No Shame

This post is seventh and final in the Psalm 127 series "Live Like a King."

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The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:56 (NKJV)

With sin comes death and shame.

God said of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, "In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Worse than the slow physical death which began on that day they tasted sin, Adam and Eve experienced an immediate spiritual death and its accompanying spiritual barrenness. Fig leaves became a pitiful substitute for the clothing of righteousness.

So like the barren tree which also attempted to cover itself with fig leaves (Matthew 21:19), mortals came under God's curse. The labor to bring forth fruit from earth and womb are trivial next to our struggle for the soul's spiritual fruit. And as if the consummate penalty—God's face being hidden from us—were not sufficient, we also have an accuser who day and night recounts the details of our sins (Revelation 12:10), making a case for our condemnation before God.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
~ Romans 8:31 (NKJV)

The Ten Commandments were kept inside the Ark of the [Old] Covenant, beneath the mercy seat of God, covered with atonement blood and glory of YHWH—all of it merely representative of the true mercy seat in Heaven's court, where the law which condemns is covered with the atonement blood of Jesus Christ's New Covenant.

Now.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
~ Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)

The accuser —(both "satan" [from the Hebrew śâṭân] and "devil" [from the Greek diabolos] mean "accuser")—must make his case based on the law. Once we are adopted as children of our Father in Heaven, we become subject to His paternal discipline for our sinful words, actions, thoughts, and feelings, but we are no longer subjects to the law, its demands, or its penalties (Matthew 17:25-26).

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
~ Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

During every mortal's sojourn in this world under curse, a case is now being built: our lives compile evidence and give testimony in a case for condemnation under law, or a case for faith under the blood of Jesus.

Our spiritual fruit is evidence of the Holy Spirit within us (Galatians 5:22-23). Our word of testimony to the blood of Jesus overcomes testimony of the accuser. (Revelation 12:11) Our spiritual clothing, clean and bright, is our righteous acts (Revelation 19:8).

They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
~ Psalm 127:5 (NKJV)

Though we experience the consequences of sin during our sojourn, we who are Christ's can live like royalty, secure in the knowledge that we stand in the gates of God, accused by our enemy's words and yet bearing no shame.

Right now.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You for covering our shame with royal garments of righteousness. Please give us courage to cooperate with all that You work on the inside.

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Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.