Category: Applied Theology

The Lord’s Purposeful Forgetfulness

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

There is something remarkable about the promises the Lord made through the prophets concerning the coming of the Messiah and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The New Covenant is not only about the forgiveness of sins, as wonderful and important as that is. It is about transforming a people from the inside out, creating a renewed humanity that delights in knowing and serving the Lord. 

Through Jeremiah the Lord declared, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34). 

This promise reaches far beyond external obedience. Under the New Covenant, the Lord’s Torah, His instruction, is no longer written only on tables of stone or confined to scrolls. By the work of the Holy Spirit, His instruction is written upon renewed hearts, hearts that have been transformed by forgiveness and His purposeful forgetfulness. We are invited into a relationship in which obedience flows from love rather than mere obligation. 

Jeremiah also reveals another breathtaking aspect of the New Covenant. The Lord declares that He will forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no more. 

Take hold of this truth. The all-knowing Lord does not become forgetful. Rather, He chooses not to hold our sins against us. He purposefully refuses to bring them forward as a charge against those who belong to Messiah. His forgetfulness is not weakness; it is mercy. It is the deliberate decision of a gracious Father to remove our transgressions as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12). 

Ezekiel completes this beautiful picture: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:26-27). 

Take note of the progression. The Lord does not simply wash away our guilt; He renews the very center of our being. The heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh. The rebellious spirit is replaced by His Holy Spirit. The One who forgives is also the One who empowers. 

Too often the faithful live as though forgiveness were only a legal declaration while continuing to view themselves through the lens of former failures. But the Lord does not just erase the record; He recreates the person. Through Messiah Yeshua, He washes us clean, renews our hearts, and writes His Torah upon us, not as a witness to our failure, but as evidence of His transforming grace. 

The apostle Paul beautifully summarizes this truth: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Ro. 3:23-25). 

Every one of us has fallen short. None can stand before Him on the merit of personal righteousness. Yet the Lord, in His immeasurable grace, has provided redemption through the blood of His Son. In His divine forbearance He has passed over our former sins. They no longer define our standing before Him because Messiah has borne them in our place. 

What encouragement this brings to weary hearts. 

Perhaps you still carry memories of failures that continue to accuse you. Perhaps regret whispers that you are forever marked by yesterday’s mistakes. The adversary delights in reminding the Lord’s people of sins that He has chosen not to remember. So why would we listen?

Do not confuse your memory with His covenant. We may remember our failures as reminders of His grace and the lessons He has taught us, but the Lord determined not to treat us according to those sins. He sees us clothed in the righteousness of Messiah. His forgiveness is complete, His mercy is sufficient, and His promises remain sure. 

This grace does not lead us toward complacency but toward grateful obedience. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us produces new desires. We begin to love what the Lord loves. We long to obey Him, not to earn His favor, but because we already possess it through Messiah. We desire to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength. We seek His will in every area of life. We proclaim the good news of redemption to a world longing for hope. We walk together in the fellowship of the ekklesia, encouraging one another as we await the return of our King. 

What a glorious exchange has taken place. Our guilt for His grace. Our stony hearts for hearts made alive. Our rebellion for His Spirit. Our condemnation exchanged for His purposeful forgetfulness. 

This is why the promise of the Holy Spirit is so central to the New Testament. The Spirit is not just a gift of power; He is the seal that the Lord’s New Covenant promises have been fulfilled in Messiah. Through Him we know the Father. Through Him His Torah is written upon our hearts. Through Him we are empowered to walk in faithful obedience. Through Him we live each day in the assurance that our sins have been forgiven and remembered no more. 

Live, therefore, as one who has been made new. Walk confidently in the mercy of the Lord. Refuse to be imprisoned by sins the Lord has forgiven. Rest in His grace, pursue His holiness, and rejoice that His covenant mercy is greater than your greatest failure. The Lord who has written His Torah upon your heart has also chosen not to remember your sins. That is the freedom of the New Covenant, and that is the life of all who belong to Messiah. 

The New Covenant is not just about the promise of forgiven sinners, but of renewed sons and daughters who walk in the Spirit with the Torah written upon their hearts.

Maranatha. Shalom. 

The Shade of Hope

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

Have you ever waited? Perhaps you’ve waited at a bus stop, an airport gate, or a doctor’s office. We probably all have. But what if what we are waiting for is not immediate? What if it takes time to arrive? What then? Well, we simply keep waiting. 

In John 1:43-51 a man named Nathanael is pictured sitting under a fig tree. We do not specifically know why he was under a fig tree, shade? study? but there are some lessons to learn from his sitting, and his apparent wait. 

As this scene opens, Yeshua/Jesus is calling disciples. One of those called, Philip, turns and finds Nathanael. Philip excitedly tells him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Yeshua/Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (Jn. 1:45). 

This is where, perhaps, Nathanael’s wait becomes more clear: messianic hope. 

Philip brings news that the Messiah has come, and come from Nazareth! “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asks. “Come and see.” (Jn. 1:46). Such wisdom in those three little words: come and see.

