YAHSHUA – Page 3 – Light from the Word

A Wedding and One Hundred- Eighty Gallons of Wine

The first wedding ceremony was performed by God Himself in a beautiful garden, called the Garden of Eden. Since Adam was created before Eve, there was not found a helper meet for him fit to be his wife. God however, performed an astounding act to make this happen. He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the flesh. And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man, He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Then Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man. (Gen. 2:21-23). Adam’s rib constituted a covenant that united the two to be one. They were one in the flesh, one in body in God’s plans for them. The beauty of this union is very significant for today’s confusing life style, for God didn’t create two women, or two men to unite them as husbands and wives, but one male and one female in order to procreate and fill the earth. Constituted by God, the first wedding was sealed by Him, saying, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). Adam woke up from surgery pleasantly surprised seeing what God had brought him out of his own body. He then called her Woman, for she was taken from him. She was created for him to be a help mate. Life was complete for Adam. In perfect harmony Adam and Eve lived happily in that beautiful garden, until sin entered into their souls. And their lives became what we experience today.

In the New Testament, John chapter 2, the story is told that YAHSHUA was invited to a wedding, perhaps his mother’s family. The incarnated God, Who performed the first wedding in a garden, was now performing His first sign at the beginning of His ministry by participating in the celebration of the wedding, when providing a new wine at the end of the old one, – an ample supply of one hundred eighty gallons! (John 2:6) It was not just a wine as usual at a wedding celebration; It was a wine that symbolized the new covenant- the covenant of blood, which was to be made reality at the shedding of His blood for our redemption. It was the new covenant when Jews and gentiles would be as one in the sight of God, in His purpose of their salvation. As the bridegroom of His church, YAHSHUA was going to pay for His bride’s redemption with His own blood. But it is necessary for His bride to be a willing bride, as it was in the case of Rebecca, who was willing to leave family behind to be Isaac’s bride. YAHSHUA became the bridegroom of whosoever will accept His gift of redemption. When the time comes, He will come back to fetch His sanctified bride as she is now being sanctified by the Holy Spirit; She will be presented to Him blameless and holy. Indwelt by the Holy Spirit, He constitutes the guarantee of her salvation. As a ring guarantees the bride of her bridegroom’s commitment to her, so, the Holy Spirit seals us with the engagement ring guaranteeing our salvation. Revelation registers the future wedding of YAHSHUA with His bride by saying, Let us rejoice and shout for joy; let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself. She has been permitted to dress in fine linen, dazzling and white- for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. That was the result of the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. Now glorified, the bride of Christ became as He is in holiness (Rev. 19:7-8).

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One Out Of Ninety-nine

The love of the heavenly Father is unmeasurable. He values one of us as much as ninety-nine of us. One percent equals 99 percent. We are considered as sheep in YAHSHUA’S teachings, as He considers Himself as our shepherd. The lost sheep of the parable of Matthews 18:12-14 gives us an example of how He cares for all of us, not wanting any of us to be lost. The Prophet Isaiah describes our spiritual condition as “like sheep.” Yes, like sheep, we have gone stray; we have turned everyone to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6a). YAHSHUA, looking at the crowd, perceived them as sheep without a shepherd. A picture of the helpless crowds touched the heart of our Shepherd, YAHSHUA. When He saw them, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). Our Lord compared humans to sheep, because we like sheep, are prone to wander away from the truth. We are independent, stubborn, rebellious, we refuse to follow our Shepherd’s directions. Always getting lost for rejecting His way. However, the love of our Shepherd is like a staff, which He uses to bring us back to Him. “My sheep hear my voice; I give them eternal life.” That’s what life is all about in relationship with the Lord as our Shepherd. His coming to this world to be our Savior was His priority. He said, I am the good Shepherd and I know My sheep (John 10:14). That translates a relationship between Him and His sheep. “He knows them and they know His voice.” It is our Shepherd’s ultimate desire that we, His sheep, walk close to Him, so that we will not stray from the way through all kinds of doctrines and religions, which will lead us to Satan’s hard and rough, dark and gloomy territory. Our Shepherd never loses focus of His sheep. When one gets lost, He goes after it, to save and restore to His fold.

