The Seamless Robe
Question: Lord, will You talk to us about Your seamless robe?
Why did the soldiers not want to tear it?
Jesus: The soldiers
divided My clothes equally amongst themselves. However, My robe they were not
permitted to tear and divide and they cast lots to see who would have it1.
Now, why did My Father not permit them to tear My robe? And it was My Father who
stopped them, for He was in control all the time. It was not the monetary value
of the robe that was important, but what it represented. You need to understand
what that robe represented to understand why it must not be torn. It was the
robe of the High Priest and the high priest was forbidden by Scripture to tear
his clothes. If he did so then he would be disqualified from the priesthood2.
Let Me go
back a little and try to make this simple to understand, for it is important
that you do understand this. Aaron was descended from the tribe of Levi and he
and his sons, the Levites, for generations to come would fulfill the office of
priest3.
The high priest was the one who once a year offered up the sacrificial lamb that
would pay for the sins of the people. Only the Levites could be the priests, who
mediated between the people and God.
However, it
was prophesied in My Father’s Word that the time would come when there would
be a change in the priesthood. There would be a new High Priest after the order
of Melchizedek and He would be High Priest forever4.
Melchizedek was high priest to God, king of
Salem
and king of righteousness5.
My people, I was ordained High Priest after the order of Melchizedek by My
Father, for I am the King of Righteousness and I am the Prince of Peace and I am
your High Priest forever, always interceding for you and mediating between you
and the Father6.
My people,
the change in the order of the priesthood occurred at My baptism. In the
Jordan
I was washed with water and anointed by the Holy Spirit in
accordance with the law of the initiation of priests7. But I did not take up office until
Caiaphas disqualified himself by tearing his clothes at My trial. Do you
remember? He asked Me on oath if I was the Anointed One, the Son Of God and I
declared to him that I was. Then he tore his clothes and disqualified himself as
high priest8.
Now a new high priest would be required to offer the Passover lamb.
My children,
I became both the High Priest and the sacrificial Lamb that would take away your
sin forever9.
The blood of animals could only cover your sin, but not remove it10.
My blood which I shed for you would remove your sin forever and make you
completely clean11.
Now do you
see why the Father could not allow the soldiers to tear My robe? That robe was
the garment of the new High Priest after the order of Melchizedek and if it had
been torn then My office as High priest would have been invalidated too and the
sacrifice I made for your sin would have been of no effect. If that robe had
been torn My sacrifice would have been in vain and you would still be in your
sin and separated from My Father. Those soldiers thought that the robe was too
precious to tear. Little did they realize how precious it was and what it was
that they held in their hands.
So, what does
My robe mean to you, My children? What does it represent? It represents My
sacrifice for you as the perfect and spotless Lamb of God, Who takes away the
sin of the world. It represents My love for you and My obedience to My Father12.
It represents Me as the Prince of Peace, the King of Righteousness and your
Great High Priest for ever. It represents the office that I hold before My
Father which allowed Me to present Myself as the sacrifice that would take away
your sin forever. My blood was shed for you on that cross and then as the High
Priest, after My resurrection, I presented that blood to the Father as the
atonement for your sin so that you could appear righteous before Him13.
And you,
My people, those of you who
have responded to Me and made Me your Lord, I have given you a pure linen robe
to wear14.
I have taken your sin and given you in exchange a robe of righteousness15
that will allow you to come into the presence of your Father without fear or
trembling16.
For when He looks on you He sees you wearing My robe of righteousness and you
are perfect and holy in His sight. Now I have ordained you also as priests and
kings before My Father. A new priesthood has been established and you are a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation before My God17.
So, My
people, how will you respond to this great honor I have bestowed upon you? I
have called you to be a chosen people, a holy nation, called out of darkness
into His marvelous
light. How then will you live? Will you live separated and holy lives, or will you continue to live
according to the way the world lives?18
I have called you to be different, a people set apart for Me. I
have called you to rule and reign over your enemy Satan. I have called you to
take authority over him and to release those whom he has held captive19.
