Mark 9:23
IF any person WILLS to COME AFTER me, let him DENY HIMSELF, [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his interests, refuse and give up himself] and TAKE UP HIS CROSS daily and FOLLOW me, [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living, and, if need be, in dying also.
There is a SACRIFICE to be made for you to be found worthy to receive a crown of glory. It will surely cost you this earthly life to attain that heavenly life. JESUS by example completely gave up His earthly vessel so that through His sacrifice many others after Him would be able to completely attain that heavenly vessel, where perishable puts on imperishable and mortality put on immortality. Through His sacrifice, we received GRACE to attain that which might seem unattainable to a natural man, born of the flesh but not so to a spiritual man, born of the Spirit, for a vessel made new, purified by blood would be worthy to carry within, the very Spirit of God, the very power and anointing of Christ, the Holy Spirit. Only a vessel made holy can carry the bright light of the holy presence of God. Can we not see, do we not understand? The Holy Spirit is more precious and worth more than all the wealth the earth can offer. He is the Spirit of God Himself. The express image and likeness, the nature and bright glory of the Father, and we sons of God have through the perfect sacrifice of Christ received favour from the Father, we have been accepted as worthy to carry this treasure, the very presence and divine power of the Father, the very anointing of Christ, the only power that will take us into glory, in earthen vessels, but only when we except this amazing extraordinary gift of GRACE, only when we choose to yield to and we desire grace and have unmovable faith in grace, will we be made pure. Will we be made holy, vessels of honour, vessels of gold and silver, made ready for the master’s use.
Jesus, Himself broke and offered up His earthen vessel as a perfect, untainted sacrifice unto God. His sacrifice pleased the Father and He was accepted. Through His perfect sacrifice, many other vessels after Him would be made pure, and untainted, pleasing unto the Father and accepted by Him. Through His suffering and obedience, even obedience unto the death of the cross, He by inheritance attained a greater name than that of the angels, the name of a Son of God, and was CROWNED WITH GLORY so that after Him many other sons would be able to by inheritance, in the same manner, attain the name of that of a son of God. BUT the CROWN OF GLORY could only be attained beyond a CROWN OF THORNS AND a CROSS. Unless we understand, that in the same manner it was required by the Father that Jesus through sacrifice, present Himself holy and acceptable, before a holy God and through suffering attain His inheritance, we also must through the same sacrifice present ourselves holy and acceptable before a holy God and through suffering attain our inheritance. If we would desire to share in HIS CROWN OF GLORY we also must share in HIS SUFFERINGS. Jesus by example in living came to show by what sacrifice we would be accepted. He humbled Himself and He did not take OFFENCE AT THE CROWN OF THORNS that He had to submit to, for He understood that should He not be WILLING to submit to the crown of thorns He would not have been able to take up and embrace His cross, He would have never been able to offer up His earthen vessel unto death and through that take up His heavenly vessel in glory, which meant there was to be no hope for mankind upon the earth. So, He chose to humble Himself to such a low position, not counting Himself equal to God, not counting Himself above the crown of thorns and allowing the crown of thorns to be placed upon His head. The sharp thorns piercing deep into His skull, blood flowing down His face causing Him such excruciating pain, and those around Him mocked Him because of this crown, but He did not open His mouth, He chose to yield to the pain and the mocking of this crown for He did not care much for the pain and the mocking, He only cared to please His Father. He was willing to suffer to receive the approval of His Father and to be accepted by His Father. He allowed the crown of thorns to strip Him of all honour, all dignity, all respect, all glory, in doing that He was saying unto His Father, “Your acceptance means more to me than life itself, therefore Father, no matter the cost, not my will but your will be done”.
I tell you the truth. If we are not willing to, in the same manner as our Lord, humble ourselves and WITHOUT OFFENCE SUBMIT TO THE CROWN OF THORNS, not counting ourselves above this crown. If we are not willing to suffer the pain and the mocking of this crown WE WILL NOT BE FOUND WORTHY TO RECEIVE THE CROWN OF GLORY. Our only care should be to please the Father and to receive His approval, to be accepted by Him, not caring what others may think or say. If we are not willing to lose all honour, dignity and respect we think we might have. If we cannot say, “Father your approval and acceptance mean more to us than life itself, therefore Father, whatever the cost, not our will, but you will be done.” We will never be able to take up and embrace our cross, therefore we will never be able to offer up this earthen vessel unto death as to be able to take up the heavenly vessel in glory.
