GOD'S COMPLETED WORK

(By David S. Musick)


The Hebrew word for seven is 'sheba.' It is from 'shaba', meaning "to be complete"...to Seven oneself, i.e. swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times)" (Strong's Exh. Conc.) Seven speaks of fullness, completion, perfection. Nothing can be added or taken away from it without it becoming marred. Being a prime number makes it divisible only by itself.
 
Internet Word study:


[The word shabath is derived from shaba, and means, to cease, desist, REST, and from this word comes Shabbath, A DAY OF REST. Therefore, seven/sheba'/shabbath speaks of a completed work wherein rest is found.  When we enter into Christ; that is to say, Fellowship with Him, we enter into rest. Jesus is the Sabbath. It is “Seven” that stamps spiritual perfection and completion to the things it is connected. With time it tells of the sabbath, and marks off the week of seven days. Seven completes the colors of the spectrum and rainbow. Seven also satisfies in music the notes of the scale, with the eighth merely being a repetition of the first. We find shaba in Genesis 21:31, "Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware (shaba) both of them." This oath of Abraham to Abimelech was based upon the seven ewe lambs which were set aside (vrs 28-30). This points to the idea of satisfaction and fullness in an oath; and so it is written, "an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife" (Heb. 6:16). Seven can also be seen as fullness of SIN. Whether referring to good or evil, holy or unholy, pure or profane, the number seven in scripture carries the thought of fullness, completion, totality, satisfaction, etc.]


 Which brings me to my point: In Col 2:9-10 the Word of God says...”For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him”, which is the head of all principality and power". The scripture says what it means here, and what it means is that from the foundation of the world we were a finished work created in Christ Jesus. We were fore-ordained in Him from the beginning; He knew us first! God chose us in Christ because He loves us; now we must choose HIM because of His redeeming love and with that choice then, God is free to reveal the Mysteries, thus bringing us into His Rest, which is Himself. We are then carried into a higher understanding far above earthy circumstances.


In Him dwells ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. In the person of Jesus Christ, in His body as a single member, as well as the corporate body, dwells the fullness of Deity. He, Jesus, is the personification of GOD; He is God, (Jn. 1:1-5). He and the Father reside in the Believer.


It pleased God to stuff everything that He created into His Son (Col. 1:19). Nothing was left out. In Him were all things made complete. We see this as an unmistakable fact in Colossians 1:16. It says, "For by (Gk. en, in) Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by (dia, through) Him, and for (eis, into) Him". The Emphatic Diaglott has it as in Him, through Him, and into Him.  ALL THINGS....all of God's works, everything He made in Christ before it was ever seen in the earth, in whom we dwell. Before a blade of grass grew, it was already, and likewise were you and me. We were here before we got here. Paul said: "...we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto (Grk. en, in good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10). Our arrival in the earth was not the beginning of our existence. You see, we, who are His workmanship, were created in Christ Jesus. And do we remember when we were created in Him? It was at the founding of the world. It couldn't have been afterward; for God rested from His works of this present creation. Moreover, being created in Christ Jesus was part of that which was very good works, works which were finished a long time ago. This rests on faith in the finished work and in the belief that Jesus Christ in His bodily form was God in the flesh bringing us a message of hope and a code from the throne of God to live by: to “LOVE EVEN AS”. He came also to reintroduce us to our real identity, reconnect us to the Godhead and open our hearts to the KINGDOM of GOD; Kingdom living, the up-ward ‘Call’.


So in Matthews Gospel Account of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ when Jesus says..."Therefore I bid you put away anxious thoughts your heavenly Father knows your Needs before you ask" then believe it. Or when He said, "Always treat others as you would like to be treated...." it is the word, Christ said it, that means somewhere down there in our inner man is the capacity by the Spirit of God to do as he commands and love it while doing it. Where Christ said; "Enter by the narrow gate. The gate is wide that leads to perdition, there is plenty of room on that road; then stay away from the road to perdition. Learn that squeezing through the tight things in life (the Narrow way), are the very things that may save your soul; because it will crush the self out of you. When He said; "Not everyone that calls me "Lord, Lord" will enter the Kingdom Of God", then be mindful of the fact that religious speak, Jesus talk, pompadour hairstyles, leather-bound King James Bibles $400.00 suits and a stubborn heart toward the in working of the CROSS and the FELLOWSHIP of His SUFFERING; will not buy you one inch in the Kingdom of God. He will say on that day "depart from me I never knew you". Hebrews 1:11-3 says..."And what is faith? Faith gives substance to our hopes, and makes us certain of realities we do not see. it is for their faith that the men of old stand on record. (notice here that the word stand is present tense) By faith we perceive that the universe was fashioned by the word of God, so that the visible came forth from the invisible".



When the storms of life are raging, and they will, God is there. Change is on the way and we are just that much closer to a revelation of our identity in Christ. It’s called an unveiling. When the pressure is on; the house is shown to the house and we see our 'self' rise up...That is a revelation and it is the Love of God. “Thou son of man SHOW THE HOUSE [as God meant it to be] TO THE HOUSE [that man built as a replacement for the true house] of Israel that they may be ASHAMED of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all they have done, show them the form of the [true] house AND WRITE IT IN THEIR SIGHT that they may keep the whole form and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.” (Ezekiel 43:10, 11).


The squeeze is on, the narrow road looms ahead, and we feel a death in our flesh and it is so painful. We cry out; "Oh God let this cup pass from me; I cannot bear it any longer". And yet in His Love He does not remove the crushing pain in our mind and on our spirit until the last vestige of self is exposed and Christ can come forth resurrected in us to newness of life. Faith deals with the impossible, with realities we cannot see but in time we see the results. Lay down your fears and let God be God. Let Love have her perfect work in the midst of impossible odds, and the Glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all earth will see it together.   "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and steadfast love, even truth and faithfulness are they for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies" (Ps. 25: 10). So; "All the paths" that are the LORDS,  possess these realities. What are the paths of the Lord? "There is a way that seems right unto a man, and appears straight before him, but at the end of it are the ways of death" (Pr. 14:12). Man can create his own way to anything, so he believes! just ask him. But to assume that, man, in himself by invention of his own desires, can, for himself, create his own path to salvation; well the end thereof is his down fall and undoing. However; the paths of the Lord point to a way into His presence. A man’s private interpretation of a way into God , leaves open an avenue of opportunistic mixture and human intervention and invention that is devoid of the divine life of the living God. It is a "Tower of  Babel"  experience whereby Man finds his own way to god; the god of his own mind.  But for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies; they will find All the Paths of the LORD are mercy, steadfast love, truth and faithfulness. Who is this way? Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (Jn 14:6). The "Paths" of the Lord are found in relationship to Jesus Christ; Glory to God!


The Word I've been hearing is "It is finished” (Jn. 19:30); and "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself”  (2Cor. 5:19); both are important scriptures if one can hear it. Too: I'm hearing, that "All Things" are gathered unto Christ....Not "will be" or "shall be".....but rather, "ARE"...If that be the case, then "It is finished" is our reality 'NOW' and "All things" are already "IN Christ" at this moment; if so, then our destiny is sealed. We all are admonished to "Walk In" the FULLNESS of the finished work of the Cross with faith NOW and be apprehended by that which is already done. "Perfect love casts out ALL fear".  In Christ is the rest of the Father perfected.