By Major W. Ian Thomas
True Godliness will not come from our human efforts to fulfill God’s law any more than it will come from our attempts to imitate God. Both are impossible! “For if a law had been given that could impart life {God’s Kingdom-Life of Divine Love}, then Righteousness would certainly have come by the law.” (Gal. 3:21) But law cannot impart life. The children of God need to be filled with the indwelling Life of the Son before they will have the power to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law and display True godliness.
Therefore, the law was our tutor {serving as a harsh and unrelenting schoolmaster, in that there was NO forgiveness of err} to bring us to Christ {to receive His Divine Life by faith}... (Gal. 3:24)
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh {by human effort} but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4){The Spirit of an endless Life received by way of receptivity and faith in Christ Jesus. Emphasis added}
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter {of the law} but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life {the Kingdom-Life}. (2 Cor. 3:5-6 Emphasis added)
Because the law “made nothing perfect,” it should be a great relief when you discover that God expects you to fail in your attempts to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. It was designed to kill the pride that led you to think you had the power to conform to His laws in the first place.
Nothing that has shocked you about yourself has ever shocked God; it grieves Him, but it never shocks Him. His laws were given to make you aware of your wretchedness and total bankruptcy.
Even as a Christian, you will resist this death to the flesh-life until you realize two things: First, that God requires His children to fulfill all the righteous requirements found in His laws, including the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. And second, that you are powerless to fulfill His requirements while living by the strength of your flesh, your own self sufficiency. You will need to come to a place where your only hope of being saved from your fallen nature is by passing through this death to the flesh-life and entering into the Lord’s Kingdom-Life. “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:25)
After being reconciled to God through Christ’s shed blood, you will find yourself being led to a place where you acknowledge that not only what you have done is wrong, but your very nature is wrong. You must come to the point where you realize that even your best human efforts are still sinful in nature. Not only do they not come from faith {and everything “not from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23)}, but they will naturally come from selfish motives.
There are many Christians who are still trying to make themselves better. They are continually frustrated with their efforts, but they still seem to think they can do something to improve themselves. And like the Pharisees of old, as long as they have some hope in this self-produced form of righteousness, they will avoid taking Christ’s Way of the cross.
It is time for every Christian to recognize the “nature of the beast.” Stop being deceived into thinking your fleshly nature can be changed or fixed over time. Its roots are too deeply sunk into the life of the devil for you to change yourself on the inside. The only way to be delivered from this old Adam-life is by passing through “death” into “life.”
Compare your daily walk with Christ’s teachings in His Sermon on the Mount. Notice how selfish you are compared to the Sacrificial life He requires of His followers. Even the most loving acts you perform for the Lord and your family will still have a self-centered bias, even if it’s only the desire to be recognized or acknowledged for what you have done. If you have been trying to be righteous through your own efforts, your mouth will be stopped and your sin exposed when you Truly begin to see the High calling we are called to in Christ.
Whether you try to obey Christ’s teachings or try to imitate Him, either method will naturally bring a deep awareness of your sinful nature. And whether you truly compare your life to Christ’s teachings or compare yourself to the Word made manifest through His life, both standards will show how far you have come short of the Glory of God.
A plumb-line may show how crooked something is, but it does nothing to put it straight. If the Son did nothing more than set a standard by which we are to live, we are left with nothing to do but wallow in the squalor of our own inadequacy. In fact, we could say the “good news” of the Gospel is really a message of despair. It mocks us with its words without providing the spiritual life that it requires from us.
But the Son of God offers “much more” than forgiveness for our sins and a standard to live by. Jesus came to do “much more” than reconcile us to God. He has come to save (Redeem) us from our fallen nature. He has both the power and the Authority to enable us to share with Him in the same victorious life that enabled Him to conquer sin {living in one’s own sufficiency and willfulness}.
