For as long as the Church has been in existence, we've been struggling to find a place where we feel like we're at peace with God. We read what the Word says and we confess to believe God's Word. We also, say that God's Word is truth, but yet we still struggle trying to live up to what we think is expected of us to make us acceptable to God.
Hebrews 4:10-11 (Amplified) says that, "For he who has once entered (God's) rest also has ceased from (the weariness and pain) of human labors, Just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own." Verse 11 goes on, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves) that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell)."
The rest that God offered to the Israelites in the wilderness, was the same offer that's being made to us today. The rest God offers through Jesus today, though, is far better. When God brought His people out of bondage in Egypt, it was before the Law of Moses was in effect. He brought them out under the grace given through Abraham. None of the laws that came through Moses were in effect yet. With all of their murmerings and complaining, God still took complete care of them. They were never satisfied with what God did though, and they believed they could do better on their own. They wanted to do things through their own works and not through God's grace and mercy. The Israelites could have obtained all God had in store for them if they only allowed Him to do like He intended.
The promise God made to Abraham was what He used to deliver them out of Egypt. Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified) says that, "Christ purchased our freedom (redeeming us) from the curse (doom) of the Law (and its condemnation) by (Himself) becoming a curse for us, for it is written (in the scriptures) Cursed is everyone Who hangs on a tree (is crucified) to the end that through (their receiving) Christ Jesus, the blessing (promised) to Abraham might come on the gentiles; so that we, through faith might (all) receive (the realization of) the promise of the (Holy Spirit)."
If we only believe that what God did in and through Jesus was all that was needed to fulfill the promises, then we can walk in what God promised Abraham.
The promise God made to and through Abraham was for Abraham and his seed according to Galatians 3:16 (Amplified) which says, "Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham, and his seed (his offspring, his heir). He (God) does not say, and to his seeds (descendants, heirs) obviously referring to One individual, Who is (none other than) Christ (the Messiah)."
So, ultimately, the promise was made to Jesus and about Jesus. Abraham was allowed to walk in this blessing and promise until the fullness of the promise could be made manifest in Christ. Everything that God promised Abraham is ours through faith in Jesus. Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) says, "And you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham's seed) then you are Abraham's offspring and (spiritual) heirs according to the promise."
This promise of the Holy Spirit wasn't just for speaking in tongues and having better church services. This promise of the Spirit was reconciliation with the Father like it was before the fall of Adam. It was for complete union with God like it was intended in the beginning.
I taught in a previous teaching about "The Return to Eden." This promise of the Holy Spirit was so we can be one with the Father the way He intended from the start. This means that every blessing the Father had for His children in the beginning, is now ours. We keep trying to separate spiritual things as belonging to heaven and fleshly things as belonging for here on earth.
When God created the earth, He made it to be inhabited. Isaiah 45:18 (Amplified) says, "For thus says the Lord-Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the earth and made it. Who established it and did not create it to be worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited-I am the Lord, and there is no one else." God never intended for us to walk with one foot in heaven and one foot on the earth's ground. He intended for heaven to come to earth and He would supply all of the blessings He had with Him to be poured out on the earth.
The promise to Abraham of the Holy Spirit we read about in Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) , wasn't something that was to separate the heavenly from the earthly, but the very thing that would reunite heaven and earth. It would be what released everything the Father had in store for His family when He created them to them. We were to be once again united with heaven and still be on this earth to inhabit like God intended.
In his great quest to be religious, man made the same separation Adam did in the Garden. We have tried to acquire by works what only faith can achieve because we don't enter into the Rest God has promised. Through faith in the finished work of Jesus, we have been restored back to the beginning. Everything that was blocked by the sin of Adam, could now be released from heaven to God's people. w
Don't mistakenly separate what Jesus has done as only pertaining to your spirit when your walk here is done and you go home. God created the earth to be our home and so it shall be. They things of this world aren't the things of this earth. The world is the system that is now operating on the earth. The earth is still the Lord's and the fullness thereof according to Psalm 24:1 (Amplified) which says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it, the world and they that dwell in it." Both the earth and God's people who dwell on the earth are now restored together through Jesus.
Psalm 25:12-14 (Amplified) says, "Who is the man who reverently fears and worships the Lord? Him shall He teach in the ways He shall choose." Verses 13&14 say, "He himself shall dwell at ease, and his offspring shall inherit the land (earth). The secrets (of the sweet, satisfying companionship) of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner meaning)."
We have a difficult time understanding what Jesus really did when He went to the cross. Religion has dimmed our eyes to the fullness of His sacrifice. We keep trying to be right with God (and that isn't wrong), but in order to really be right with Him means to accept what Jesus has done and rest in it. Nothing else is acceptable to Him nor will ever be.
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