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But He Opened Not His Mouth

Accusations after accusations against Him, but He did not open His mouth. Surrounded by enemies who desired Him dead, but He did not open His mouth; scourged beyond facial recognition, broken bones and out of joints bones, but He did not open His mouth. His inner strength secured by the ultimate purpose did not fail Him. Tempted by the devil in His hardest hour on earth, but He did not open His mouth, just a prayer to His heavenly Father, releasing forgiveness to those who were nailing Him to the cross, an utterance heard by all. Salvation sprung forth from that prayer and the centurion and his soldiers confessed that YAHSHUA is the Son of God. Under severe pain while they scourged Him over six hundred times, but He remained calm and did not open his mouth. No, the Son of God did not suffer as God, but as a human, with all the extension of pain we suffer. He could never suffer as God, for He is sinless and sin has no hold on Him. He was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief; He was despised, rejected by man, but did not claim His right of being God. That was the time for Him to fulfill the plan of salvation planned by God and fulfilled by Him to all who were chosen and foreknown by God the Father and consecrated by the Spirit to obedience to YAHSHUA the Messiah and to be sprinkled with [His] blood (I Peter 1:2).

YAHSHUA demonstrated His submission by not opening His mouth during His six unfair trials is a testimony of His perfect and complete obedience “to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!” Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ YAHSHUA, Who although being essentially one with God, and in the form of God [possessing the fulness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but stripped Himself so as to assume the guise of a servant, in that He became like men and was born a human being (Phi. 2:5-7). Such a sacrifice He performed to save sinners unworthy of Him! Who am I Lord, and what is my house (asked David) that You have brought me this far? (2 Sam.7:17); and what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? (Ps. 8:4). A humble man, You O Lord will not abandon. YAHSHUA was spat on, they pluck out hair from His beard and used abusive words to humiliate Him, for men had only hatred for Him. However, when the time came, He opened not His mouth to defend Himself. His silence spoke millions of words, but no one heard. His silence, a gesture that indicated Whom He was, communicated with His Father, agreeing to go through the plan to save mankind. His silence spoke louder than the scream of the crowd; for it rested on Him the peace and the certainty of the fulfillment of prophecy for that time through Him. Surrounded by evil and angry men and a chaotic crowd, YAHSHUA stayed tuned with the Father whose plan was to reconciliate men to Himself. No one noticed the extent of His suffering in the agony of His soul. Only His Father knew, but it was His will for Him to suffer; it was the will of the Father to bruise Him and to put Him to grief and make Him sick (Isaiah 53:10a). And yet, He didn’t open His mouth. At His friend, Lazarus’ funeral, when there were only two weeks left for His own, He felt discomforted and sighed repletely. He knew what was coming next for Him. John reports that He sighing repeatedly and deeply disquieted, approached the tomb. (John 11:38). The thought of His soon coming suffering weighted down on Him. While going to the tomb, again sighing repeatedly and deeply, disquieted, YAHSHUA approached the tomb. It was a cave and a boulder lay against it (John 11:38). No one knew what was in the Savior’s heart. His heart hurt for the people there who were sobbing for Lazarus hopelessly. But there stood One Who could give them hope, if only they would believe in Him! In just a few days He Himself would become the Lamb of God on the altar of His ultimate sacrifice to save men from hopelessness and hell.

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The Body, Our Earthly Tent

When we think of tents, we think of a temporary shelter used for camping, as well as for revival tent meetings. Although, large enough for many people to congregate, it does not provide the necessary features to satisfy our daily needs. In the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes a very interesting comment related to our body as a tent in this earthly home: For we know, he said, that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed, we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heaven. Allegorically speaking, he made the point that the body that hosts our soul and spirit is temporary and will be destroyed. Sin, the culprit of our eternal destination, has changed the direction of our eternal life as well as our life here on earth. Until Our Lord YAHSHUA came and freed us from eternal condemnation, we were slaves to sin and to the flesh, following Satan’s destination-hell. While in this mode, there was no hope for us. The Apostle Paul cries the miseries of a non-generated body expressing hopelessness asking the question: O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? Then he answers, O thank God! [He will] through YAHSHUA Messiah, our Lord! (Rom.7:25b). This earthly tent is subject to all kind of temptations and torment of the mind. Without the atonement of our Lord YHASHUA, we are desperately lost. Paul said that the mind of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed, it cannot (Rom. 8:7).

