Full Measure of Faith
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End of Faith
Hebrews 12:1–2 APNT:
1 Because of this also, we, who haveall these witnesses that surround us like a cloud, should unfasten all our burdens from us, even the sin that is always prepared for us, and we should run with patience this race that is set for us.
2 And we should look at Jesus, who was the initiator and finisher of our faith, who for the joy there was for him endured the cross and discounted the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Who is Jesus Christ?
The name “the Lord Jesus Christ” really tells the story of his whole ministry, of what he did and what he is doing today.
Jesus Christ is our high priest and has made the way to the Holy of Holies available for each and every believer. Our response is to make him the object of our faith, from beginning to end.
Overview
| Master | Ephesians 6:9,10 “Be strong in the Lord | Lead |
| Highest Name | Philippians 2:5-11 We have his authority | Give victory |
| Head of Body | Ephesians 1:20-23 First in everything | Strengthen |
| Peace | Ephesians 2:14 Made us one | Peace |
| Savior | Ephesians 2:4-9 To give life | Give life |
| Redeemer | I Peter 1:18 “To pay the required price” | Deliver, rescue |
| Only Begotten Son | John 3:16 The unique one, life in the age to come | Forgiveness of sins |
| Shepherd | John 10:14-15 Lays down his life for the sheep | Care, protection |
| Anointed One | Luke 4:18 To pour out the spirit | Power |
| Measure | Ephesians 4:7 Col 1:27 Filled with spirit of power | Pouring out grace |
| King and Priest | Hebrews 7:1-3, 26-8:2 After the order of Melchizedek | Mediator |
| Intercessor | Romans 8:34 Liveth to make intercession | Intercession |
Mara, Lord (boss or master)
Romans 10:9–10 ESV:
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
His ongoing ministry is to lead us and give us victory because he has the highest name. He is the head of the body, so he strengthens us in every capacity. He’s first in everything (that’s why he’s first in faith). He gives us wholeness. He’s made us one.
Yeshua, Jesus (Savior)
Being saved means having life and also being delivered or rescued. He’s also the only begotten Son and the shepherd.
Meshikha, Messiah (Christ)
He’s the anointed one with power who poured out the Spirit on us, giving us power too. We’ve been measured with God’s grace and power and have received the same measure of the spirit of Christ that he had.
Ephesians 4:7 APNT:
Now to each one of us is given grace according to the measure [meshukha] of the gift of Christ [meshikha].
In Aramaic, “measure” and “Messiah (Christ)” are a play on words emphasizing the full measure.
Romans 8:34 APNT:
Who condemns? Christ died and rose and is at the right hand of God and makes petition on our behalf.
Jesus Christ is a King and a Priest
In the Old Testament, the priests came from the tribe of Levi, and the line of Aaron, and the kings came from the line of Judah. But Jesus Christ is both a king and a priest in the same person, and he is of the tribe of Judah.
Hebrews 7:17 APNT:
For he testified about him: You are a priest forever in the likeness of Melchisedec.
Melchisedec was long before Israel, before any of the tribes of Israel. Melchisedec was both a king and a priest. And he had no genealogy recorded in God’s Word. That is like Jesus Christ, who had no genealogy on the father’s side, because the seed came from his Father, God, not a human man. We never hear anything about Melchisedec’s life or descendants after the record with Abraham. Melchisedec was the type of what Jesus Christ would be.
Why did we need to have both a king and a priest in one person?
Hebrews 7:23–8:2 APNT:
23 And those priests were many, because they died and were not allowed to continue.
24 But this [one], because he remains forever, his priesthood does not pass away.
25 And he is able to give life forever to those who come near to God by way of him, for he is always alive and sends up prayer for them.
26 For a priest like this [one] is also right for us, [one who is] pure, without evil and without impurity, one who is separated from sins and elevated higher than heaven
27 and has no need daily, like the high priests, to first offer sacrifices for his sins and then for the people, for this he did one time, in that he offered himself.
28 For the law established weak men [as] priests, but the word of the oaths that was after the law [established] the Son [as] perfect forever.
8:1 Now the first [point] of all these [things is that] we have a high priest who is seated on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.
8:2 And he is a minister of the sanctuary and of the tabernacle of truth that God pitched and not man.
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on Saturday afternoon, sometime between 3:00 and 6:00 PM, after having been buried for 72-hours straight. The very first thing he does in his resurrected body is that he goes clear through the heavens, straight to the throne room, the sanctuary of God, and he presents himself as the one-time sacrifice. The tabernacle and temple were only pictures of the reality, but Jesus entered the true throne room in heaven. This was the first time anyone had straight, direct access to God. He made the way open for every one of us to go into the sanctuary.
Hebrews 9:11–12 APNT:
11 Now Christ who has come [was] a high priest of the good [things] that he did. And he entered the great and perfect tabernacle that was not made by hands and was not of these created [things].
12 And he did not enter with the blood of goats or of calves, but with his own blood, he entered the sanctuaryone time and obtained redemption forever.