Here is the “much more” of your Salvation! “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, MUCH MORE, having been reconciled {a past event}, we shall be saved (Redeemed) by His life.” (Rom. 5:10 Emphasis added) You need something much more than being reconciled to God. And glory be to God, you now have an opportunity to receive an abundantly full measure of Christ’s Spiritual Life. (John 10:10) His indwelling Life is even more powerful than the fallen nature that was first received from Adam. (Rom. 5:17) The Son of God has come to establish His Kingdom-Life of Love within your heart so you may walk in True Holiness and Righteousness before Him all the days of your life. (Luke 1:74-75)
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Mystery of Godliness apart XIX
By Major W. Ian Thomas
The Law of the Spirit of Life
For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2)
The Gift of the Spirit gives us the ability to respond to the teachings of our Lord as we pass through the time of testing and seek to enter into the Life of Promise. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13) in the Kingdom-Life.
In other words, there is a work to be done after spiritual regeneration. We prepare God’s temple by separating ourselves from the ways of the world as we are led by the Spirit. The Lord will eventually manifest His Kingdom-Life within everyone who will Obediently follow Him through the cross and into the Heavenly realms.
For you are the temple of the Living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them…” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. (2 Cor. 6:16-17)
He who has My commandments and keeps them {with their regenerate heart}, it is he who loves Me…and I will Love him and manifest Myself {the Kingdom-Life} to him. (John 14:21)
It was to bring about this change of government and introduce this New law of Spiritual Life from Heaven that the Second Man lived, died and rose again from the dead. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s Obedience many will be made Righteous.” (Rom. 5:19)
Do not confuse the written Law with the New law of the Spirit of Life. The Old Testament law, although righteous, could only bring about the experience of sin and death in the children of God. Paul said, “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” (Rom. 7:10) The law, we will learn, was given to bring about a real death to the old self-sufficient way of life that everyone has inherited from Adam. This “original sin” needs to die before the Kingdom-Life of God can be fully established within the heart.
( This law is found in: Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die. This was the first spoken law in the form of a command, a law because with the command there was given the penalty for the disobedience to the spoken command. This was separation from the Life and Love of God which is found in our intimacy or intercourse with God. Emphasis added)
We know there had to be “an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect.” (Heb. 7:18-19) While Jesus expects His disciples to fulfill all the righteous requirements found in His teachings, including His Sermon on the Mount it can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit who gives Life {the Kingdom-Life of self-sacrificing Love}; the flesh profits nothing.” (John 6:63)(Here the law referred to is the Law given to Moses and through Moses to Israel found in Leviticus through Deuteronomy which no man could fulfill but which reveals our undoneness of bankruptcy to follow the Will of God in obedience. Emphasis added)
Written laws have only a limited application in God’s dealings with man. First of all, written laws are needed to restrain people who are not living by God’s Spirit. This includes the use of laws established by governments in this temporal world. God uses them to place a restraint on the evil nature in fallen man. In a sense, we can therefore say that written laws are necessary in a fallen and evil world. “Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law.” (Gal. 3:23)
However, God never intended for man to live by law. The children of God were designed to participate with God in His own Divine nature. And where the fruit of God’s Spirit is being manifested through fully Sanctified Christians {those who have allowed God to set them apart for His exclusive use and are sharing in the Divine nature}, there is no need for law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no {need for} law. (Gal. 5:22-23 Emphasis added)
We can therefore say that written laws will only be needed while people are still living by the strength of the flesh. Once the believer has died to the ways of the flesh and has entered into a real participation with Christ in His Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4), he {or she} will be moved by the Spirit in a Way that naturally fulfills all the requirements found in God’s written laws.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things {pertaining to the Kingdom-Life and Godliness}…The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you {through written laws}… (1
John 2:20, 27)
Christians, after being reconciled to God through Christ’s blood, will have a natural tendency to live by human effort. Because they are not yet living under the full control and power of the Holy Spirit, but still have some dependence on their own strength, they are unable to consistently display the Fruit of Christ’s Spirit through their lives.
The law will therefore have a limited application in the life of every born again Christian. God has provided written laws to reveal what True Righteousness is like. His laws will therefore expose the defects {bankruptcy} that continue to rise out of the heart when one is still living by the strength of the flesh. There will be something within them that “is not subject to the law of God.” (Rom. 8:7) They will find that their old “Adam-life” sometimes still has an opposing nature to the sacrificial Agape Love as displayed by Jesus, the prototype Son.
