LIFE WITH CHRIST. Articles of Comfort and Blessings Offered to the Reader. Volume Three

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1 Father Matta El-Meskeen LIFE WITH CHRIST Articles of Comfort and Blessings Offered to the Reader In his book about the Life with Christ, Father Matta deals with the main themes of the spiritual life, and sums up many of his main ideas and thoughts he wrote before. We have presented the first two volumes and part of the third. Here we continue our issues on this beautiful topic. Enjoy! Note: All quotations are taken from the New King James Version, if not otherwise mentioned. Volume Three Chapter 60 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by B various trials (1 Peter 1: 3-6). LESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST is the opening of the epistle which the apostle Peter sent to the Jews, in the north of Asia Minor. It is quite an awesome introduction because whoever blesses the 1

2 Father is blessed by the Father, and blessing the Father means glorifying God in the highest. Being the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ means a testimony for the sonship of the Son to God the Father. This is part of the creed that God the Father and God the Son are one divinity. When he says that the Father, according to His abundant mercy, St Peter means that God has compassion for the creation of His hands and this underlies the law of Moses, in preparation for the state of God s adoption in Christ, His only beloved Son. He says, He has begotten us again, so what is the second birth? It is our transformation from a life born under the Law to a life born in Christ Jesus, after His resurrection from the dead and His ascension to heaven. Christ Himself was also born under the Law, and He fulfilled His life by death and resurrection. Thus the Resurrection was a manifestation that Jesus the Son of Man created by His resurrection from the dead, a new man. A man not born in the body but born a divine, second birth. It is the birth of a new man who lives with the Father in the heavens. This Resurrection or second birth actually happened by the power of God the Father who raised Jesus Christ from the dead and His glory. This is considered a new birth, through which, by faith in Christ His death and resurrection man entered into holy fellowship with the Risen Christ, Son of God. From Him and through His worthiness to sit at the right hand of God, we took the right of adoption. This is the second birth granted us in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His place at the right hand of God. This is the new man, born of the resurrection of Christ, who has in Him the hope to complete the second birth in the inheritance of Christ with the Father. Just as the beloved Son inherited what is the Father s, we too have been given His inheritance because we have become in Him the children of God. This is the heritage reserved for us in heaven, incorruptible and undefiled does not fade away, reserved, for us in our name; so that we may inherit it with Christ, in God the Father. This is our living hope, to believe in everything which came from Christ since we are His partners in suffering, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven and the seating at the right hand of the Father and His inheritance of adoption in the Son. As a matter of fact, this happy leap of being sons on the earth, telling of the glory of God, to being sons in the heavens, living with the Father and Son, is a strong rebuff for the enemy, always ready to pounce. It, therefore, became a divine obligation for us to be under God s auspices and protection earned by faith in Christ and the Father. We thus have become out of reach for the enemy, waiting impatiently for the declaration of our portion in that salvation and inheritance set aside for the end of the ages. 2

3 This living hope and faith in Christ ought to be our hearts delight and joy, giving thanks to the Father in Christ Jesus. Not thanks only to be uttered, but a life characterized by gratitude and the pursuit of the love of the Father. Just as gold is purified of all its impurities by fire and is made fit for the ornamentation of royalty, God has dispensed that we must be purified of the blemishes of faith by various trials which we bear as our portion, the reward of which is in heaven. We then become eligible for the life with the Father and Son above, in our Lord s kingdom. November 6, 2005 Chapter 61 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against T Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (Heb 12: 2, 3). HE PROCESSION OF FAITH is led by the author of the faith, Jesus. He who has fulfilled the faith with His own blood: He endured all manners of pain and the torture of the cross for the sake of the joy before Him. Under the heavy burden of the cross, the Lord did not turn away, panic or feel discouraged spiritually, although He might have broken down physically several times. He did not break down spiritually from the terrifying pains of the cross; neither was He discouraged nor fearful before His crucifiers who gloated and rejoiced at His suffering; instead, He endured to the end until He breathed His last in the hands of His Father, disdaining the shame and scandal of the cross on which He hung naked. He took inner pleasure in the fact that He had completed the work which He came down from the Father to do. Now the joy of fulfillment overcame the pain, and the joy of the redemption overcame the shame because, in itself, shame was one of the objectives of the cross. He endured the shame of the Law which said, Cursed is everyone who 3

4 hangs on a tree. 1 Behold Him hanging, contemplating the fulfillment of the shame of the Law which the sinners used to carry. And what reward did the Son receive from the Father for the pain on the cross? It was for Him to be seated at His right hand, a declaration that Christ, when crucified, did not lose His equality with the Father. His face, smeared with blood, was not only on a par with the Father s, but also added to it more honor and glory. His face covered with blood, carried the fulfillment of Christ carrying the sins of man, and even spoke of the intercession which underscored the salvation of man. And so the Son, carrying the marks of the cross a constant reminder before the creatures of heaven and earth sat at the right hand of the Father. When Christ appeared, the new believers saw His wounded hands; thus, even until now, Christ has not taken leave of the cross. Faith in Christ intrinsically carries the features of the crucified Lord, whom all who have loved have tried to etch on their hands and arms and, sometimes even foreheads, in fulfillment of the Lord s command to carry the cross and follow Him. 2 Those who tattoo crosses on their hands and arms actually defy the world by taking pride in their faith and holding on to the name. The Bible demands that the remembrance of the Lord s suffering, and the hostility He met with, should always be engraved in our thoughts. Why? The Bible says lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls, because the resistance of the enemy is both violent and wily, and he will jump at the opportunity when the soul is not ready. He will cut deep, and man will find his soul besieged and overcome. The strike of the enemy is ruthless, meant to be so for man to be discouraged and broken before it, especially when faith is at its weakest. The devil wagers on winning the battle, and he stands from afar, not only working away at the will of man, but also beautifying defeat and backsliding. That is why the Bible cautions us saying, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. To be weary and discouraged means that man is at the edge. At this point, Christ appears with His wounded hands and pierced side. Man then becomes strengthened and holds on to the faith, in the knowledge that he is going through not only the tribulation, shame, and loneliness of Christ, but also the gloating of the devil with the high priests. But when man remembers Christ at the right hand of God, at the peak of His victory, calling out to the believer, Take heart and remember I have gone before you and experienced the same pains, he then catches his breath and takes strength in the Lord and His power. November 6, See Deut 21: 23, Gal 3:13. 2 See Mt 16:24. 4

5 ************************************************************************************** Father Matta El-Meskeen Light versus Darkness (Lk 11:33, 34). He who refuses Christ s words refuses them due to a defect or evil in his spiritual eye. When Christ says that the lamp is put on a stand he means a high place where every one can see it. In truth Christ is light, an illumination from high. The light Christ sheds emanates from His Divinity above the heavens. If ordinary light when raised on a stand is seen by people from afar, Christ s light traverses through barriers, illuminates the inner soul and uncovers the secrets of the heart and mind. Then, is there any excuse? He who does not see the light of Christ is definitely in darkness. Christ here also speaks about his disciples and how they will become a light to the world, carrying Christ s light through the Holy Spirit, illuminating the heart, revealing truth and life! The light of Christ is God s light. It is itself, a comprehensive knowledge and is absolute. Its essence is total and absolute truth. The knowledge of God and the truth of God are entirely through Jesus Christ. Christ is the light and the truth. Excerpt from: Light versus Darkness (St Mark Monthly Review, Feb 2001, p 1). 5