Where it says, “he entered the great and perfect tabernacle,” there is another text that says, “he entered the house of the holy of holies.”
Hebrews 9:24–28 APNT:
24 For Christ did not enter the sanctuary that was made by hands that was a type of that true [one], but he entered into heaven to appear before the presence of God for us.
25 Neither [was it necessary] to offer himself many times, as the high priest did when he entered the sanctuary every year with blood that [was] not his own.
26 Otherwise, it would be required that he should suffer many times since the beginning of the age. But now in the end of the age, he has offered himself one time by his sacrificing to abolish sin.
27 And as it is appointed to men that they should die one time, and after their death [is] the judgment,
28 so also Christ was offered one time. And in his person he sacrificed [for] the sins of many and he will appear a second time without sins for the life of those who wait for him.
Hebrews 10:10–14 APNT:
10 For in this, his will, we are made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time.
11 For every high priest who stood and served daily offered these same sacrifices that were never able to cleanse sins.
12 But this [one] offered one sacrifice for sins and sat down at the right hand of God forever.
13 And he remains [there] from now on, until his enemies will be placed [as] a footstool under his feet.
14 For with one offering he perfected those who were made holy by him forever.
Hebrews 10:18–22 APNT:
18 Now where there is forgiveness of sins, an offering for sins is not required.
19 We have, therefore, my brothers, boldness in the entering of the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus
20 and a way of life that is now made new for us by the veil that is his flesh.
21 And we have a high priest over the house of God.
22 Therefore, we should come near with a steadfast [true] heart and with the confidence of faith, our hearts being sprinkled and pure from an evil conscience and our body washed with pure water.
“Faith” is a hard word for us because when we talk about faith, immediately we start looking internally.
Romans 1:17 APNT:
For the uprightness [righteousness] of God is revealed in it [the gospel] from faith to faith, as it is written: The upright [one] will live by faith.
Habakkuk 2:3–4 ESV:
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Who are you going to trust?
“From faith to faith” is a simple idiom that means from the beginning of faith till the end of faith. We started by believing that God raised Christ from the dead, and then we got the whole package, including Christ’s faith. From that point on, we live by that. We make Jesus Christ the object of our faith and have confidence in him and how he’s working in us. There are some keys that will help us to have this kind of faith.
Hebrews 10:22–23 APNT:
22 Therefore, we should come near with a steadfast heart and with the confidence of faith, our hearts being sprinkled and pure from an evil conscience and our body washed with pure water.
23 And we should persist in the confession of our hope and we should not waver, for he is faithful who promised us.
The first key is to draw near with confidence. What we have in view is Christ and what he’s accomplished for us.
The second key is to persist in our confession.
It’s not confidence in my own faith, but confidence that He is faithful who promised us. It’s confidence in Him.
Hebrews 10:24:
(APNT) And we should gaze on one another with an encouragement to love and good works.
(KJV) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
The third key is to provoke or encourage one another to love and good works.
Hebrews 10:24 (APNT):
And we should not forsake our assembly, as is the custom for some, but we should desire [to be with] one another, especially the more you see that day approach.
The reason we don’t forsake our assembly is that we see that day approaching. In order to do all these things (keys)—come near, persist in our confession, encourage unto love and good works—we cannot forsake our assembly.
The fourth key is not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
Hebrews 4:15–16 APNT:
14 Therefore, because we have a great high priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who went up to heaven, we should persist in confession of him.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is not able to feel our weakness, but one who was tempted in everything like us, [yet] without sin.
16 Therefore, we should boldly come near the throne of his grace to receive mercies and to find grace for help in time of adversity.
We should persist in confession of him because he knows what we are going through; he was tempted in all things like we are, and yet was without sin.
Hebrews 10:35–39 APNT:
35 Therefore, do not lose the boldness that you have, for it will have a great reward.
36 For endurance is necessary for you to do the will of God and to receive the promise:
37 Because it is a little, even a very short time, that he who comes will come and he will not delay.
38 Now the upright will live by my faith and if he should be discouraged, I will not be pleased with him.
39 But we are not of the drawing back that leads to loss, but of the faith that obtains for us our life.
Hebrews 10:38 KJV:
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Romans 1:17 KJV:
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Habakkuk 2:3–4 ESV:
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
The only reason someone could not believe is that they are not looking at Christ and what he’s already accomplished for us.
Chapter 11 is filled with examples of people who accomplished great things by faith.
Hebrews 12:1:
(APNT) Because of this [everything before in Hebrews] also, we, who have all these witnesses that surround us like a cloud, should unfasten all our burdens from us, even the sin that is always prepared for us, and we should run with patience this race that is set for us.
(KJV) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:2 APNT:
2 And we should look at Jesus, who was the initiator and finisher of our faith, who for the joy there was for him endured the cross and discounted the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Song: Daniel by FFH
Another recording of that song with lyrics:
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (APNT) taken from the Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation: With explanatory footnotes marking variant readings, customs and figures of speech, Copyright © 2006 by Janet M. Magiera, Light of the Word Ministry, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.lightofword.org)
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio teaching also available on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
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