Your Legal Rights

Back in the early 2000’s I had the distinction of being one of the multitude of employees of Agilent Technologies who was let go in the third phase of the company’s major downsizing efforts.  Not too long after that event I received a phone call from an attorney representing Agilent who informed me that a temporary employee who had worked for me was suing the company for wrongful termination.  Along with the company, the individual specifically named a few persons and in particular me, as I was the Supervisor who initiated her departure from my department.

I wasn’t too concerned about the situation as I had kept good notes of my discussions with the temp worker which were collaborated by the temp agency’s vice president with whom I had numerous discussions along the way.  As part of the preliminary process, I had to spend time with the Agilent legal team and then give a deposition, under oath before both sets of lawyers.

To make a long story short, this went on for months with no court date set until a week before Piper and I were scheduled to attend a leadership training event, with our church’s leadership team to… you guessed it… right here at the Rhema USA campus in Broken Arrow Oklahoma.  The trial was set to begin during the week we were to be out of town. 

When I told the contracted attorney of the conflict, he was not pleased at all and told me that they would fly me back and forth to Oklahoma.  I reminded him that I no longer worked for the company and that the training conference was part of my job with the church.  He just kept repeating that I had to be present at the court and hung up. 

But a few days later, I received a call from an Agent lawyer (whom I knew) who told me that everything was okay and that they were going to settle out of court, so that they didn’t need to bother me anymore… and Piper and I went on to the conference out here… which in point of fact, turned out to be the life-changing event that set our course of action to move out here and attend Bible College.

I mentioned this story because our blog post today also talks about another legal deposition that was given a few thousand years ago… by Jesus Himself!

In last week’s post, we described what actually happens when, according to Psalm 40:3*, we see and thereby perceive something new about who Jesus is and what He provides for us through His Word (ie; salvation, healing, provision, wisdom, grace etc..) and then decide to receive it into our lives.  And we looked in particular at the Apostle John’s gospel in John 8:31-32 where Jesus tells us

“If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the TRUTH, and the (or better said: ‘that’) TRUTH shall make you free.” (KJV)

A little research on the meaning of ‘the TRUTH’ in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges informs us that ‘the TRUTH’ refers to “Both Divine doctrine (ie; the gospel message and/or teachings of Jesus as found in our Bibles - that we talked about last week) and Christ Himself.”  Jesus told His disciples (as well as you and me today) that,

"I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through Me.” (God’s Word ©) 

So, Jesus acknowledges the spiritual fact that He Himself is the TRUTH and then seals the deal for you and me toward the end of His earthly presence when He declares to Pilate, Who He is and why He came into the world by declaring:

“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear WITNESS unto the TRUTH. Every one that is of the TRUTH heareth my voice.” (John 18:37 – KJV) 

The underlying message of this statement was then repeated many years later to John in Revelation 3:14, when John as an elderly man, was told by the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, during in his vision of heaven while he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, that,

“This message is from Jesus—the consistent, reliable, faithful and TRUE WITNESS—who is the origin of God’s creation.” (The Remedy Bible) 

The word WITNESS as used in these passages, is a LEGAL TERM that addresses an individual who is a “deponent” (Mounce Concise-Greek/English Dictionary) which in today’s vernacular describes “a person who gives testimony under oath, outside of the courtroom, in a deposition or an affidavit.”**  Sounds like my experience doesn’t it? 

You see, Jeus made a LEGAL deposition before the law of the land which officially declared Him to be the TRUTH and… following His death where He “stripped the rulers and authorities of their power” and “took back the keys of hell and of death”*** was resurrected and then seated at the right hand of God… Thereby giving every Christian the LEGAL RIGHT to all the promises declared in His Word… as discovered between the pages of yours and my Bibles!

Now, that’s not to say that the enemy of our souls isn’t going to fight like crazy to deter us from knowing about… much less receiving all that God has for us… RIGHT NOW… ON THIS EARTH – TODAY!  But that’s another lesson for another time.  Let’s get this one under our belts first!

Suffice to say… Our Bibles are LEGAL DOCUMENTS that came about through Jesus’ actions on and after the cross and are backed by the authority of the throne of God!

That’s pretty special… wouldn’t you say?  Well… that is exactly the way our Father God planned it to be for us… His children!

There will definitely be more explanation to come… but as for now… read this post through a few times… study out the verses (and others like them – by using a concordance) in your own Bibles and begin to exercise your LEGAL RIGHTS as a Christian.  Have a great weekend.  We’ve got the potential of some more winter weather this next week and the temperatures are already starting to fall… so I won’t be unpacking my shorts anytime soon!  PTL!

 

*Psalm 40:3 (The Passion Translation) “A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how He breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see His miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with Him!” 

**The Legal Dictionary - https://legaldictionary.net/deponent/

***See Colossians 2:13-14 and Revelation 1:18