I came to destroy the works of the evil one20
and now I have anointed you as kings to do the same. And I have also anointed
you as priests to present yourselves as living sacrifices before My God21.
I have anointed you as priests to intercede on behalf of those who are lost and
without hope in this world. I have called you to set aside your own wills and
your own desires on behalf of those who do not know Me. Will you do this, My
people, as I did it for you?
You are the
priests of God on this earth now. You are the ones who are anointed to intercede
on behalf of the lost. Will you do this for Me, My people, as I did it for you?
Will you wear the robe of righteousness that I have given you and take up your
office as priests and kings to My God? Will you live separated lives, as a
people called out of the world system to sacrifice yourselves on behalf of
others? Will you do this for Me as I did it for you?
My Father
would not allow My robe to be torn by the soldiers who lived according to the
world. Will you, My people, allow your robe of righteousness to be torn through
compromise with the world? No, My people, you have been called and chosen and
appointed and anointed for a purpose. Keep yourselves pure and spotless,
separated from the world system, so that you may fulfill the high calling to
which you have been called22.
You can do
this, My people, for I will enable you to do it, for I equip those whom I have
called23
and My grace is sufficient for you in your weakness24.
Only be willing, My people. That is all I ask of you, and I will do the rest.
Notes
1.
Jn 19:23-24 2. Lev 10:6 3. Ex 29:9
4. Ps 110:4 5. Heb 7:1-3 6. Heb 7:24-27
7. Rev 8:6,12 Matt 3:13-17 8. Matt 26:63-65
9. Jn
1:29 10. Heb 10:1-4 11. Heb 10:11-14
12. Phil 2:5-8 13. Jn 20:17, Heb 9:11-12 14.
Rev 3:5, 7:9-11 15. 2 Cor
5:21 16. Heb 10:19-22 17. 1 Pet 2:9-10
18. 1 Jn
2:15
, 2 Cor
6:17
, 1 Pet
1:16 19. Lk 4:18-19 20. 1 Jn 3:8
21. Rom 12:1 22. Eph 4:1 23. 1 Thess
5:24 24. 2 Cor 12:9
Crown of Thorns
Question: Lord, will You talk to me about the crown of thorns?
Jesus: Thorns, thorns,
what are thorns? Thorns that prick the flesh and goad the spirit1.
Am I a thorn in your side, My church? Do I prick you and needle you? Do you wish
I was not there? Would you rather that I went away and did not disturb you?
Would you rather that I left you to your own devices, to play at religion in
your own comfortable way? But, My church, I am not here to make you feel
comfortable2.
I am not here to ease your flesh. I am not here for you to pick and choose
whether or not you will obey Me, to pick and choose whether I am your Lord or
not3.
No, My church, I am here as a goad in your side, as a thorn in your flesh, to
cause you to take notice of Me.
For indeed I
am your Lord and I am your King, and I expect you to seek My will in all things.
I expect you to obey Me, and I expect you to honor and fear Me4,
for I am your King. Now I wear a crown of gold, a royal diadem5,
but once I wore a crown of thorns6
and I wore it for you. I wore it for you out of My great love for you, and I
still love you, My church, with a great and everlasting love. And I want you to
obey Me and honor Me because of your love for Me.
Thorns,
thorns, what do thorns represent? My children, do you remember, way back in the
Garden of Eden, that Adam sinned against Me. He sought to do his own will
instead of Mine. He sought to exalt his own ideas and his own intellect above
Mine, and the result, My beloved children, was separation from Me7.
Do you know, do you understand, how much you hurt Me, how I groaned when I knew
that I had lost you to My enemy? Do you know; do you understand? No, you do not;
you cannot, for you do not know the depth of My love for you8.
The result of
Adam’s disobedience was that you were separated from Me and I could no longer
have fellowship with you, and I could no longer walk and talk with you, and I
had to eject you from My garden, and the earth became corrupted and cursed
because of you. No longer did the earth bring forth its fruit abundantly and
easily, but instead it brought forth weeds and thorns9.