The CROWN OF THORNS is the DENYING of SELF, it is the submitting of the MIND, the whole WILL to the will and the desires of the Father and the will and the desires of the Holy Spirit. The CROSS is the submitting of the BODY, the whole LIFE to the will and the desires of the Father and the will and the desires of the Holy Spirit. SUBMISSION STARTS WITH THE WILL, the yielding of our own will to that of the Father, where we make up our MIND no matter the sacrifice, we consider this earthly life of no value, worth nothing in comparison to that heavenly life we have been allowed to attain. As long as we place our will and desires above the will of the Father and the will and desires of the Holy Spirit and we unlike Jesus take offence at the crown of thorns, we will never be able to submit our whole life to the will and the desires of the Father and the will and the desires of the Holy Spirit. You see the head, the mind, the will is what controls the body. The body always follows where the will, the mind leads.
Think about this; Jesus is the Head of the church, and we are His body. If He is the head, the mind, the will, He ought to be in control of each member of His body, therefore only those who are submitted to the will of the Head, Christ Himself to whom the whole body, each member belongs, only they belong to the body of Christ. Therefore, should any person act and do contrary to the will and the mind of the Head, Christ Jesus our Lord, that person does not belong to Him and are not a member of His body, for they KNOW NOT NOR DO HIS WILL. By choosing to submit to the crown of thorns we choose to submit our will to the will of the Father and the Holy Spirit and He then controls us. Our will and desires become His will and desires and we can never act or do contrary to His nature. When we still act and do according to the will and desires of our sinful nature the fact remains that we have not submitted to the crown of thorns but we have taken offence by it, and for that reason, we will never be able to submit our body, our whole life to the Holy Spirit of God, therefore we can never, like Christ Jesus be made into the express image of the Father and we can certainly not manifest the brilliant light of His glory.
We will not see Isaiah 60:1-3 manifest in our life for we did not ARISE to the crown of thorns, to be able to ARISE to our cross, to be able to ARISE to our crown of glory. Sons of God scripture clearly states those who are led by the Holy Spirit of God are the sons of God, and only a true son of God will be worthy of the crown of glory. Jesus was called Christ because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon His life. Without the Holy Spirit, without the very presence of the Father, without the very power of God He would not have been able to complete His mission, the reason He came into the world. Only by submitting and yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to come upon Him and to overshadow Him, allowing the crown of thorns to be placed upon His head, was He able to take up and embrace His cross and through all of that emerge victorious to be crowned with glory.
The picture of the crown of thorns is a picture of denying self and submitting the will to that of the Father and the Holy Spirit. I tell you the truth, a crown of thorns is required to be able to be worthy to receive a crown of glory. Jesus said, “If any person WILLS, we see it starts with the will, it starts with a decision where you MAKE UP YOUR MIND to go after Him. Thereafter He says if you will, if you have made up your mind to come AFTER ME, meaning a son of God after THE Son of God, the express image of Christ, then you MUST DENY self, deny the earthen vessel of its cravings and desires to be led by the Spirit of God for He works in you to do the will of the Father and then take up your cross, sacrifice this earthen vessel, this life on earth and follow steadfastly my example in living UNTIL I AM FORMED IN YOU, and if need be in dying also. If any wills to receive the honour I have attained, to be gifted a seat on my throne with me, to receive the crown I have been crowned with, the crown of glory; that person MUST follow wholly after my example in living, and do what I did, submit to the crown of thorns to be able to take up and embrace your cross and even should death be required be able to follow me in death also. For only when you give up the earthly man-made in weakness will you be able to take up the heavenly man-made in the power of the Holy Spirit, for without GRACE, the divine power of God you will drawback and I will not be pleased with you? Son of God we need the crown of thorns and remember that God works all things for the good of those that love Him.
Thereze Barnard
Editor-in-Chief
Thread of Hope Blog