While these earnest Christians will generally prevent sinful tendencies from breaking forth into outward displays of sin, they will still sense the presence of an evil within their hearts. For example, they will periodically find a selfish anger
coming to the surface when people treat them poorly. And even though this anger ever breaks forth into actual murder, the corruption that exposes itself in selfish anger is the same as murder in God’s Sight. God therefore expects them to submit their Adam-life to the cross so they can die to this old nature and enter into a participation with Christ in His Divine nature.
The requirements that Christ established in His Sermon on the Mount are impossible to keep by human effort. But this does not mean that He does not expect His believers, followers and disciples to fulfill all the Righteous requirements found in His teachings. It simply means that every born again believer will need to learn to live by the Spirit. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26)
The law has a work to do in the heart of every Christian. It is designed to break the natural sense of self-sufficiency found in the fallen nature. This old spirit (evil, as it is the nature acquired from Satan) needs to be brought to its death. Only then are believers able to enter into the pure faith that will enable them to “put on the New self, created to be Like God in True Righteousness and Holiness.” (Eph. 4:24)(Emphasis added)
The apostle Paul reveals in Romans seven how this process took place in his life. As he has described, the standards found in God’s laws will eventually kill the self-sufficient {evil} spirit in everyone who has earnestly sought to be Obedient to God’s laws.
…Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law… I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death… But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful… For in my inner being I delight in God’s law {a sign of spiritual regeneration and the presence of the Holy Spirit}; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members… Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:7, 10, 13, 22-24 Emphasis added)
Paul did not always remain “a prisoner of the law of sin.” As he later said, “For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me Free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:2) The Spirit of Christ was able to set him Free from his old sin nature. The Kingdom-Life was established within His heart once he realized that “it is the Spirit who gives Life {the Kingdom-Life}; the flesh {striving by human effort} profits nothing.” (John 6:63)
Every Christian will need to learn how the law was designed to bring about a real death to the self-sufficient life they inherited from Adam. Once they have lost all hope in their ability to fully conform to God’s Ways by human effort, they will be prepared to turn to Christ with the kind of faith that will permit Him to set them “Free indeed” from the “law of sin.”
…Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord… (Rom. 7:24-25)
…I tell you the Truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin… So if the Son sets you free {from the sin nature}, you will be Free indeed. (John 8:34, 36)
The Law of the Spirit of Life
For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2)
The Gift of the Spirit gives us the ability to respond to the teachings of our Lord as we pass through the time of testing and seek to enter into the Life of Promise. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13) in the Kingdom-Life.
In other words, there is a work to be done after spiritual regeneration. We prepare God’s temple by separating ourselves from the ways of the world as we are led by the Spirit. The Lord will eventually manifest His Kingdom-Life within everyone who will Obediently follow Him through the cross and into the Heavenly realms.
For you are the temple of the Living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them…” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. (2 Cor. 6:16-17)
He who has My commandments and keeps them {with their regenerate heart}, it is he who loves Me…and I will Love him and manifest Myself {the Kingdom-Life} to him. (John 14:21)
It was to bring about this change of government and introduce this New law of Spiritual Life from Heaven that the Second Man lived, died and rose again from the dead. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s Obedience many will be made Righteous.” (Rom. 5:19)
Do not confuse the written Law with the New law of the Spirit of Life. The Old Testament law, although righteous, could only bring about the experience of sin and death in the children of God. Paul said, “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” (Rom. 7:10) The law, we will learn, was given to bring about a real death to the old self-sufficient way of life that everyone has inherited from Adam. This “original sin” needs to die before the Kingdom-Life of God can be fully established within the heart.
