Revealing Abba Preface
| A few things that you should know
before reading "Revealing Abba". The Psalms are from the very heart of God, Jesus, who is the exact expression of God's heart toward you. They reveal not only who God is but also who man is and has always been to Him. Jesus saw that Abba was with Him to Father His life and declared how He will also be with you to Father your life. The Father shows us in Jesus an expected end, as I was with Jesus so will I be with you. You will see that the verses are not numbered. I wanted readers to see and be focused on the heart of the Father for them and not on the word for word interpretation of verses. At one point I would have told you that these writings were not as technical as most of my other writings but today I am persuaded that seeing this was the Father’s message from the beginning and Jesus’ greatest ministry to reveal it to us, I would say in its simplicity, it is also very technical. The Psalms contain the entire gospel and heart of God for you. Read it often and be blessed. You will also see that most verses end in a semi colon, this is because I believe each Psalm is a single thought. Here is some terminology I would also like to address. Innocence/innocent: When you see the word innocence or innocent, it is speaking about how even though man-kind was married to death, it could not be a word that they were not the children of God. And this charge was the very accusation the devil brought against Jesus, saying if you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread. Tempting Jesus to use His own strength to preserve His life. And again, this same accusation came while He was on the cross. In raising Jesus from the dead, we see in Romans 1:4 that God declared that He was the Son of God with power, justifying all men as innocent of the accusation that because of death they were not the sons and daughters of God. Enemy/enemies: My concern with these terms is that one might think it refers to people. Let us be clear about two points we can see in scripture. 1. Death was God's enemy, 2. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Nor did Jesus’ wrestle against flesh and blood. People are not our enemies. Flesh/Flesh and Bone: Many have been taught that the flesh is bad. And certainly, to use the strength contained in your flesh to try and preserve your life would be by definition sin. And of course, Paul states in Corinthians that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But when Jesus was raised from the dead and He appeared to His disciples and He said, touch me, for a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see I do. We see in Ezekiel 16 that God found man in his blood, corrupted/defiled by blood it says. And Leviticus says the strength of the flesh is in the blood. Herein lies the symbol of corruption and death. And we see that the testimony of Jesus that He let His blood run out. And appeared from the grave, immortal, in a flesh and bone body that will never die again. So, we can see in the physical resurrection that God does not see the flesh as evil. The flesh is neutral but to use your flesh to try and establish and preserve your life would be the way that leads to destruction. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2 Cor 4:7 Though we live in perishable bodies, by the power of God, the Spirit of God will these mortal bodies be quickened. And as Romans 6 says as we are in the likeness of His death so will we be in the likeness of His resurrection. Perspective: The Psalms contain both thoughts and conversations between Jesus and the Father that prophetically came from David’s heart. Most theologians would call only certain Psalms messianic Psalms, but I am fully persuaded that all the Psalms are messianic, to use their term. Much of the perspective that I have written here is Jesus as high priest but even to be our high priest Jesus had to be and was a man. And seeing Jesus the man, and His words and thoughts to the Father as death begins to encircle Him and manifest in His body, reveal the faith, which is the persuasion in Jesus’ heart that caused Him to not open His mouth to defend Himself but to simply cry out “Abba, into your hands do I commit My life”. And we see how Jesus as a man in flesh that could die, was persuaded to allow His flesh to rest in the hope He had from the Father to not leave Him in the grave or allow His body to see corruption but to raise Him. A sure hope and evidence we now have in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lastly, it is written from the perspective that we now know the end from the beginning. As Jesus also knew He would be raised up and spoke about it for over three and a half years of ministry, so do the Psalms and all the scriptures speak of the spirit of prophecy that is found in Jesus Christ; that is, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and ascension, as well as His return. Grace and Peace, John Fazio |
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