The physical nation of Israel still has a very important part to play in God’s plan. They have a prominent role in end-time prophecy. However, the physical nation of Israel has been displaced in importance by the spiritual seed of Abraham, that is the church of Jesus Christ.

Christians are the true circumcised people of God. In Romans 2:28-29, Paul reveals that true circumcision is a matter of the heart, not the flesh, and that true Judaism is through new birth, not physical birth.

In Colossians 2:11, Paul says that spiritual circumcision was done by God without the hands of man. This circumcision, that was made without hands, proves that it was not done in the physical. Paul is referring to the spiritual circumcision of the heart. The sins of our heart were cut away and discarded through the sacrifice of Christ in a similar way that the foreskin is removed from a male. The physical act of circumcision is a picture of the spiritual circumcision that is now a reality in every born-again believer.

The condition of a person’s flesh is not the important thing. It doesn’t matter if the flesh is circumcised or holy. It is the condition of the spirit that matters with God. Those who put faith in their circumcision to save them are putting confidence in the flesh and not in God. Today, the act of circumcision is not the issue, but acts of holiness are still deemed by many as essential for receiving salvation. That is just as wrong as those in Paul’s day who believed that being circumcised granted them salvation.

It is the apostle John who reveals Peter as the one who cut off the servant’s ear and also identifies the servant. It is very doubtful that Peter was aiming for Malchus’ ear. It is more probable that he was making a horizontal swing at the servant’s head and as the man ducked, Peter cut off his ear.

Peter was very vocal about never denying the Lord, and his actions proved that he meant what he said. There were only two swords among the disciples, yet Peter was willing to take on these six hundred soldiers. This spelled certain death or imprisonment.

Peter wanted to stand with the Lord, but he was not prepared spiritually. He was still strong in his own ability. If the battle would have been in the physical realm, Peter would have fought to the death as he proved here. But when Jesus told Peter to put up his sword and not resist with his physical power, Peter was confused.

Peter only knew how to rely on the flesh. When Jesus refused to allow Peter to fight with his sword, he was defenseless. If he would have been praying with Jesus, as instructed, Peter would have been built up spiritually and able to stand with Jesus spiritually without denying Him. As the prophet Zechariah said, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 4:6).

Likewise, we may sincerely desire to never deny our Lord, but it takes more than desire; it takes preparation. We all have been taught how to rely on ourselves, but we have to learn anew how to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Eph. 6:10). Just as in the physical realm, where muscles have to be exercised to become strong, so we have to exercise ourselves unto godliness (1 Tim. 4:7).

It is evident that it was the power of God that made these six hundred men fall backwards to the ground, but why did it happen when He said, “I am he”?

In this verse, and also in verse eight, the word “he” is italicized. That means that the word “he” was not in the original text but was added by the translators to make the sentence grammatically correct. This serves a useful purpose and is very helpful in most cases. However, the translators put these additions in italics so that we could be aware of what the text literally said.

In this instance, Jesus literally said, “I am.” Since Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, His statement of “I am,” carried just as much weight as when He expressed it to Moses (Ex. 3:14). This is nothing less than the Almighty God releasing His glory through the powerful statement, “I AM.” No wonder these men were knocked to the ground.

This graphically illustrates how Jesus could have easily defended Himself against any size army that would come to take His life. As He said in John 10:18, “No man taketh it (i.e. His life) from me, but I lay it down of myself.”

There are many instances recorded in scripture where people fell to the ground as a result of being in God’s presence. The same thing still happens today. Just as some people faint when they experience fear, when they experience the awesome presence of God, they become weak, and lose strength in their physical body.

Jesus often healed people by touching them, and others received their healing as they touched Jesus. You can transmit the power or the anointing of God through the laying on of hands (Mk. 16:18; Heb. 6:2). The virtue of God can even be transmitted to objects and then brought to the person who needs healing or deliverance.

Jesus provided physical healing as well as forgiveness of sins. Many scriptures mention the healing of our bodies in conjunction with the forgiveness of our sins. Healing is an expression of God’s love and compassion for our physical man. Healing miracles also draw men to God to get their spiritual needs met. Physical healing acts like a bell to get man’s attention so that the Lord can minister to the inner man as well.

Healing has been purchased for us as part of the atonement of Christ. The Lord would no more refuse to heal us than He would refuse to forgive us. That does not mean that we deserve healing – we don’t. It is a gift from God, just as salvation is a gift from God (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8). We don’t deserve to have our sins forgiven. We cannot demand salvation from the Lord, but we can expect it. Likewise, healing has been purchased for us through the atonement of Christ. Healing belongs to us, but it is still the mercy of God that provides healing. Every act of healing is an act of mercy.

The four gospels refer to Jesus teaching 43 times, preaching 19 times, and preaching and teaching in the same verse, six times. This indicates that Jesus spent twice as much time teaching as He did preaching. Teaching is the basic building block for making disciples. Jesus was making disciples, not just converts.

The Greek word for “disciple” literally means “a learner,” and indicates “learning by endeavor” or what we would call “on-the-job training.” Jesus said in John 8:31, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” Anyone who meets this criterion is Jesus’ disciple.

“Jailhouse religion,” where a person is only sorry he got caught and is trying to get out of a bad situation, will not produce true discipleship. It takes a forsaking of all to be Jesus’ disciple. Jesus wants us to “count the cost.” It is definitely a commitment.

