As He is so are we. As we were so was He.

When we spend time in the Word, our first priority should be to search out the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work for us in all of Scripture. The Bible is not a book that provides us the knowledge of good and evil, though many regard it in this manner. The Bible is wherein the Messiah of the world is revealed, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! We have a choice each and every day just as Adam and Eve had a choice. We can choose to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Or we have the choice to partake of the Tree of Life which is Jesus Christ. Knowing good and evil and trying our best to do the good and limit the evil will never give us eternal life nor make us acceptable before God. Knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior who took away the sin of the world through His death and putting our faith in Him is what makes us acceptable before God and gives us everlasting life! It is always about what He did freely for us.

When we see the Bible as the Book of Life wherein the Savior is revealed, it brings about a divine time in searching out our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only in the four gospels and the New Testament letters where He is found. He and His atoning work for us are found throughout the entire Bible starting from Genesis through Revelations. He is the Alpha and Omega. The Aleph Tav.

Today, my eyes were opened to a certain story from Israel's history that I did not quite understand fully before. I have been taught and I have learned the truth of 1 John 4:17. "In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world." (AMP) This truth is amazing because it brings home the reality of how God sees us when we put our trust in Jesus Christ. As He is (present tense) so are (present tense) we in this world. We are one with Him! This is our reality at this very moment - here and now!

The story to which the Holy Spirit lit the lamp of revelation to me comes about in 1 Kings 22. At this point in Israel's history, they are multiple reigns into a divided nation. There is a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern kingdom (Judah). The northern kingdom of Israel never had a king with whom God was pleased with. Judah, on the other hand, had some bad, some good and some excellent kings. At this point in time, Ahab was the king of Israel and he "did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him." (see 1 Kings 16:30) He was literally the worst of the worst in God's eyes. Judah, on the other hand, had King Jehoshaphat of whom it is written, "Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals." (2 Chronicles 17:3) He was one of the good kings to follow after David and was acceptable in the sight of God.

With the background set, I want to provide a quick reminder that our focus is not on the evil that Ahab did and the good that Jehoshaphat did. Putting our focus there and trying to learn lessons is not how we receive life from this passage. Life will be found when we are able to find Jesus and His love for us concealed in this story. The bad and the good that these kings did actually goes deeper than their outward actions which is a whole post dedicated to itself.

Now, the main story occurs when Ahab reaches out to Jehoshaphat asking for his assistance in claiming back a part of Israel's territory from the king of Syria. It is during this request that an amazing answer is given by Jehoshaphat to the wicked Ahab. When asked to join together for war by this rival king, here is Jehoshaphat's response.

1 Aram (Syria) and Israel continued without war for three years. 2 In the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 Now the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, yet we are still doing nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?” 4 And Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” (1 Kings 22:1-4, AMP)

What a surprising but nonetheless amazing response! I was always confused by this response. Why would a king that walks before the Lord choose to associate himself with this wicked king? This statement actually carries even more meaning than just associating himself with Ahab. He is essentially stating that they are as one individual person. He is putting himself in covenant with Ahab, which in those days, meant that breaking the covenant would mean death for the offender. This Ahab, the king of whom the Bible finds it hard to even refer by name and chooses to refer to him as "King of Israel" more than not... Why would Jehoshaphat lower himself to join himself as one with this evil king?

And this is when the lamp was lit in my heart. The same exact question can be asked of Calvary. Why would a Man who "knew no sin" be "made sin for us"? (see 2 Corinthians 5:21) We, who are included where the Bible says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (see Romans 3:23) When we don't look at the story as a lesson of do's and don't's but we look at it searching for Jesus, we find that we are all indeed Ahab. It is the mercy and the wisdom of God to let Ahab, the most wicked of all, to be the one that Jehoshaphat joins himself to. God is showing us that there is no sinner who has fallen so far that Jesus cannot save. And just as Jehoshaphat lowered himself and joined himself to Ahab, our Lord Jesus Christ came down so low to become you and I and take our deserving place on that cross! He was essentially saying, "Your fate will be my fate." He took our place of death and judgment by bearing our sins on His body! Amazing Grace!

And now we are back to the amazing present truth that we started with above. "By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world." (1 John 4 :17 ESV) We now know without a doubt why we can claim this truth. It is because the Lord, at the cross, said to us, "As you are, so am I" while we were yet his enemies (see Romans 5:10). Just as Jehoshaphat said to his enemy, Ahab. Christ took my place of the sinner deserving of curse, shame, and death so that I could receive His place of love, peace, and everlasting life. Praise our Sweet Savior! His condescending love and His humility towards us are too sweet and amazing to put into words. He gives us the right to say, "As you are Lord, so am I!" But it is only possible because the Lord said, "As you are, my beloved, so am I"...while we were yet sinners. The love of Christ! The love of our Father!

As always, when a lamp is lit, we find much more than what we were searching for. "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light." (Psalm 36:9 NASB) As I read on in the story, I saw that as they were going to battle together, Ahab had devised a plan where he would disguise himself as a regular soldier instead of dressing as a king to avoid becoming a special target. However, he wanted Jehoshaphat to remain dressed as a king in battle (See 1 Kings 22). Jehoshaphat, for some reason, agreed and went to battle dressed as a king. The Syrian army was directed by their king to only attack the king of Israel. And because Jehoshaphat was the only one dressed as a king, they came near Jehoshaphat to kill him mistaking him for Ahab. But at this moment, Jehoshaphat cried out (see 1 Kings 22:32-33) and the enemies stopped pursuing him. He had revealed to the opposing army that he was not the one they were trying to kill. Because of this, they turned their attention away from Jehoshaphat and a certain Syrian soldier fired a bow at random and it just happened to strike Ahab who eventually died from this shot (1 Kings 22:32).

As soon as I saw that Jehoshaphat cried out in the face of death, the Holy Spirit brought to mind Isaiah 53. That great prophecy of the Messiah.

"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth [to complain or defend Himself]; Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers, So He did not open His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7 AMP)

Whereas Jehoshaphat cried out to save himself, our Lord opened not His mouth. Our Lord Jesus could have at any moment left us to fend for ourselves and gone back to the Father. He chose to stay and lay down His life! That arrow of death that was centered on my back, the Lord took Himself by laying down His life and opening not His mouth! Lord, Your amazing love for us! It is truly not of this world!

And so Lord, we boldly declare that as You are, so are we in this world! Beloved and accepted before the Father. Apart from our past, present and future failings, we are found in You always because we can claim this amazing truth. Because as we were, You became. So that as You are, we are today. All that we deserved, You took! So all that remains for us is what You deserved. Thank you, Jesus.