Dead To All Elements

Why did I struggle in this life?

I was trying to create this life in my own efforts. I was trying as hard as I could to make the life that no one can create on one's own.

If you are dead in your trespasses, there is nothing that you can offer.

The perfect type for this reality we find in the Old Testament, in the Ark of the Covenant:

"31And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 33And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. " (Exodus 16: 31-33)

and then in Hebrews:

"Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;" (Hebrews 9: 4)

How interesting, that in the New Testament, the writer affirms that the pot was golden.


The Golden pots of manna represent not just man's rebellion against God's provision, but also who we are before God in Christ, as Christ is our ark, and we are protected in Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing, we have nothing, we are nothing. Yet He fills us with the Bread of Life (John 6: 63), Jesus, and because we are in Christ, we are established in righteousness, represented by the golden overlay on the outside of the pots.

When we realize that we have nothing of ourselves, and that His life fills us up, then we find ourselves receiving all things freely with Him.

We are dead to all the elements of this world because of Jesus, and in place of our death we receive His life.

We are dead to all the elements, the rudiments of this world, because once the law has done its job, proving to us that we are dead in our trespasses, then we receive His life. and that more abundantly.

The problem for me, and for many Christians, however, is that we then go back to the law as a guide for living, when it is merely a ministry of death:

"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

The Glory of the New Covenant

(Exodus 34:29-35)

7But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)

 

Once we identify with Christ's death for us and as us (Romans 7:1-4), then we enter into a new life, His life, and we no longer look to the law for guidance.

 

Instead, we receive more of His grace:

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15: 10)

 

and then

 

"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-14)

 

Not our striving, not our barely getting by surviving, but His grace and righteousness bring us life, and that more abundantly.

 

We are no longer in ourselves, but in Christ, and in Christ, we receive all things, complete in Him (Colossians 2: 10)

 

For this reason, Paul writes prior:

 

"8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2: 8-9)

 

and then later:

 

"Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh." (colossians 2: 20-23)

 

Beyond the Ten Commandments, the Twelve Steps also counts are rudiments of the world, the counsel of the ungodly.

 

Have no part in such nonsense, for your every part if fulfilled in Christ!