But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

The Hebrew word picture for “iniquity” is “bent”.  Iniquity is the being “bent” from straight, twisted from the upright, and made crooked from the pure.  While transgression are our comissions of sin, our iniquity is the propensity, or proneness to continue to sin.

Jesus, when He died, paid for our entire nature.  He covered our individual sins, and our sinfulness.  He, through His righteous act and sacrificial offering, made peace with God for us, by taking upon Himself the punishment we deserved.

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Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:21

In the fullness of the Kingdom, only one thing matters.  Just one focus, just one gaze, that upon the King.

As we look upon His face, and believe in His love, we see Him, and, in seeing Him, we give ourselves away.

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Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Matthew 5:17-18

For too long, our theology has been laid out by theologians, and not by children.  Ask any eight-year old what it means that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven hidden in dough means, and they’ll tell you that it means, more or less, that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven!  It takes a real grown-up to tell you, after reading the words of Jesus, that the Kingdom of Heaven is anything other than what He just said it was.

What does the Kingdom resemble?  A little bit of yeast!  (Matthew 13:33).  What must we do to have life within ourselves?  Eat and drink His blood (John 6:53).  Simple, eh?

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A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Matthew 7:18

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6).  The physical body and the physical soul are not evil creations.  In the beginning, God created them, and He called them good (Genesis 1:31).  Yet, fallen man is completely incapable of pleasing God on his own (Romans 3:11).  It takes Faith to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and this is given (Romans 12:3).

The life of the Christian is marked by ‘baptisms’ (plural, see Hebrews 6:1).  We are baptized (immersion, you go down into it) into Christ, and we are baptized (immersion, you come underneath it) into the Holy Spirit.  This was depicted in the wilderness by the Israelites being baptized into the Red sea (water baptism) and the cloud (the Holy Spirit) (1 Corinthians 10:2).

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