THE
DIVINE PLEASURE – Part 1
Revelation 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the
throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O IAUE,
to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and
for thy pleasure they are and were created.
We cannot afford to live our lives with one foot in the Kingdom of
IAUE and another foot in this world.
This is no half-hearted venture we are pursuing. It isn’t a game. It will cost us everything.
We have just completed
a 5-part study on “Academic Knowledge vs. The Truth.” Access to Truth does not come through the
flesh, through our human abilities, our skills or our intellect. If we want the
Truth; if we want the revelation that produces true wisdom and understanding,
we must embrace the source of such Truth.
We must change our perspective of who we are and what is important to
us.
There have been two
questions that have plagued mankind for millennia They are:
Where did I come from? and
Why am I here?
Whole systems of
philosophy have been fabricated to provide answers to these questions. Through the ages countless men and women have
devoted their whole lives to pursuing the answers to these questions; and yet
for all their toil, the world’s populace still wonders, dissatisfied with their
postulated conclusions.
Man searches for these
answers because he does not want IAUE’s answer.
These tormenting questions persist as the result of the fall of man…of
the separation between IAUE and His creation borne of man’s disobedience. Into the darkness of Satan’s kingdom man fell
from the grace and the goodness and the glory of IAUE Elohim’s kingdom of Light,
where knowledge and wisdom and understanding are the normal bill of fare. To seek his answers there would require man
to acknowledge both his guilt and his dependence upon IAUE. Satan’s kingdom does not foster such humility;
and yet, what do we find the primal command of Yahushua to those who would
follow him?
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls.
A person with a meek
and lowly heart is one that will embrace the Truth no matter what it is, no
matter what others think about him. The
Truth sets him free. He is not afraid to
own his guiltiness, his ignorance, his weakness, his dependence, etc. He is
also willing to embrace the wonder, the glory, the majesty and the inheritance
revealed that belongs to him as a son of IAUE.
A humble man accepts the obvious along with the unthinkable, the too-good-to-be-true
realities of the Kingdom of Light. It is
not until we learn this first lesson of Yahushua Messiah that we are prepared
to embrace what, for the sake of these lessons, we will call: The Divine Pleasure.
Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O IAUE,
to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and
for thy pleasure they are
and were created.
This is one of those
verses that people read and say, “That’s nice,” then move on to the next
verse. Nice sounding verses end up in
praise and worship songs with lovely melodies; and we are more focused on the
music than on the words we are singing.
This verse discloses the purpose of the entirety of creation, the reason
for the existence of the time/space continuum.
To miss this is to miss the foundation of everything that is important
in the material universe. IAUE made all of creation for Himself. The singularly best thing all of creation can
do is to yield itself wholly to His pleasure.
Let’s take a look at
His creation.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning Elohim
created the heaven and the earth.
3 And Elohim said, Let
there be light: and there was light.
4 And Elohim saw the
light, that it was good…
9 And Elohim said, Let the
waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear: and it was so.
10 And…Elohim saw that it was good.
12 And the earth brought
forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and Elohim saw that it was good.
17 And Elohim set them in
the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day
and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and Elohim saw that it was good.
21 And Elohim created great
whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth
abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and Elohim saw that it was good.
25 And Elohim made the
beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing
that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and Elohim saw that it was good.
31 And Elohim saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the
evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Have you ever read the
first chapter of Genesis, noticed all the times that IAUE created something
then called it “good?” Did you ever stop
to wonder, “What is good? By what
standard or measure did IAUE evaluate His creation to be “good?” What made it
good as opposed to, say, “all right,” or “not very good at all?” It was good to Him. His own opinion was the
standard. He was satisfied with every
aspect of what He had made; and most importantly, His creation was responsive
to Him. All of creation not only was
good in IAUE’s eyes, it was good in itself.
This is a critical fact. IAUE
made creation good in itself. That is why it was very good to Him.
Of what benefit is it
to us to recognize that IAUE created all things good and that they were created
for His pleasure? It is everything. Before the fall of man, Adam knew where he
came from; and he knew why he was there in the Garden of Eden. He came from IAUE, and he existed for the good
pleasure of his Elohim. To know this,
today, is to know where WE came from and to know why we are here.
When man fell, he lost
his intrinsic “goodness.” He lost his righteousness. He also lost the smile of IAUE. Man no longer lived in such a way as to
delight the heart of his Elohim. IAUE
instantly put in place the mechanism of man’s restoration to the goodness of
IAUE and to the good pleasure of his Elohim.
1 Chronicles 29:9 Then the people
rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they
offered willingly to IAUE: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
10 Wherefore David blessed IAUE before
all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, IAUE Elohim of
Israel our father, for ever and ever.
11 Thine, O IAUE is
the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty:
for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom,
O IAUE, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honour
come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might;
and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
13 Now therefore, our Elohim,
we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to
offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine
own have we given thee.
15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all
our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
16 O IAUE our Elohim,
all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name
cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
17 I know also, my Elohim, that thou triest the heart, and hast
pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine
heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy
thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.
18 O IAUE, Elohim of
Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart
of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:
The purpose of all
creation is to please its maker, to take joy in Him and to walk before Him in
righteousness (to be “very good” again).
We will look into how we accomplish this in our next lesson.
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