Thorns,
thorns, what do thorns represent? Thorns represent the curse that came upon the
earth as a result of your disobedience to My Word. But I took the curse of the
thorns upon My own head so that you would not have to bear it forever. Little
did the soldiers know that the crown of thorns they platted and placed on My
head would release them from the very curse they were under, for as I hung on
the cross wearing the crown of thorns I became the curse for you, so that you
could have the blessing that I promised to My servant Abraham10.
Yes, thorns
were representative of the curse you brought on the earth, but they represented
much more than that as they were placed on My head. For you, they meant that as
I wore the crown of the curse you could wear the crown of the blessing. As I
wore the crown of your sin for you, you can wear the crown of My righteousness11.
As I wore the crown of your death for you, you can wear the crown of My life12.
As I wore the crown of your shame for you, you can wear the crown of My glory13.
As I wore the crown of your anguish for you, you can wear the crown of My
rejoicing14.
So, My
people, rejoice in what I have done for you and turn back to Me. Go your own
ways no longer, but be obedient to Me, for I have borne your shame so that you
can bear My honor15.
I was separated from My Father so that you can return to fellowship with your
Father16.
My children, I gladly wore the crown of thorns for you, for I love you with an
everlasting love.
The soldiers
sought to mock Me, the soldiers sought to humiliate Me, but they did not do so
for My Father crowned Me in that moment with a crown of honor. As I wore that
crown before men I was honored
before My Father, for it was a victor’s crown17.
Death could not hold Me. Satan, your enemy, was defeated and I wore a symbol of
triumph upon My head18.
It was an emblem of distinguished service, it was a sign that the Father was honoring
Me publicly and declaring to the world that I had won the prize, and that all
the honor and all the glory were Mine19.
And the prize
that I had won? That prize was you, My church, My bride. So, My crown of thorns
was a crown of promise, a crown of nuptial joy as I look to the day of My
wedding20.
It was a crown of rejoicing, a crown of festal joy, for the curse would be no
more21
and you, My people, would come into a new relationship with Me and with the
Father.
And finally,
My children, it was a sign of My kingly authority for I am indeed your King, and
I desire that you obey Me so that we can walk together in fellowship and love.
So rejoice with Me, My bride, in My crown of thorns, for I wore it for you so
that you can wear My crown of glory when I come into My kingdom and take you to
be My bride.
Notes
1.
Eccl 12:9-12 2. Lk
12:49 3. Lk
6:46 4. Prov
9:10 5.
Rev 14:14 6. Matt 27:27-29 7. Gen 3
8. Eph 3:17-19 9. Gen
3:18 10. Gal 3:13-14 11. 2 Cor
5:21
, 2 Tim 4:8 12. Jam
1:12
,
Rev 2:10 13. 1 Pet 5:4 14. 1 Thess
2:19 15. Jn
5:44 16. Matt 27:46, 1 Jn 1:3 17.
1 Cor
15:54
-57 18.
Col
2:15 19. Rev 5:12-13 20. Rev 19:7-8
21. Rev 22:3
Nails
Question: Lord, will You talk to me about the nails that held
You to the cross?
Jesus: My beloved
children, it was not nails that held Me to the cross. Did you not read that I
had the power to lay down My life and I had the power to take it up again?1
No, it was not the nails that held Me to the cross, but it was My love for you.
Before you were even born I loved you with a perfect and everlasting love.
Before you were born, before you were formed in your mother’s womb, before you
were even conceived I loved you. Indeed even before the foundation of the world
I knew you and I loved you2,
for I created you to have fellowship with Me.
“How is
this?” you ask, “How could You love me even before I was conceived?” With
God all things are possible3,
and I am not bound by time and space as you are. I am all knowing and I knew you
before you were conceived, and I loved you before you even existed. My love for
you is so great that I chose, even before the foundation of the world, that I
would die in your place so that you could have the choice of having My life4.