Our earthly tent in its natural form is under condemnation, for no sacrifice of bull or any other animal to cleanse men from sin is enough; it is powerless to take away sins; Hence when He [Messiah] entered into the world, He said, sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead, You have made ready a body for Me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight. Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God- [to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book (Heb. 10). Here stands the verdict that all who have accepted YAHSHUA as Lord and Savior and live accordingly to the Word of God, are indeed born- again and sealed with the Holy Spirit, Who guarantees their salvation; at the same time, they were given the right of sonship. God has become the Father of the redeemed by the blood of His Son, and waiting, we remain for the promise to be fulfilled, when we will be transformed into our glorified body. While in this body -tent, we groan for our freedom from it, for it is a tent of suffering. “Here indeed, in this [present abode, body] we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over with our heavenly dwelling. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply… (II Cor. 5:2,4a).

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YAHSHUA, the First Born of the Dead

And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake (II Corinthians 5:15).

The ministry of reconciliation between God and men cost the life of YAHSHUA, for it was done by the shedding of His own blood. Reconciled with God, men are forgiven and given the position of God’s sons and daughters. We became God’s firstborn and part of the harvest of souls. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead, and He became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep; for since through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come]. Therefore, if any person is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! But all things are from God, who through YAHSHUA Messiah reconciled us to Himself and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation. It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against their trespasses and committing to us the message of reconciliation (I Cor. 5:17-19).

YAHSHUA died and was raised for the sake of those who live for Him. That is, who had been born again. His resurrection foreshadows the resurrection of believers at the time when He calls us up to heaven. The Prophet Isaiah prophesized saying, “Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for Your dew is as the dew of the dawn; and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits” (Isa. 26:19). The redemptive work of YAHSHUA would be incomplete without His resurrection. Had He remained in the grave, we would be without hope and doomed to hell. Paul said, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen; and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is devoid of truth and is fruitless; and further, those who have died in Christ have perished; if we who are [abiding] in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to pitied. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead, and He became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death]. For since through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come]. For just as in Adam all people die, so also shall all in Christ be made alive But each in his own rank and turn: Christ is the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s at His coming” (I Cor. 15:13-14;16-23)

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Simon and the Cross

Beaten beyond recognition, weak, bones out of joint, His heart was like wax; softened; His strength was dried up like a fragment of clay pottery, so thirsty He was that His tongue cleaved to his jaws (Ps 22:15). That’s how YAHSHUA was found after they scourged Him merciless. At the right time, a man called Simon was coming from in (Jerusalem) from the country, when they laid on him the cross and made him carry it behind YAHSHUA. (Luke 23:26). I wonder if he knew what was going on that day, with YAHSHUA accompanied by soldiers and a host of people behind Him. Did he even know who YAHSHUA was, since he lived in a “Greek city in the province of Cyrenaica. This was a place where 100,000 Judean Jews had been forced to settle in 323-285 BC.” (Wikipedia). He was the father of Alexander and Rufus, who together with their mother were saved. Nothing is said in the Bible concerning Simon’s relationship with YAHSHUA. His name is of Jewish origin, but that does not confirm that he was a Jewish man. We read that he was made to carry the cross behind the Lord. That reminds us of YAHSHUA’S teaching about following Him; one must deny self, take up the cross and follow Him. Simon, here was doing what he was told to do, without realizing the deep meaning that was hid in that event. First of all, the cross he was carrying was not YAHSHUA’S. That cross was his and the world’s. Simon unaware of all the spiritual meaning of what was happening, was representing the world’s spiritual condition and in need of a Savior to save it. That cross signified a curse. The Bible says “Cursed is everyone who is hung on the tree (cross). Christ purchased our freedom from the curse of the Law by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13). Simon was carrying a curse we all were under. Since Simon could not liberate us from it, YAHSHUA took it when arriving to the place for the sacrifice by means of crucifixion. That’s all Simon could have done, for he too needed a Savior to free him from the curse.