( This law is found in: Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die. This was the first spoken law in the form of a command, a law because with the command there was given the penalty for the disobedience to the spoken command. This was separation from the Life and Love of God which is found in our intimacy or intercourse with God. Emphasis added)
We know there had to be “an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect.” (Heb. 7:18-19) While Jesus expects His disciples to fulfill all the righteous requirements found in His teachings, including His Sermon on the Mount it can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit who gives Life {the Kingdom-Life of self-sacrificing Love}; the flesh profits nothing.” (John 6:63)(Here the law referred to is the Law given to Moses and through Moses to Israel found in Leviticus through Deuteronomy which no man could fulfill but which reveals our undoneness of bankruptcy to follow the Will of God in obedience. Emphasis added)
Written laws have only a limited application in God’s dealings with man. First of all, written laws are needed to restrain people who are not living by God’s Spirit. This includes the use of laws established by governments in this temporal world. God uses them to place a restraint on the evil nature in fallen man. In a sense, we can therefore say that written laws are necessary in a fallen and evil world. “Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law.” (Gal. 3:23)
However, God never intended for man to live by law. The children of God were designed to participate with God in His own Divine nature. And where the fruit of God’s Spirit is being manifested through fully Sanctified Christians {those who have allowed God to set them apart for His exclusive use and are sharing in the Divine nature}, there is no need for law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no {need for} law. (Gal. 5:22-23 Emphasis added)
We can therefore say that written laws will only be needed while people are still living by the strength of the flesh. Once the believer has died to the ways of the flesh and has entered into a real participation with Christ in His Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4), he {or she} will be moved by the Spirit in a Way that naturally fulfills all the requirements found in God’s written laws.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things {pertaining to the Kingdom-Life and Godliness}…The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you {through written laws}… (1
John 2:20, 27)
Christians, after being reconciled to God through Christ’s blood, will have a natural tendency to live by human effort. Because they are not yet living under the full control and power of the Holy Spirit, but still have some dependence on their own strength, they are unable to consistently display the Fruit of Christ’s Spirit through their lives.
The law will therefore have a limited application in the life of every born again Christian. God has provided written laws to reveal what True Righteousness is like. His laws will therefore expose the defects {bankruptcy} that continue to rise out of the heart when one is still living by the strength of the flesh. There will be something within them that “is not subject to the law of God.” (Rom. 8:7) They will find that their old “Adam-life” sometimes still has an opposing nature to the sacrificial Agape Love as displayed by Jesus, the prototype Son.
While these earnest Christians will generally prevent sinful tendencies from breaking forth into outward displays of sin, they will still sense the presence of an evil within their hearts. For example, they will periodically find a selfish anger
coming to the surface when people treat them poorly. And even though this anger ever breaks forth into actual murder, the corruption that exposes itself in selfish anger is the same as murder in God’s Sight. God therefore expects them to submit their Adam-life to the cross so they can die to this old nature and enter into a participation with Christ in His Divine nature.
The requirements that Christ established in His Sermon on the Mount are impossible to keep by human effort. But this does not mean that He does not expect His believers, followers and disciples to fulfill all the Righteous requirements found in His teachings. It simply means that every born again believer will need to learn to live by the Spirit. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26)
The law has a work to do in the heart of every Christian. It is designed to break the natural sense of self-sufficiency found in the fallen nature. This old spirit (evil, as it is the nature acquired from Satan) needs to be brought to its death. Only then are believers able to enter into the pure faith that will enable them to “put on the New self, created to be Like God in True Righteousness and Holiness.” (Eph. 4:24)(Emphasis added)
The apostle Paul reveals in Romans seven how this process took place in his life. As he has described, the standards found in God’s laws will eventually kill the self-sufficient {evil} spirit in everyone who has earnestly sought to be Obedient to God’s laws.
…Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law… I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death… But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful… For in my inner being I delight in God’s law {a sign of spiritual regeneration and the presence of the Holy Spirit}; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members… Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:7, 10, 13, 22-24 Emphasis added)
Paul did not always remain “a prisoner of the law of sin.” As he later said, “For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me Free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:2) The Spirit of Christ was able to set him Free from his old sin nature. The Kingdom-Life was established within His heart once he realized that “it is the Spirit who gives Life {the Kingdom-Life}; the flesh {striving by human effort} profits nothing.” (John 6:63)
Every Christian will need to learn how the law was designed to bring about a real death to the self-sufficient life they inherited from Adam. Once they have lost all hope in their ability to fully conform to God’s Ways by human effort, they will be prepared to turn to Christ with the kind of faith that will permit Him to set them “Free indeed” from the “law of sin.”
…Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord… (Rom. 7:24-25)
…I tell you the Truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin… So if the Son sets you free {from the sin nature}, you will be Free indeed. (John 8:34, 36)
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Mystery of Godliness apart XVIII
By Major W. Ian Thomas
The Second Man (Adam) – The Lord From Heaven
…The last Adam became a Life-giving spirit… The second Man is the Lord from Heaven. (1 Cor. 15:45, 47)
…Who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless Life. (Heb. 7:16)
To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies {the world, the flesh and the devil}, Might serve Him without fear {of remaining bound by the carnal nature}, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. (Luke 1:74-75)
The first man was Adam, and he entered into spiritual death. The Last Adam was Christ, and He came to raise the spiritually dead and give His endless Life to each of His disciples. “In this the Love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might Live (come to spiritual life, awaken from spiritual sleep Emphasis added) through Him.” (1 John 4:9)
Had God not intervened by providing a New Life from Heaven, the family of Adam would have been without hope. There was no way for fallen man to escape from his sinful nature and raise himself out of spiritual death.(The separation from the intimacy of fellowship with God the Father of spirits. Emphasis added)
Right here we can see why the virgin birth was necessary. Had Jesus Christ been born as you and I were born, by natural conception through the line of Adam, He too would have been “in Adam.” It would have naturally left Him in spiritual death, uninhabited by the Divine Life of God, and dominated by the flesh-life. This is why the doctrine of the virgin birth is not a matter of secondary importance. It is imperative!(This is what the prophets of old had seen but did not have the understanding of as it remains hidden in God or withheld from them. Emphasis added)
Because the Last Adam {Jesus Christ}, the Second Man, came from the line of His own Father in Heaven, and He lived without ever departing from a walk of faith {He lived without sin. “…for whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23)}, He now has the right to impart His Spiritual Life from Heaven to everyone who will follow Him through the cross. (Matt. 16:24-25) As the Son of God, He was sent into the world to manifest His Kingdom-Life through everyone who is willing to die to their Adam-life. He now has both the Power and the Authority to make Himself known within the soul of every receptive believer in “the power of an endless Life.” (Heb. 7:16)
The Son of God came to re-inhabit your spirit and to re-conquer your soul. He has come to enable you to have His Life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10) As He has said, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (This He can only do because He was first within Adam before the rebellion of sin which placed all mankind under the curse of sin and death in the flesh of man. Emphasis added)
The Son of God came to restore to you all that makes the Mystery of Godliness an open secret: He came to manifest His own Life through the temple of your body! This is “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints (disciples). To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you…” (Col. 1:26-27 Emphasis added)
In addition to giving birth to Jesus, Mary also became a spiritual type for everyone who desires to bear the Life of God’s Son. What were the events that led up to the miraculous birth of Christ? How was Mary able to bear the Heavenly Life of the Son?
It began with God’s Word being faithfully delivered by a messenger “sent by God.” (Luke 1:26) The Word she received was both strange and startling. It was contrary to all human experience and beyond anything the mind could fully comprehend. Since the message defied human wisdom, would she believe God’s word?
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest… And He will reign…and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33 Emphasis added)
The natural reaction of Mary was one of amazement. The obvious question to be asked and to be answered was “How?” And so Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34) The angel might have responded something like this, “Mary, there is no way to explain this mystery in human terms!” ‘But the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’ (Luke 1:35) He will do a work that causes you to bear the life of the Son of God.”
Mary would be a mere instrument. The almighty power of God would perform the miracle. But was that enough? No! One condition still needed to be met! Mary had to make herself available for this gracious, Life-giving ministry of the Spirit.
