Hupostasis: Substance and Assurance

Hebrews 11:

1  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

2  For by it the people of old received their commendation.

Hupostasis= substance/assurance
a setting under (support), that is, (figuratively) concretely essence, or abstractly assurance (objectively or subjectively): - confidence, confident, person, substance.

Hebrews 11:
39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Ephesians 1:
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

We walk by faith in complete assurance that we already possess that which is promised. So whatever we ask for in faith, i.e. according to His promised will, we know that he hears and grants it to us, (1 John 5:13-15). We walk in newness of life now, and will receive immortality at His return etc. etc. (Romans 6:4)
Therefore we are in complete “oneness” with all the saints (elect) who lived and died in that promise prior to Christ’s historical birth death and resurrection.

Romans 14:
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Faith is the thing, until we acquire actual possession of it.

Hebrews 12:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Freedom In Christ;Freedom From Sin

Galatians 2:
4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in--who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery--
5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Paul is speaking positionally throughout all of Romans, specifically chapter 6. He never taught progressive sanctification. Freedom!

John 8:
34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed; (the elect).

The Lord also speaks on the same terms. Freedom!!

Romans 6:

22  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 17:

1  When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

2  since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3  And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Pray Then Like This

Exodus 30:
6 And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it,
8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the LORD throughout your generations.
9 You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it............
34 The LORD said to Moses, "Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part),
35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.
36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you.
37 And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD.
38 Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people."

1John 5:
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Lev 10:
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.
2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD has said: 'Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'" And Aaron held his peace. 

zûr = unauthorized/strange (Hebrew)
To turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery:

True prayer that originates from the will of God, i.e. from His revealed Word of scripture, is not to be wasted on the wills,wants, and and self-gratification of those offering the prayers; which is the strange fire of Leviticus 10.

Matthew 6:
5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Speaking Truth In Love

2Timothy 4:

1  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

2  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

3  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

4  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

muthos=myths

a tale, that is, fiction (“myth”): - fable.

2Thess 2:

9  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,

10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

11  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

12  in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Jeremiah 5:

30  An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

31  the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

Often quoted, seldom taught or understood in context. Paul (Jeremiah as well) is speaking of those who profess to be believers. Week in, and week out within professing Christianity, the clockwork like ritual of the “faithful” filling pews, and being fed a “mythological meal”, rolls on. “You will not surely die”, (i.e. I’m ok, you’re ok, we’re all OK), being the main course. (Genesis 3:1-7)

People are deceived for the very reason that they want to be deceived.

God sends them a strong delusion as judgment; the judgment being, they are handed over to the lie. They would rather believe a lie since the cold, hard truth is not a pleasant thing, nor are those who proclaim it, a pleasant people, (at least in their estimation of what is “pleasant”).

energeia=strong                                                                                                                               efficiency (“energy”): - operation, strong, (effectual) working.

plane=delusion                                                                                                                                         objectively fraudulence; subjectively a straying from orthodoxy or piety: - deceit, to deceive, delusion, error.

Ephesians 4:

11  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

12  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

13  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

14  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

15  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

16  from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love……

25  Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (2 Timothy 2:15-26)

How much more clarity is needed here? The redeemed are those who love the Truth, and

subsequently speak the Truth, in love (not tolerance), to one another. They do not speak “in

love” without speaking the Truth. The two are forever bound together in Christ. (John 14:6;

Romans 5:8)  

This is the true prophetic calling of the church, not the peddling of fortunes, (one of the myths

men get lost in).

1Cor 13:

4  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

5  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

6  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

To “spare one another’s feelings” by lying to each other, and so deceiving ourselves, is not love;

it is wrongdoing. 

Filthy Rags- Fine Linen

Isaiah 64:6a  We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment………………

ed=polluted/filthy                                                                                                                                                            From an unused root meaning to set a period; the menstrual flux (as periodical); by implication (in plural) soiling: - filthy.

beged=garment/rags                                                                                                                                         A covering, that is, clothing; also treachery or pillage: - apparel, cloth (-es, -ing), garment, lap, rag, raiment, robe, X very [treacherously], vesture, wardrobe.

  

It can be said that the Word of God often gets down to the “nitty gritty” of life. There are many illustrations to be found throughout scripture where the Lord uses the most graphic language, and/or the most heinous of sins to further His plans, and to get His point across. The Levite and his concubine in Judges 19; Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38; and of course David and Bathsheba’s adultery and murderous acts serve as examples of this.                                                                                                                                     
The above passage from the prophecy of Isaiah is also a most excellent “word picture” in this same vein. I find it interesting that the professing evangelical church today chooses to avoid these passages in the main, for fear of giving offense to the more sensitive listeners in the congregation. In other words, men are more concerned with their “holy ears” being offended (which by the way is a great representation of a “polluted garment”), but deem it okay for a Holy God.                                                                                                 All of this being said, Isaiah’s declaration here begs further study.

“We have all become like one who is unclean”

Leviticus 15:

19  "When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.

20  And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean.

21  And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.

22  And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.

23  Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening.

24  And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

Since the Lord, through Isaiah, is using the imagery of a soiled menstrual cloth, that then must be carried through the entire statement.

We all are unclean, as the woman in her period is unclean, and everything and everyone that she come into contact with becomes unclean as well.

Why then is our uncleaness described in this manner?

 “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (soiled menstrual cloth).”

The best works that man can muster are viewed by God to be on the same level as a used menstrual cloth.

Why this type of allegorical expression?

Allegory:

A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.

What then does the soiled cloth represent?

Quite simply, it reveals that there was no union of sperm and egg, and therefore gives evidence of the absence of new life; nothing has been conceived.

Our “righteousness” is not life producing in any way, shape or form. Only the righteousness of Christ produces new life. (Romans 5:12-6:5; 1 Cor 15:45)

You might ask; what about the righteous deeds of the saints mentioned in Revelation 19:7-8?

First we must remember that these righteous acts are the material of which the ‘bridal gown’ is made. These are described in detail in Ephesians 2:10 and James 2:14-26.
Faith is given to the saints by God through Christ (Hebrews 12:1-2), and the works of faith which are righteous works come by that faith. Not only is the righteousness of Christ imputed to the saints, and thus we are both fully justified and sanctified; the faith which produces the good works predestined by God for us to accomplish, is also a gift from Him as we do not possess such faith on our own. We are incapable of conjuring it up within ourselves.

The righteous acts of the saints are evidence that they are regenerate, i.e. walking in newness of life; and thus they are not like a soiled menstrual cloth. These righteous acts are not part of a wasted attempt in self-justification or self-sanctification. They are seen as “fine linen, bright and pure”. These predestined, righteous works decreed by God, as performed by the saints, do not bring us to Christ, but proceed from Him.

Titus 2:
11  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

12  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

13  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 3:

4  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

5  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own

mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

6  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

7  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8  The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have

believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent

and profitable for people.