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The Glory of the Gospel in YAHSHUA’S Face Overwhelmed the Glory of the Law in Moses’ Face

(Exodus34:28-33; II Corinthians 3:10-18)

“Shekinah Glory is a visible manifestation of God on earth, whose presence is portrayed through a natural occurrence. The word shekinah is a Hebrew name meaning “dwelling” or “one who dwells”. Shekinah Glory means “He caused to dwell,” referring to the divine presence of God. It is the majestic presence or manifestation of God in which He descends to dwell among men. Whenever the invisible God becomes visible, and whenever the omnipresence of God is localized, this is the Shekinah Glory.”

Ref: Christianity.com, What is the meaning of shekinah glory Biblestudytools.com, The abiding presence of God.

When our Lord and Savior came to earth as a baby, a bright star shone in that dark night announcing His birth. That was a very special star. The Magi of those days well understood the meaning of that star and took years traveling to meet the King that star was pointing to. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, (the shepherds) and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them and they were terribly frightened; but the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord! (Luke 2:11). The Shekinah Glory of the Gospel is YAHSHUA incarnated, bringing forgiveness to all who will receive Him as Lord and Savior- as the Son of God. John testified about Him and cried out, This was He of Whom I said He Who comes after me has priority over me, for He was before me. For out of His fullness, we have all received one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift, for while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through YAHSHUA Messiah. (John 1:15-17).

When God came to mount Sinai, in His holiness, He came to establish the law with all its demands and consequences to covenant with Israel. The Bible says, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord Descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. (Exodus 19). God showed Israel His holiness, as never they had seen before. He said to Moses, Write these words, for after the purpose and character of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel; Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face shone and sent forth beams by reasons of his speaking with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone and they feared to come near him…Afterword, all Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all the Lord had said to him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. The Israelites saw the face of Moses, how the skin of it shone; and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with God (Exodus34).

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I, the Lord, Have Spoken

The emphasis in this phrase, “I. the Lord, have spoken” is strong enough for us to consider the veracity of the Bible. In the beginning of all things, while creating the world, It was His spoken word that brought existence to what He commanded be created. And so, it was that the world was created in six days and on the seventh, He rested. He was pleased with all that He had created. He had only to speak and the power of His words brought life and form in everything that He created. At the command of the Lord’s voice all subjected to Him. There was sun light to govern the day and moon to govern the night; Man was created in God’s image; and a beautiful garden was provided for him to live in and tend to. “When the Lord speaks the word that He will speak and the word that He shall speak shall be performed; it shall be no more delayed or prolonged, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and will perform it, says the Lord God.” The spoken word of God is powerful to perform that which He sends it for. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it”. The Bible says, “He Who promised is reliable and faithful to His word” (Heb. 10:23b). The Lord spoke to Jeremiah and said, “I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it” (Jer. 1:12b). That confirms that the written word of God is alive and powerful to perform His purposes and fulfills His promises.

The voice of the Lord thunders in power and might; it causes the ocean to rise in judgment. When He came down to Mount Sinai it was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly; as the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice (Exodus 19:18-19). Then He spoke to the people of Israel in covenant with the nation, by giving them the ten commandments. They were all afraid when they perceived the thunderings and the lightenings, and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain, and as [they] looked they trembled with fear and fell back and stood afar off (Exodus 20:18). Thunderings, lightenings, trumpet sounding, all represented the voice of the Lord in His holiness and power. Nor men, neither animals could stand at the foot of the mountain to face the physical presence of God, because of what nature became after sin entered the world. Sin, without a doubt, changed man and nature, causing them to be afraid of God and be separated from Him. “Hear, oh, hear the roar of His voice and the sound of rumbling that goes out of His mouth! After it His voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He restrains not when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:2-5). The letter to the Hebrews gives us a warning concerning our lack of zeal for the word of God: It says, “Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience, for the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life and spirit, and of joints and marrow, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart, and not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12-13).