Maybe you have taken it for granted that Mary would make herself available to God and thereby permit Him to do this wonderful work through her. Is there any reason why you should think this way? Have you made yourself available in a Way that would permit the Spirit to overshadow you? Have you given permission to God to use your body for His purposes? Have you been willing to become “nothing” in yourself so the Son would be able to “reign” over your life and show Himself “great” through you? Is there any reason why you should expect her to do something that you have not permitted God to do through you?
Mary could have said, “I do not want God to interfere in my life! I am engaged to be married and I have my own plans! This would spoil what I have planned for my own life.” Isn’t this what has kept you from surrendering your life and plans to become a vessel of the Son’s Life? Remember, as the Son of the Highest, “He will reign” when He has established His Kingdom-Life within your heart. And when He comes to manifest Himself through your body, He is the only one who can “be great.”
Of course, Mary was a true child of faith! She said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Once she yielded to God’s word, and trusted Him to do the work, the responsibility was on God to fulfill His purposes through her. She trusted and yielded; God used His power to do the work.
We should emphasize, however, that it is never easy to bear the Life of the Son. “Difficult is the Way which leads to Life.” (Matt. 7:14) Mary would be expected to go through some suffering before she gave birth to the Life of the Son. After spiritual regeneration had taken place, when the seed of Divine Life was first planted within her by the Spirit, there were still many difficulties to pass through. But she continued to Trust in God and wait for the Life of promise to come forth.
Christians today, if they are to become vessels of the Son’s Kingdom-Life, will also go through periods of suffering before the Son can display His Life of Divine Love through their mortal bodies. It is like giving birth to a child. After being impregnated with a “seed” from the Son’s Life, there will inevitably be a number of difficult trials leading up to the painful birth of His Kingdom-Life from above. (I might add that even during this Kingdom-Life has been received there will be tribulations, testings as training or perfecting of our Salvation continues. For the student does not surpass the Master's Knowledge. Emphasis added)
But may the God of all Grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while {in dying to the selfseeking and self-sufficient ways of the world}, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. (1 Pet. 5:10 Emphasis added)
Every Christian is expected to press forward in their faith until they have given birth to the Lord’s Kingdom-Life from Heaven. “He will reign…and of His Kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:33) His Kingdom-Life, once established within the heart, becomes an everlasting Life.
The law and the prophets were until John {the Baptist}. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. (Luke 16:16 Emphasis added)
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you {as Christians} do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star {Jesus Christ in His Kingdom-Life} rises in your hearts. (2 Pet. 1:10-11, 19 Emphasis added)
Next we'll explore "The Law of the Spirit of Life."
The Second Man (Adam) – The Lord From Heaven
…The last Adam became a Life-giving spirit… The second Man is the Lord from Heaven. (1 Cor. 15:45, 47)
…Who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless Life. (Heb. 7:16)
To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies {the world, the flesh and the devil}, Might serve Him without fear {of remaining bound by the carnal nature}, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. (Luke 1:74-75)
The first man was Adam, and he entered into spiritual death. The Last Adam was Christ, and He came to raise the spiritually dead and give His endless Life to each of His disciples. “In this the Love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might Live (come to spiritual life, awaken from spiritual sleep Emphasis added) through Him.” (1 John 4:9)
Had God not intervened by providing a New Life from Heaven, the family of Adam would have been without hope. There was no way for fallen man to escape from his sinful nature and raise himself out of spiritual death.(The separation from the intimacy of fellowship with God the Father of spirits. Emphasis added)
Right here we can see why the virgin birth was necessary. Had Jesus Christ been born as you and I were born, by natural conception through the line of Adam, He too would have been “in Adam.” It would have naturally left Him in spiritual death, uninhabited by the Divine Life of God, and dominated by the flesh-life. This is why the doctrine of the virgin birth is not a matter of secondary importance. It is imperative!(This is what the prophets of old had seen but did not have the understanding of as it remains hidden in God or withheld from them. Emphasis added)
Because the Last Adam {Jesus Christ}, the Second Man, came from the line of His own Father in Heaven, and He lived without ever departing from a walk of faith {He lived without sin. “…for whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23)}, He now has the right to impart His Spiritual Life from Heaven to everyone who will follow Him through the cross. (Matt. 16:24-25) As the Son of God, He was sent into the world to manifest His Kingdom-Life through everyone who is willing to die to their Adam-life. He now has both the Power and the Authority to make Himself known within the soul of every receptive believer in “the power of an endless Life.” (Heb. 7:16)
The Son of God came to re-inhabit your spirit and to re-conquer your soul. He has come to enable you to have His Life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10) As He has said, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (This He can only do because He was first within Adam before the rebellion of sin which placed all mankind under the curse of sin and death in the flesh of man. Emphasis added)
The Son of God came to restore to you all that makes the Mystery of Godliness an open secret: He came to manifest His own Life through the temple of your body! This is “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints (disciples). To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you…” (Col. 1:26-27 Emphasis added)
In addition to giving birth to Jesus, Mary also became a spiritual type for everyone who desires to bear the Life of God’s Son. What were the events that led up to the miraculous birth of Christ? How was Mary able to bear the Heavenly Life of the Son?
