HEBREWS 4:10
For he who is entered into His (God’s) Rest, he also has ceased from his (the believers) own works, as God did from His.
God created the world in six days and on the seventh day He rested.
I recently acquired a DVD Video called, “The Case for a Creator,” with Lee Strobel. Wow! If you haven’t seen it; it’s worth getting if at all possible.
It is simply amazing what science has discovered in the past few years.
After watching these videos, I couldn’t help but realize what a tremendous accomplishment was God’s creation.
I believe that God’s creation started with the very atom which makes up all matter that we know of. Then God arranged the matter in such a way as to create all things which we can see and the things we can’t see (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc.).
On the seventh day God rested from His work of Creating the World. He did not have to get up in the middle of his day of rest in order to add to his finished work, for he had finished that work on the sixth day. It was completed, it was done.
COULD YOU
Let us suppose that God wanted another world just like the Earth.
He approaches you with the idea and asks you to create it and place it out in space at a location that he specifies. Could we do it? Of course not, nobody would expect that we could.
Well, what if God gave us a blue print of just how he accomplished His work of creating Earth. A complete set of directions and blue prints and whatever design descriptions which should be necessary. Could we do it then? In six days? Forget about it. No man on earth could do it, not even every man on earth working in close union with each other.
It’s simply beyond our capacity or capability.
We have the privilege of living on the Earth and enjoying the beauty and benefits of this planet. We gain the right to be in this position because of our birth. When we are born; God has in essence given us the privilege to enjoy the works of His Hands.
But to ask a man to create a new world like Earth would be a little like taking the blue prints and designs of a new Buick and placing them before an ant, expecting that the ant could read the blue prints and actually put together the new car. It is simply beyond the capacity of the ant.
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Just as we cannot accomplish such a task as building a world, as God has done; neither can we accomplish the task of creating, or fulfilling Righteousness.
For it is God who created Righteousness. Psalms says, “Hear me when I call, O God of my Righteousness.”
Romans 5:18,,,,, even so, by the Righteousness of One the Free Gift came upon all men unto Justification of life.
God desires that all men walk in Righteousness, however to do such in ones own strength and ability is impossible.
In the case of Righteousness, God actually did give us a blue print, if you will. Directions as to how to be Righteous. It is called the Law.
However, Righteousness could not be attained by that Law (Romans 9:30-32), [just as the World could not be attained by our building it, even if God had given us a blueprint], and we could in no way establish our own Righteousness in any way (Romans 10:3-4).
Even though God did give the Law for man to see what he needed to do to be Righteous, man is still unable to do the Law, and thus unable to be Righteous.
Man is actually, no more capable of following the Law than he is of creating another planet. Knowing this to be true, God has shown man a way to receive Redemption and Righteousness; if there be first a willing mind, which will accept Grace and believe in what Christ accomplished on the Cross.
Jesus Christ accomplished Righteousness in the flesh, while he was on Earth. He walked perfectly before God, never breaking the Law. Never sinning, not even one time. He then shed His Blood and gave His Life on the Cross to enable us to receive , Redemption and His Righteousness.
When we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and Believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead; then God Justifies and Redeems us, making us a new creature in Christ Jesus. As a new creature in Christ (sins being forgiven, being justified by Faith in His Blood), we now have the right and privilege of living with, and walking in, “The Righteousness of Christ.”(His Righteousness now becomes ours as well)
Just as God created the World and then gave us the privilege to live here and to enjoy the beauty and benefits of the World, so also Christ created (fulfilled and established) Righteousness in the flesh and has given us the privilege to live in that Righteousness and to enjoy the peace that comes with it.
Remember; this is not Righteousness which we have accomplished by anything which we could do (Philippians 3:9, And be found in Him, not having my own Righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the Faith of Christ, the Righteousness which is of God by Faith). No more than we could create another world, can we either create another Righteousness, which would not be God’s anyway. The ONLY Righteousness available to man is that which is given to us freely because of the Sacrifice of Christ.
Christ is not now or at any time forward going to create another Righteousness. Neither do we arise from the rest which God has given us ( Heb. 4:10), in order to do any kind of works which are meant to add to or create, on our own, some type of Righteousness (Any works which we do are done because we Love the Lord, and wish to follow after him,,,not to make us more Righteous, for such is impossible. Anything we do, will not add to our Righteousness one iota; if we think we are adding to the Righteousness of Christ by things we are doing, we will loose the rest, which God promises, Heb. 4:10).
When Jesus said, “It is Finished,” He meant it; just as God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good. And then he rested, because he was finished with the work of creating the World. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” His completed Righteousness could and would be freely given to whosoever would Believe in Christ for Redemption.
