…

Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”

Jephthah was distressed at the thought of dedicating his only daughter to a life of perpetual virginity in service to the LORD, since this would ultimately result in him not having a posterity left to his name. But, wonderful young woman that she was, she understood the commitment her father had made.

Judges 11:36,37,38:

And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.”

So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.”

So he said, “Go.”…

Jephthah did not offer his daughter as an offering to be burnt alive on the altar, for God had clearly instructed Israel in the law that human sacrifice was an abomination. In contrast, she dedicated her whole life in service to the LORD, and that was the whole (or burnt) offering.

Thanks to the commitment of Jephthah and his household, there was rest in the LORD in the land.

Faith Recap

We have seen a cycle in the Book of Judges: Israel would fall back into idolatry, fall into oppression, cry to God for help, and finally believe and follow a deliverer sent by God. 

In each instance, a single man or woman instigated the deliverance.

Each of these judges did two things:

1. They acknowledged God’s Lordship in their lives, and;

2. They believed God. That is what faith is.

All their incredible feats were accomplished through faith.

• Gideon knew and acknowledged God as Ruler over all and acted in concert with the people on his conviction that God had given the enemy into their hand.

• Deborah knew and acknowledged that the Lord went out before Israel and would give the enemy into their hand. She boldly exhorted Barak to lead the army of Israel to victory.

• The victory won, Deborah and Barak celebrated in song that the leaders had taken the lead and led captivity captive, and that the people had offered themselves willingly to the LORD.

• Samson, consecrated to be given to the LORD for lifelong service, did not hold back when the spirit of God stirred him. Time after time, he went forth in combat triumphant, with strength the likes of which no one had ever before seen.

• Jephthah knew and acknowledged God as the One and Only Judge of mankind, refusing to bow in the face of the enemy’s accusations. He and his house were prepared to do whatever it took to dedicate their whole lives in service to the LORD. 

When they took a stand, there was rest in the LORD in the land.

The Faith of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ acknowledged the Lordship of His Father like no other man has ever done. He also believed God to the uttermost. That is the essence of the faith displayed by Jesus Christ. 

Knowing this, we can better understand why John 2:17 says of him: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” It’s because Jesus Christ gave his everything, his all in all. His entire life was a whole offering to God.

No other whole offering could ever compare to the one made by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in giving his life for us all on the cross. He died for us so that we could live and not die for God. Today we can present ourselves to God, not as dead, but as living sacrifices.

Romans 12:1-3:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

The measure of faith that is ours today is the faith of Jesus Christ. When we reject fear and idolatry and found our lives on the bedrock of the accomplished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be equal to any challenge. What an unfathomable gift!

As we believe and walk out on the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and honor our God and Father with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, there can be rest in the LORD in the land in our time.

May that day be TODAY, bless God!

 When God made the human body, He knew that He would one day make Christ the head of the body, the Church.

Ephesians 1:22,23:

And he [God] put all things under his [Christ’s] feet and gave him [Christ] as head over all things to the church, which is his [Christ’s] body, the fullness of him [God] who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:18a:

And he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church.

God also knew that He would make us members of that body.

1 Corinthians 12:12,13:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

The bedrock organizing principle of the one body is unity: one body and one head, functioning as one under one God.

Ephesians 4:4,5:

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

1 Corinthians 11:3:

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ,… and the head of Christ is God.

The unity of the one body is enriched by its diversity: one body, yet many members.

1 Corinthians 12:18, 20 and 27:

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Each of us as an individual has unique contributions to make to the whole. We don’t see ourselves in isolation; we appreciate the handiwork of God in arranging us in the body both individually and collectively, the way He chose.

Colossians offers tremendous insight into the way this beautiful unity and diversity are designed to work together in the one body.

Colossians 2:19:

and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Unity comes first; diversity, second.

• First, we are to hold fast to the head, from whom the whole body grows.

• Second, we are to be nourished and knit together with our fellow members in the body.

When we hold fast to Christ who is the head, and are knit together in love with our fellow members, the outcome is growth that is from God. 

So why are the members referred to in this verse as “joints and ligaments”? Exactly what do these terms mean from a practical point of view?

• A “joint” (Greek haphē) is a juncture by which the different members of the body are connected.

• A “ligament” (Greek sundesmos) is a band or bond which binds together.

