Impossible—Possible

Impossible—Possible

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did . . . .”

God had given His people the law that was to help and guide them to do the good. But there was something that the law could not do. And what was that? It could not lead anyone to perfection. Heb. 7:19. It was impossible for the law to make anyone who served God perfect in regard to the conscience; it could not take away sins. Heb. 9:9-10; 10:1-4. But God did what was impossible for the law. What was impossible has now become possible. The law was a great help. We can see that by reading about the saints of old who lived according to the law; they obtained great blessings, but none of them led them to perfection. Therefore we read that the law was weak and useless, and a better hope was brought in through which we can draw near to God. This better hope, which has now been brought in and which we have—but which they did not have in the old covenant—is that everything can become perfect. In this hope we can draw near to God. However, even if this hope has been brought in, there are only very few who have this hope living for them when they seek God. They have only the old hope that shall help them a little bit in seeking God. But to become perfect? Just about everyone says that’s impossible! Of course, for as long as a person is under the law, it is impossible; but what was impossible, God did! He brought in a better hope. “Yes,” the religious masses will say, “Jesus fulfilled the law for us, so now grace covers our life regardless of how weak and sinful we might be, and God sees us through Jesus who is perfect.” However, in Romans 8:4 we read, “That the righteous requirement of the law [that which was its real intention but which it could not do] might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Here we can see that it has to do with the individual’s walk; it is not something that was just fulfilled in Jesus and is now imputed to us; it shall also be fulfilled in our walk. Now we cross out the word “impossible” and replace it with “possible.” Jesus has brought in that better hope.

“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Heb. 9:13-14.

The sacrifices that the law required served only for the purifying of the flesh. That was the forgiveness for committed sins. They could not advance any further than the external cleansing of the vessel, which was an outward righteousness, they knew they did not possess inwardly. Matt. 23:28. They could do much good according to the law, but there was no inward transformation. They sensed that it was not perfect. The result was only dead works. The law was powerless because of the flesh; it could not enter in and bring about change. But what was impossible for the law, God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, and condemned sin in the flesh.

God sent the law first, but it was weak and useless as far as man’s flesh was concerned. Sin had permeated the flesh and kept man captive. Therefore God sent His Son who partook of flesh and blood in like manner as the children. Heb. 2:14. And through Him the impossible became possible. Now the vessel was cleansed inwardly by God condemning sin in the flesh. Thus the blood of Jesus can cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Then we can attain to perfection. A transformation occurs in our inner man. They received forgiveness for their sins through the blood of goats; but the goat hadn’t overcome any sin, so it couldn’t give the sinner the victory either. The people sinned over and over again, which is why they continually had to bring the same sacrifices which constantly reminded them of their sins. Heb. 10:1-4. Jesus’ blood is different. He encountered sin by partaking of flesh and blood as we have, but He overcame it; therefore His blood is so much more effective than the blood of goats. He can also give victory over sin—even over all sin—so that everything is put into order according to the light we have. Most people walk around with a reminder of sin—sins they have committed while they were not saved. They have prayed to God for forgiveness, but their conscience keeps bothering them. They know within themselves that if it is to be perfect, they will also have to put things right with people; they have to make restitution and acknowledge their sin. They know that the way is narrow. The flesh doesn’t want to go along with it, and they feel powerless. Therefore many people remain under the law which does not lead anyone to perfection. However, Jesus committed the flesh into death and brought everything to perfection. Therefore the person who has the Spirit of Christ is not powerless. He lays down his life in the power of this Spirit and brings all old matters into order with the result that he has a perfect conscience and rests from all these reminders about his old sins.

Let us say a person has received light about various situations in his life that are sinful. Most people pray to be forgiven, but they think it as impossible to a change. Others have faith that it is possible to change some things, in any case, so that people cannot judge them; however, they still believe it is impossible to put everything in order according to the light they have so that it will be perfect, so that the reminder of their sin (the reminder that it is not true as it should be in their hearts’ deepest recesses) is no longer there! Yet God be praised, we have received the good tidings of proclaiming to the upright that what was impossible has now become possible. Therefore we have the exhortation, “Leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection . . . .” Heb. 6:1. Paul did one thing: He forgot the things that were behind him—what he could have become as a Pharisee and everything he could boast of according to the flesh—and he reached out for perfection. He did not do this in his ignorance; it was the knowledge of Christ that had given him this hope and this zeal. He knew that what was impossible had become possible, and he offered up everything for perfection.

Why is it so difficult for people to lay hold of this “better hope?” It is because they do not want to renounce their gain according to the flesh. We are not indebted to the flesh. Rom. 8:12. We cannot go on to perfection and at the same time seek gain for the flesh. That is impossible; but it is possible to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires in the Spirit of Christ and be perfect according to the conscience.

The law was only a shadow of good things to come. They lived in the shadow in the old covenant, and therefore there was much that was impossible. But Jesus came with the body. Col. 2:17. He said, “‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me . . . . Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’” Read Hebrews 10:5-10.

The law did not have a body; it was only a shadow. Therefore it was impossible to serve the living God, which is why they brought many sacrifices to receive forgiveness for not doing God’s will. However, God did not desire sacrifices and offerings, but rather that they should do His will. Nevertheless, that was impossible in the shadow. Therefore Jesus came with the body itself—the body that had cast the shadow. He abolished the first, namely, all the sacrifices, and established the second, namely, to do God’s will. We, too, sense that that is the perfect thing to do. Jesus’ body was sacrificed by doing the Father’s will.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . .” 1 Cor. 12:13. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. The church is the body of Christ. Those who have received the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit which has crucified the flesh with its passions and desires and seeks the things that are above, not the things on the earth, they are only in this world to do God’s will. They have forsaken everything and hate even their own life; they are the church and the body of Christ. They have come to the “good things to come,” since that which was impossible has become possible. Their bodies are presented as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice to God.

When we proclaim God’s will—that it is our intention to keep God’s commandments—the religious world cries out: “Impossible! Bondage! He has done everything and we shall not do anything!” Why do they say that? It is because they are in the shadow—under the law; they have not come into the body of Christ. It is impossible to do works without a body. But it is not bondage to keep God’s commandments for us who have been baptized with one Spirit to be one body, we who are members of the body of Christ. For us the commandments are easy. We do not say that we shall do nothing. We testify of works all the time, about doing God’s will in whatever area we have received light, for by the Spirit of Christ we have become members of the body that came to do only God’s will. Those heavy and sad “impossibles” have vanished and a better hope has been brought in. We rejoice and are glad in doing all God’s will, which has now become “possible.”