For you see,
My precious, precious child, I knew that you would disobey Me. I knew that you
would be rebellious and stiff-necked, and that you would go your own way and
depart from Me. But My Father and I devised a plan, out of Our great love for
you, that would enable you to come back to Us, a plan that would defeat Our
enemy, Satan, who had tricked you, a plan that would overcome the effects of
your sin and make it possible for us to be together again. Our love for you was
so great, so deep and so wide, so unfathomable5,
that We could do no less. We were constrained, the Father and I, to sacrifice
everything so that We could be reunited to you. My Father would sacrifice His
Beloved Son so that you, too, could be His child6;
and I would sacrifice My life so that you, too, could live again.
My beloved
people, do you not understand that it was not nails that held Me to the cross as
I paid the penalty for your sin?7
I did not have to submit to that. I did not have to hang there and suffer there.
I did not have to suffer separation from My Father8
so that you could be reunited to Him. No, I did not. Did I not say to Peter that
I could call on twelve legions of angels to assist Me?9
And they were waiting there, standing by, to do just that if I had given the
word. And those standing around the cross sought to mock Me saying, “You saved
others. Come down from the cross and save Yourself”10.
They sought to mock Me, but I could have done just that. It would only have
taken one word and My Father would have rescued Me.
So I could
have come down from the cross for it was not nails that held Me there. And yet I
could not give that word, I could not come down, for I was held there by an
all-consuming love for you, My precious one. It was your life or Mine11.
No it was not nails that held Me to the cross but My love for you, just you; not
your neighbor,
not your friend, but you, you, you, My precious one. Just for you I hung there
and suffered there, and I did it so that you could have My life. I took your
death so that you could have My life and be with Me forever.
What will
your response be, My child? What will you do now? Will you have Me as your Lord?
Will you have Me as your King? The sign above My head declared to the world that
I am the King. Will you be My subject? Will you submit your will to Mine? Will
you submit your life to Me? Will you lay down your own agendas, your own
programs, your own ideas, your own plans, and take up Mine? Will you lay down
your life for Me as I laid down My life for you, and did the will of My Father?12
What about you, My people? How will you respond to My love? I sacrificed Myself
on the altar of the cross, I bore the judgement that was yours, out of My great
love for you. What will you do for Me? What can you do for Me?
You can say
“Yes” to Me, for your will is your own. You can choose to love Me and obey
Me, as I have loved and obeyed My Father, or you can choose to continue in your
own way, and remain in your rebellious state separated from Me and dying in your
sin13.
Will My sacrifice for you have been in vain? Will My love for you have been in
vain? The choice is yours. I have loved you with a perfect and everlasting love.
What will be your response to Me? No, My people, nails did not fasten Me to the
cross. Love fastened Me to the cross, My love for you.
Notes
1.
Jn
10:18 2. Ps 139:13-16, Jer 1:5,
31:3 3. Matt
19:26 4. Eph 1:3-6 5. Eph 3:17-19
6. Jn 1:12-13,
3:16 7.
Col
2:13-14 8. Matt 27:46, Ps 22:1-2 9. Matt 26:52-54
10. Mk 15:29-32 11. Rom
6:23 12. Phil 2:5-11 13. Deut 30:11-20
The Meaning of the Cross
Question: Lord, will You talk to me about the cross?
Father: My children,
what do you see when you look on the cross? Of what does it speak to you? There
are many things it could speak to you of. Much has been written of the cross,
but I want to share with you My heart. I want you to see what I see when I look
on the cross, for the cross speaks of one fundamental thing that encompasses all
the rest.
The cross
speaks of My love for you, My very great and everlasting love for you, My
children. Even before I created the earth I loved you. Indeed I created it
because I wanted you, and I wanted to create you because I wanted children that
I could relate to. I created you in My image1,
a being that walked and talked and thought like Me, a being that had emotions
and was capable of expressing love like I am. For I am love2
and I have placed in you that capacity to love Me in return.