What the Lord has started in you, He will also continue and complete. That is not to say that your success will be automatic; we have to cooperate with what God is wanting to do in our lives. Our faithfulness may always be suspect, but God’s faithfulness is never in question. It is always God’s will to continue and complete the good work He began in us.

In Romans chapter one, Paul calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ. Out of the six Greek words for “servant” used in the New Testament, Paul used one of the most slavish terms possible. The word used in this passage is “doulos” and comes from the root word “deo” which means “bind.” Paul literally speaks of himself as a bondman or slave of Jesus Christ – a slave by free choice; yet owned and purchased by Jesus Christ.

The idea of being a love-slave by choice comes from Old Testament passages such as Exodus 21:2-6 and Deuteronomy 15:12-17. If an Israelite bought a Hebrew slave, he must set him free in the seventh year. However, if the slave loved his master and said, “I will not go away from thee,” then a hole was to be bored through the lobe of his ear pronouncing him a bond-slave forever.

Jesus is the supreme example of selflessness – He puts others ahead of Himself.

We see clearly from Jesus’ example, that the way to exaltation in God’s kingdom comes through humility and servanthood to others. Christ’s humiliation, displayed in His coming to earth as a man, is not only a lesson in Christology but also an example to all believers of what greatness in God’s kingdom entails. Let this attitude of heart, taken from the example of Jesus Christ, continue to motivate all true believers in Jesus Christ.

The Creator became the creation; the Lord became the servant; the Highest became the lowest. All of this was done because of God’s great love for us.

We have angels assigned to us. Hebrews 1:14 further reveals that their purpose is to minister to us, on our behalf. In the Old Testament, Psalm 91 teaches on the ministry of angels to God’s people.

Some people who have realized this truth have taken it as far as to say that we are suppose to speak to our angels and they will obey our commands. There is no instruction in scripture to do this nor is there any example of that being done. We don’t have the intelligence to administer all of the angels.

Many of the angels’ protective duties described in Psalm 91 are preventative, and we certainly could not effectively command these activities.

Rather, these angels are dispatched exactly as this verse describes – by looking at the Father’s face (Mat. 18:10). God Almighty controls them for us; however, we do have a part to play. Psalm 91 prefaces all of these promises about angels as being for those who dwell in the secret place of the most High. Verse 2 further instructs us to say that the Lord is our refuge and fortress and in Him we trust.

It is the combination of our faith in God and His faithfulness to us that releases the angels on our behalf. If it was solely up to God, His provision would be the same for everyone because of His mercy and grace. However, we have to receive God’s grace by faith (Eph. 2:8). As we seek the Lord, become aware of His ministering spirits which were created to minister to us, and speak forth our faith in this area, He will send forth His angels on our behalf.

It is not our individual acts of sin that make us a sinner. It is our sin nature that makes us commit individual acts of sin. Adam’s one sin produced a sin nature in all men that in turn, caused each person to commit individual acts of sin. Jesus not only dealt with the original sin that contaminated the human race, but He also dealt with each individual act of sin.

Anyone who is trying to obtain righteousness through their actions is totally missing the point. Believers are made righteous through faith in Christ, independent of their actions. It’s the same way that everyone was made a sinner: through Adam’s one sin, not through our individual sins.

At salvation, our old man (Rom. 6:6) or sin nature died, but the tendency to sin remains in the thoughts and emotions that the old man left behind. No longer does the Christian have a sin nature that compels him to sin, but he must simply deal with renewing his mind.

Sin ruled like a king through condemnation to bring death upon everyone.

Condemnation is like the general of sin that enforces its power. Likewise, God’s grace now rules like a king through righteousness to bring all who are in Christ into eternal life. Righteousness is the general of grace who defends us against all the wiles of the devil.

Remove guilt or condemnation and sin loses its strength to rule (1 Cor. 15:56). Remove the knowledge of righteousness by faith, and grace loses its power to release eternal life into our daily lives.

How do you walk in the Spirit? The way you do this is through living by, conducting your actions according to, and following the leading of the Word of God as quickened to you by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God agree perfectly because the Holy Spirit is the one who inspired the written Word of God.

Denying the flesh will not result in walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit will result in denying the flesh. This may seem like a subtle difference to some, but the difference is truly profound. As a whole, false religions teach that as we overcome our flesh, there is a noticeable increase in the presence and power of God in our lives. That was what the Pharisees of Jesus’ day and the legalistic Jews of Paul’s day taught. Just the opposite is true. As we experience more of the presence and power of the Spirit of God, then the influence of the flesh is diminished. Victory must come in this order. We don’t walk in the Spirit as a result of overcoming the flesh, rather overcoming the flesh is the result of walking in the Spirit.

It’s similar to how you fill a dark room with light. You don’t shovel out the darkness and then light appears. No! You simply turn on the light and the darkness flees. Much of religion preaches to stop sinning (get rid of the darkness) and then the Holy Spirit will come and empower you (the light will come). That’s not the way it works. Man can no more get rid of the power of the flesh on his own than he can get rid of the power of darkness without light. We have to receive the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives by grace and then the union with the Holy Spirit breaks the power of the flesh. The key to breaking the dominion of the flesh is to appropriate the power of the Spirit through faith, while the flesh is still causing us problems. Those who are waiting for the Spirit to manifest after they have subdued the flesh, will wait as long as the man who is trying to get rid of the darkness so the light will appear.