BY JIM KASEMAN
Text: Ephesians 3:17-20
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the
love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
Infinite
The word “infinite” is defined as lacking limits or bounds. endless. very great. In Ephesians 3:20b of the Amplified Bible, the infinite love of God is described this way: “…do super abundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think – INFINITELY beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams.
God’s Love for Man
According to I John 4:8, God is love, and in John 3:16, we see God’s love in action: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.”
God provided salvation for mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ. In Romans 10::8-10 God tells us how we can receive salvation: “But what does it say? ‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’
(that is, the Word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
The Greek word for salvation includes salvation for the whole man – spirit, soul and body. That means every need that man would have spiritually and physically. This would include such things as a new
nature, physical health, food, money, protection, power over the devil, the Holy Spirit, the name of Jesus, just to mention a few. Now that’s the “GOOD NEWS” that we’ve been called to take to the world according
to Romans 10:15 and Mark 16:15-18.
Too Good to be True
God has many names that help us understand His character and attributes. One of His names is El Shaddai. It simply means, “The God of more than enough! ”
Ephesians 3:20 in the Amplified Bible brings this out as well: “Now to Him who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do super abundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think – INFINITELY beyond our highest prayers. desires, thoughts. hopes or dreams.”
The provision that God has made for mankind is so abundant and limitless that man with his natural reasoning has declared that this “GOOD NEWS” is simply too good to be true.
Man Explains It A way
With the help of “religion,” man explains the Good News away. Jesus put it this way in Mark 7:13, “making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down and many such things you do.”
In other words, with natural reasoning you cannot understand spiritual things. Much of man’s tradition and doctrine is a result of natural reasoning.
Examples of such reasoning are: “Everybody has to be sick once in a while,” “You can’t be spiritual if you’re rich in material things,” “Miracles are not for today,” “The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today,” “God allows bad things to happen to us in order to teach us lessons,” etc. Now all of this kind of reasoning is contrary to the Word of God. It is doubt and unbelief which is sin – because it makes God out to be a liar. That’s not what God says in His Word!
Come Up to, God ‘s Level
What man has done through tradition and religion has brought God down to man’s level. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us that His thoughts and ways are higher than man’s thoughts and ways.
Romans 12:2 is very clear as to what we as Christians are to do. We are not to be conformed to the world’s (religion’s) way of thinking and doing things. But we are to be transformed by renewing our minds with God’s thoughts and way of doing things. Ephesians 5:1 tells us to imitate God as dear children. If we have faith in God, if we trust Him, then we will think, talk, and act like Him! We will move up to His level which takes us out of darkness and into light! From failure to success!
At His level, we begin to see how abundant, unlimited, great and infinite His love and salvation for man really is! Glory to God!
Infinite Love and Blood Covenant
This love which passes all knowledge can better be explained by Blood Covenant because, God, who is love, has always worked with man through the Blood Covenant.
We see statements like this in the scriptures: “He is a faithful God who keeps covenant with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7 9), “For this is my Blood of the New Covenant” (Matthew 26:28), “…Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22), “He is also mediator of a better covenant, which is established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).
A Blood Covenant between two parties is the closest, the most enduring, the most solemn and the most sacred of all agreements or contracts. It absolutely cannot be broken! For God to break covenant, He would self-destruct! That’s why we can stand on God’s Word, knowing that what He promised He will do!
The Great Exchange
In Blood Covenant between two parties, everything they have belongs to each other. In other words, “Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine.” Now, perhaps we can better understand
Romans 8:17, “…and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and JOINT HEIRS with Christ…”
An heir is defined as one who is entitled to receive what belongs to another.
The new Blood Covenant was cut between God and His Son – the man Jesus. SO, everything God has belongs to Jesus and everything Jesus has belongs to God. Therefore, as members of the Body of Jesus, there isn’t anything that Jesus has that does not belong to us! Glory to God!
Our Natures. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (11 Cor. 5:21). In other words, He took on our nature so that we could take on His nature. We exchanged death for life. We were made spiritually alive when we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior (John 3:3 and Romans 10:810). We exchanged robes, He took my robe of filthy rags and gave me His robe of salvation – righteousness (Isa. 64:6 and Isa. 61:10).
Our Bodies. l Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that our spirits and bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and they belong to God. l Corinthians 12:27 says, “Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.” We have exchanged bodies in this covenant with God.
Our Minds. We have given up our natural reasoning (wisdom) when it comes to the things of the spirit, and taken on the mind of Christ (I Cor. 2:116). And now, all of God’s treasures of knowledge and wisdom
are ours (Col. 2:1-3 and Col. 1:9-12).
Our Enemies. In Blood Covenant, your enemies become my enemies and my enemies become your enemies. In Acts 9:1-5, we see that Paul was breathing threats of murder against the disciples of the Lord. Yet, when Saul was confronted with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Jesus did not say why are you persecuting my disciples. Instead Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” SO, under the New Blood Covenant, God’s enemies are mine and my enemies are God’s.
Our Weakness. “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might he increases strength” (Isa. 40:29). And Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The inference is strongly made that we can do nothing without Him. Acts 10:38 tells us that God anointed Jesus with power to do good and heal all that were oppressed of the devil. Then Jesus told us that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and fills us, we receive power to take the Gospel to the world and be witnesses for Him (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:4; Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20). SO, He took our weaknesses and we received
His strength.
Our Poverty. II Corinthians 8:8 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
When you understand Blood Covenant, you don’t have to try and explain this verse away. It’s exactly what it says. It’s talking of richer not only spiritually but materially as well. Remember, even under the old Blood Covenant, God gave them power to get wealth so that His Covenant could be established upon the earth (Deut. 8:18). God wants us to prosper and be rich in the things of spirit and in all areas of this physical realm. Rich in spirit, rich in mind, rich in physical health, rich in relationships, rich in Him and rich in
material possessions to take the Good News to the world.
Our Sickness and Disease. By His stripes we were healed (Isa. 53:5; Matt. 8:17; and I Pet. 2:24). He took our sickness and disease and in exchange we received His divine health.
Every area of lack is covered with abundance. Speaking of the day we live in under the new Blood Covenant, Jesus said, “And in that day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, l say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 14:23-24).
Conclusion
Thank God for His infinite love. His unlimited love. His boundless love. His great love. His love that passes all knowledge and understanding. Let us show our love, reverence and honor towards God by receiving this infinite provision that love has made available to us in every area of life. By walking in this provision, God, who is love, will be able to bless us so that we can bless others and introduce them to God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that others may become part of the family of God, the family of infinite love!
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY JIM KASEMAN MINISTRIES, OCTOBER 1997, PAGES 1,2. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