I longed to
walk and talk with Adam in the garden and have fellowship with him. It was such
a delight to Me. But one day he listened to My enemy, Satan, and disobeyed Me
causing our fellowship to be broken. On that day I came walking in the garden
and I knew that it was over. In My distress I cried, “Adam, where are you?”
My heart was broken as I cast him out of My presence3.
But I had a
plan, I was not defeated, I would have sons and daughters who loved Me. I would
have that relationship restored4. Satan would not have the last word,
and that, My beloved children is what the cross is about. It is about My love
for you. It is about the restoration of that intimate relationship I once had
with you.
But it cost
Me dearly to achieve this. It meant that I had to sacrifice Jesus, My only
begotten Son whom I dearly love. I had to place your sin on His shoulders. I had
to let Him become sin for you so that you could come back to Me5.
My heart was torn apart when He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?” and I could not answer Him because your sin had become a barrier between
Us6.
You do not understand what it meant for Us to do that, for We have always been
One7.
But it was My very great love for you and My desire to be reunited with you, My
precious child, that enabled Me to do this.
Do you not
know, can you not understand how much I love you and how much I long for your
fellowship? No, you do not, you cannot, not now, but you will one day. Oh how I
love you, My child. How I long for your love in return. How I long for your
fellowship. This is what the cross means to Me. It is the means by which you can
be set free8,
forgiven9,
made righteous10
and restored to fellowship with Me11.
It is the means through which you can be born of My Spirit12
and the means through which I can adopt you as My child and bring you into My
family13.
It is the means through which you can love Me as your Father.
Oh but what
have you done My people? What have you done with that precious gift? You have
turned your freedom into religion. You have bound yourselves by religious rules
and rituals14.
You have turned a loving relationship between Father and child into religious
observance. This is not what I want from you. This is not why I sacrificed My
Son, for religion. Oh My people do you not realize how I hate religion, for it
keeps you from Me? Whichever religion it is, but especially the Christian
‘religion’, for it makes a mockery of all that We have done for you.
How would you
like it if your children gave you religious observance instead of their love?
Don’t you understand, My people? I love you and I want a relationship with
you. I want you to love Me. I want you to delight in Me. I want you to spend
time with Me. I want you to share with Me the smallest and most intimate details
of your lives. Just as you delight in your children I want to delight in you.
So please
will you come back into a relationship with Me? Speak to Me. Listen to Me. Walk
and talk with Me in the garden again. I am your Father and I love you
passionately. I will do anything for you, and indeed I have done everything that
I could do to restore our relationship. Now it is up to you. I can do no more. I
have set you free so that you can love Me and now I am waiting for your
response.
If you will
respond to My love then I will place in you a love for Me that will never die. I
will light in you a fire that will blaze brightly for all to see. Did not Jesus
say that He would baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire?15
My child, do you want a love like that burning within you? Do you want My love
burning in you, a love that will cause you to seek after Me with all your heart,
with all your soul and with all your mind?16 This is what I want for you, My
child, but do you want it? Do you want this depth of relationship with Me that I
long to have with you?
I can’t
force you, My child, for I have given you free will. The choice is yours. But
this is what I desire for us and this love I have for you was
demonstrated in the cross. This is what the cross means to Me, My child,
restoration of love and fellowship between us. But My child, what does the cross
mean to you?
Notes
1.
Gen
1:26 2. 1 Jn 4:8 3. Gen 3
4. Eph 1:3-6 5. Isa 53:4-6 6. Matt 27:46
7. Jn 10:30, Jn 17:11, 21-24 8. Jn 8:36, Gal 5:1
9. Eph 1:7 10. 2 Cor
5:21 11. 1 Cor 1:9, 1 Jn 1:3 12.
Jn 1:12-13 13. Rom 8:14-17 14. Gal 3:1-7, 5:1
15. Matt
3:11 16. Matt 22:37-38