28/05/14

Salvation - well, well - salvation

Hosea 1: 1 - The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.


I was meditating on this scripture which I received and my attention was directed to Hosea and his father Beeri.

We know Hosea for he was a great Man of God and because we know him we read the name of his father Beeri. If Hosea was not a famous Man of God no one would heard about Beeri. But then I thought if it was not for Beeri would there have been Hosea. Beeri was the father of Hosea; he was the cause of Hosea coming into this world and his existence. When I went into the meaning of their names I found something more interesting. Hosea means 'salvation' and Beeri means 'well'. That is why my title for today's message 'salvation to well, well to salvation' - let me explain.

When Jesus met the Samarian woman at the well He told her 'who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water'. Later He goes on to say 'the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life'. When we read John 7:38 Jesus quotes Isaiah where in the Lord says whom the Lord guides He will make fat their bones (which means feed / strengthen their character), they will be watered garden (well satisfied in all their needs) and springs of water (they will flow with true understanding). If we read John 7:39 Jesus related this spring of water to His Spirit. We also need to note in John 7:14 Jesus says 'the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life', meaning this living water spring will lead them unto everlasting life.

When we believe in Jesus we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. When we surrender to His Spirit we receive the token of the Spirit of Truth. It is the Spirit of Truth who builds in us a passion for His Word and opens our mind to the understanding of the Word and the Kingdom of God. As we grow in the Spirit of God we grow in understanding of the Kingdom of God and come to know more and more of the Truth. As we come to know more of the Truth we overcome our evil nature and thus mature in spirit and from children of God become Sons of God and thus get to go to Heaven.

The word salvation means to be saved. People mistakenly assume all words stated as salvation means eternal life.

We need to understand we can have eternal life only if we go to Heaven and have access to the Tree of Life which is in Heaven. It is this Tree that gives us a refill of life every time our spirit needs it. When we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that He has paid the wages of our sin we are saved from going to Hell, this does not mean we go to Heaven to receive eternal life. It means we are now eligible for eternal life and on the journey to Heaven, not that we have reached there, that is why Jesus says He is the Way.

When we believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we get to receive His Spirit and it is His Spirit who takes us through our journey to eternal life - that is to Heaven, the Throne of God. Paul writes to the believing Church of Corinth 'Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God'. Jesus is the way and His Spirit leads us along the way to eternal life.

Paul acknowledges eternal life is by the Name of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God and not just by believing in Jesus, that is why Jesus says by the baptism of both only can one enter the Kingdom of God not just one. It is by the working of both we overcome the evil nature to sin, our faith in Jesus Christ and the working of the Spirit of Truth in us.

Many Christians are fooled to believe that by just believing in Jesus Christ they will go to Heaven, they do not realize that they need to be circumcised in the heart by the Holy Spirit who brings them to know Jesus Christ and understand what Jesus preached. They are like people to get a free bus ticket to their eternal homes but land up standing at the bus stop because they do not catch the bus.

Today's message talks of Hosea and his father Beeri, of salvation and of the well of understanding. Salvation that brings us to the well and the well that brings us to salvation.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord we pray all those who believe in You do not be deceived that they will go to Heaven. Lord we pray they realize they need to be baptized also in the Holy Spirit and be led by the Holy Spirit to become Sons of God and thus enter Heaven. We pray Lord that many may have springs of Living Water flowing from their bellies, they may be wells that do not go dry...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference ]
John 4:7-14
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 7:37-39
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Proverbs 18:4 - The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

Isaiah 58:11 - And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)