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It Was at the Cross Where Judgment and Mercy Met

In the Garden of Eden, the first judgment was pronounced to our parents for their disobedience to God. Sin, spreading to Adam’s and Eve’s children, their first son committed the sin of disobedience, as in his offering of fruits and vegetables to the Lord, instead of offering Him a lamb, as was commanded. And as a result, he committed murder by killing his brother. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” Life is in the blood. The lamb was pointing to the Son of God, Who was to come in the far future as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed to redeem the world with His blood. There is life only in the blood. And the blood of YAHSHUA never dies, never lost its power to save and give life to all who seek Him. Cain misrepresented God’s future plan; he in his pride, offered of what he represented, not what God commanded him. It is when one tries to be saved through his own effort, disregarding the Word of God. The Bible says that we are saved by grace; it is not based on our work, it is a gift from God, and this gift was His Son, Who sacrificed His life, so we can live eternally with Him. God pronounced judgment to Cain and for the rest of his life he was a wonderer. (Gen. 4:11-12). God said to Cain, and now you are cursed by reason of the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. A wonderer, Cain became separated from the rest of his world as a result of his disobedience and homicide.

Throughout the Old Testament, we read about God’s judgments on His people because of their practices of infidelity against God’s covenant “You shall have no other gods besides Me.” The Lord God takes very seriously the sin of infidelity. In Ezekiel 14:13-14,20 it reads: Son of man, when a land sins against Me by committing a trespassing and I stretch out my hand against it and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they would save but their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God… Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live says the Lord, they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would but deliver their own lives by their righteousness. To transgress is to act contrary to God’s law. It is infidelity to the covenant God made with them, through the law, which requires both parties for its validity.

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God Disarmed the Principalities and Powers That Were Raged Against Us

(Col. 2:15)

This spiritual warfare started in heaven, when the devil rebelled against God. He wanted to be like God in his prideful ways for having received a high honor of a cherub. The Bible describes him as “the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing… You were upon the holy mountain of God; you were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the carnelian, topaz, jasper, chrysolite, beryl, onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald; and your settings and your sockets and engravings were wrought in gold. On the day that you were created they were prepared” (Ezekiel 28:13,14). This is quite a description of Satan! He had the highest position of all angels. He became proud and wanted to be like God, as a result, he was thrown out of heaven. From that time, he was called Satan, the devil. A destroyer, an accuser, a liar, a thief, a tormenter that’s what he is and more. YAHSHUA said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance” (John 10: 11).

What was really happening at the time YAHSHUA was crucified? Reading Genesis 3: 15 we see that YAHSHUA was fulfilling the prophecy of redemption for humankind. It reads, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel”. Satan’s head was bruised and treaded underfoot while YAHSHUA was being sacrificed. The Bible says, that “when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to the Law, to purchase the freedom of those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us” (Gal. 4:4-5). YAHSHUA, while on the cross, won the victory over Satan, and humankind was reconciled to God. In the suffering of the Son of God, while carrying our sins and diseases, we were reconciled with the Father and healed from diseases and Satan lost the battle. We see that in His death, even nature revolted, when the earth shook and the rocks were split (Matt.27:51a) showing the tremendous connection it has with its Creator. It spoke loudly and clearly, but just a few understood it, as in the centurion and his soldiers.

It was all invisible to the human eye what was happening. But at that time the spiritual war raged to free mankind from the power of Satan and nature felt it. For it also suffers corruption, as a consequence of man’s sin. In Romans 8:19-23 Paul gives a picture of nature in its longing for their redemption. He said, “For even creation waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known; for the creation was subjected to frailty, not because of some intentional fault on its part, by the will of Him Who so subjected it- with the hope that nature itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children. We know that the whole creation has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now”. There at Calvary, at the death of YAHSHUA, their Creator, they understood that they too were being liberated from decay through the reconciliation between man and God.

There, on the cross, “YAHSHUA disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross]” (Col. 2:15). Before then, men’s spiritual situation was that they were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of their flesh. God brought to life together with [Christ] having forgiven us all our transgressions (Col. 2:13). We were slaves to sin and condemned through eternity. But our Lord, YAHSHUA in His loving-kindness took upon Himself the punishment that due us and set us free, disarming the principalities and the powers, which were holding us prisoners to them. Principalities and powers, in this case, correspond to spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places; evil spirits that oppose everything and everyone. In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us to put on the armor of God to be able successfully to stand up against all strategies and the deceits of the devil; “for we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly sphere” (vs. 12). The works of darkness are powerless, because YAHSHUA nailed them to the cross. Before the blood of YAHSHUA they cringe with fear. They well know about their end publicly expressed and acted against them there on the cross.

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