Yeshua saw Nathanael, not just as he approached, but, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (Jn. 1:48). John’s account echoes the revelation of the Lord as אֵל רֳאִי, El Roi, “the God who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). 

“How do you know me?” (Jn. 1:48). Yeshua says, “Before Philip called you, while you were beneath the fig tree, I saw you.” We are not told what Nathanael was doing there. Perhaps he was praying, studying Torah, or quietly waiting in hope. Whatever occupied his heart, Yeshua knew.

Jesus refers to Nathanael in a rather unusual fashion, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” (Jn. 1:47). Rather than simply calling Nathanael a Jew, Yeshua deliberately calls him “an Israelite indeed,’ recalling Jacob’s transformation into Israel. His description, ‘in whom there is no deceit,’ points directly back to Jacob, whose life had once been marked by deception. 

There is no lying, no trickery, no sneaking or conniving. He is honestly waiting beneath the fig tree, in messianic hope.

In Micah we read of this hope, “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken” (Mic. 4:4; cf. 4:3).

Perhaps Nathanael was anticipating this hope; after all, the first century was filled with messianic expectation, as the Jewish people lived under Roman oppression. The hope described by Micah concerns peace, specifically a peace when the coming one, described by Moses, had arrived. 

Vines require years before they bear abundant fruit. Fig trees likewise mature slowly. Micah’s vision is one of settled peace, a day when the Lord’s people no longer hurry from danger to danger but rest beneath fruitful branches in the security of Messiah’s reign.

Yeshua concludes this dialog by again referencing Jacob, and the ladder vision. By pairing ‘an Israelite indeed’ with the vision of Jacob’s ladder, Yeshua invites Nathanael to see himself within Israel’s story. Just as the Lord met Jacob before his exile and transformed him, Nathanael is now encountering the God of Israel in the Messiah. But there is a time of exile before him, but fear not, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn. 1:51). 

Just before Jacob enter his first exile, the Lord appears to him, and assured him of His presence in that exile, in his wait. For Nathanael, the One he was waiting for arrived, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” How was he able to make such a declaration? אֵל רֳאִי, El Roi, “God saw me.” And when God sees you, greater things are yet to be seen (Jn. 1:50). 

Nathanael, by sitting under the fig tree was seated beneath the promise of Micah. In effect, he took hold of the promise of God, and was waiting. As I’ve said in messages before: hope takes hold, and faith holds on. 

What is your fig tree? What are you waiting for? Or more precisely, Who are you waiting for? Be assured that He sees you, and He will be your peace. The One who saw Nathanael beneath the fig tree still sees people today. He sees your waiting. He knows your questions. He has not forgotten His promises. And while you wait, He Himself will be your peace.  

Maranatha. Shalom.

Found at Home

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, Inspiration1 Comment

One afternoon this week, while my family and I were enjoying some time away on a beautiful Adirondack lake, I witnessed a simple moment that became a profound lesson.

As I stood wading in the water near our camp, I watched a father and son returning from a morning of fishing. They had been out on the lake for hours, searching for the perfect spot, casting their lines, and hoping for a good catch. Judging by their conversation and expressions, it appeared they had not caught a single fish.

The father carefully guided the boat back to the dock. As he secured it, his son stepped onto the dock, dropped his fishing line into the water almost absentmindedly, and within moments his rod bent. He had caught what appeared to be a beautiful fish. The excitement on his father’s face said it all.

What struck me was this: after spending hours searching across the lake, they found what they were looking for at the very place where they had begun. Home.

As I reflected on that scene, I was reminded of how often we are like those fishermen. We spend so much of our lives searching. We search for peace, purpose, joy, contentment, and fulfillment. We cast our lines into careers, achievements, possessions, recognition, and countless distractions, hoping they will satisfy the deep longing within our hearts.

Yet Scripture repeatedly reminds us that what we are truly seeking is found in the presence of God.

The psalmist writes, “In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).

How many times do we travel far from the Lord in our thoughts and affections, only to discover that the peace we desire has been waiting for us in Him all along? Like the prodigal son in Yeshua’s parable, we often journey into distant places searching for fulfillment, only to discover that our Father’s house contains what our hearts have always needed.

Sometimes God allows us to spend time on the lake so that we can appreciate the blessing of returning to the dock.

Perhaps today you find yourself weary from searching. Maybe you’ve been casting your line into places that cannot satisfy. The invitation of the Lord is not necessarily to search farther but to come home—to return to prayer, to His Word, to worship, and to the simple fellowship of His presence.

The prophet Jeremiah recorded God’s promise: “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). The father and son I watched that afternoon found their fish where they started. In a similar way, many of life’s greatest blessings are found not in chasing after something new, but in returning to the One who has been waiting for us all along.

May you discover today that the peace, purpose, and joy you seek are found at home—in the presence of the Lord.

 

Maranatha. Shalom.

(This is the transcript for my Pastor for the Day spot on the Mars Hill Radio Network in Syracuse NY.)