Within the human body, joints and ligaments are specific anatomical structures which work in tandem to connect one body part to another. A joint is a juncture where two or more bones come together; a ligament is a band connecting one bone with another.

In Colossians 2:19, however, it is clear that the emphasis is on the connection, not just of one body part to another, but on the connection of all the body parts to the head.

In keeping with an emphasis on that connection to the head, some translators have chosen to render the Greek terms with a broader sense, emphasizing the generic meanings (“junctures” and “bands”) over the specific (“joints” and “ligaments”).

Weymouth’s translation in particular is enlightening.

Colossians 2:19 (Weymouth):

Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact [Greek haphē, junctures] and its connections [Greek sundesmos, bonds], grows with a divine growth.

The whole body is to be nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and by its connections. This translation paints a more expansive picture of the interactions involved in holding fast to the head.

The body has many connecting parts (not just joints and ligaments), and they are all connected one way or another with the head. The various parts are nourished and knit together by interacting with one another, and they grow by staying connected with the head.

The lesson is simple: in the body, we must stay connected:

• First, to the head; and

• Second, to each other.

On an anatomical level, the primacy of the head within the human body is indisputable. No matter what bodily functions and systems you examine, it seems that the head always ends up as the point of origin, even if it’s not apparently so at first blush.

Take, for example, the five senses. With what members of the body do we register our sensory inputs?

SIGHT    HEARING    SMELL    TASTE    TOUCH

Eyes       Ears             Nose       Tongue   Skin

Where are the eyes, ears, nose and tongue located? The head! In and of itself, isn’t that an astonishing thing to consider? God put all the perceptual organs by which we learn anything in a single place – our head. Surely, He had a purpose in doing so. (After all, the brain is right there to process and interpret all the sensory information that we gather through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.)

Now, studying this from yet another vantage point, let’s explore how the head occupies first place in both the infrastructure and the energy systems of the human body.

THE HUMAN BODY

INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS

Skeletal System

Skull houses brain

• Brain coordinates all body’s functions

• Cerebrum controls learning, reasoning and speech, plus the senses (especially sight and hearing)

Muscular System

Brain houses cerebellum

• Cerebellum coordinates movement

Cardiovascular (Circulatory) System

Brain houses brain stem

• Brain stem coordinates delivery of energy (oxygen, nutrients) and defense agents (white blood cells)

Nervous System

Brain and spinal cord house nerves

• Nerves transmit information and coordinate bodily function

ENERGY SYSTEMS

Respiratory System

Head houses nose, neck houses windpipe

• Throat takes in life-giving air and passes it to the lungs, which extract the oxygen and expel the carbon dioxide

Digestive System

Head houses mouth, neck houses food pipe

• Esophagus takes in food and passes it to other organs, which convert it into fuel so that nutrients are absorbed and waste is expelled

Well, it looks like you could safely say that the key aspects of our skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, nervous, respiratory and digestive systems are all first initiated by the head. There is simply no contest when it comes to deciding which part of the physical body fulfills the headship role. Heads down, it’s the head!

Because Christ is the head, it is our heart’s desire to grow up into union with him. Ephesians 4 states this beautifully.

Ephesians 4:15,16 (Weymouth):

But we shall lovingly hold to the truth, and shall in all respects grow up into union with Him who is our Head, even Christ.

Dependent on Him, the whole body — its various parts closely fitting and firmly adhering to one another — grows by the aid of every contributory link [Greek haphē, juncture or point of contact], with power proportioned to the need of each individual part, so as to build itself up in a spirit of love.

Growing up into union with him (our head, Christ) is what it’s all about. Peace and love are the bonds that knit us together.

Ephesians 4:1-3:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond [Greek sundesmos] of peace.

Colossians 2:2,3:

that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ,

in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 3:14:

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together [Greek sundesmos] in perfect harmony.

In the one body, the unity of the spirit is maintained in the bond of peace, and it’s love that binds everything together in perfect harmony.

In summation:

To grow with a growth from God, hold fast to the head. Christ as the head is the life-giver in the body of Christ. Christ in us — the holy spirit or spirit of Christ in us — is to predominate in our life and walk.

2 Peter 3:18a:

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As we recognize the primacy of Christ in the body and hold fast to Christ as the head, our lives will be filled with grace and the knowledge of him. The evidence will spill over into everything we do as we walk by the faith of Jesus Christ, our marvelous Lord and Savior.