It began with God’s Word being faithfully delivered by a messenger “sent by God.” (Luke 1:26) The Word she received was both strange and startling. It was contrary to all human experience and beyond anything the mind could fully comprehend. Since the message defied human wisdom, would she believe God’s word?
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest… And He will reign…and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33 Emphasis added)
The natural reaction of Mary was one of amazement. The obvious question to be asked and to be answered was “How?” And so Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34) The angel might have responded something like this, “Mary, there is no way to explain this mystery in human terms!” ‘But the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’ (Luke 1:35) He will do a work that causes you to bear the life of the Son of God.”
Mary would be a mere instrument. The almighty power of God would perform the miracle. But was that enough? No! One condition still needed to be met! Mary had to make herself available for this gracious, Life-giving ministry of the Spirit.
Maybe you have taken it for granted that Mary would make herself available to God and thereby permit Him to do this wonderful work through her. Is there any reason why you should think this way? Have you made yourself available in a Way that would permit the Spirit to overshadow you? Have you given permission to God to use your body for His purposes? Have you been willing to become “nothing” in yourself so the Son would be able to “reign” over your life and show Himself “great” through you? Is there any reason why you should expect her to do something that you have not permitted God to do through you?
Mary could have said, “I do not want God to interfere in my life! I am engaged to be married and I have my own plans! This would spoil what I have planned for my own life.” Isn’t this what has kept you from surrendering your life and plans to become a vessel of the Son’s Life? Remember, as the Son of the Highest, “He will reign” when He has established His Kingdom-Life within your heart. And when He comes to manifest Himself through your body, He is the only one who can “be great.”
Of course, Mary was a true child of faith! She said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Once she yielded to God’s word, and trusted Him to do the work, the responsibility was on God to fulfill His purposes through her. She trusted and yielded; God used His power to do the work.
We should emphasize, however, that it is never easy to bear the Life of the Son. “Difficult is the Way which leads to Life.” (Matt. 7:14) Mary would be expected to go through some suffering before she gave birth to the Life of the Son. After spiritual regeneration had taken place, when the seed of Divine Life was first planted within her by the Spirit, there were still many difficulties to pass through. But she continued to Trust in God and wait for the Life of promise to come forth.
Christians today, if they are to become vessels of the Son’s Kingdom-Life, will also go through periods of suffering before the Son can display His Life of Divine Love through their mortal bodies. It is like giving birth to a child. After being impregnated with a “seed” from the Son’s Life, there will inevitably be a number of difficult trials leading up to the painful birth of His Kingdom-Life from above. (I might add that even during this Kingdom-Life has been received there will be tribulations, testings as training or perfecting of our Salvation continues. For the student does not surpass the Master's Knowledge. Emphasis added)
But may the God of all Grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while {in dying to the selfseeking and self-sufficient ways of the world}, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. (1 Pet. 5:10 Emphasis added)
Every Christian is expected to press forward in their faith until they have given birth to the Lord’s Kingdom-Life from Heaven. “He will reign…and of His Kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:33) His Kingdom-Life, once established within the heart, becomes an everlasting Life.
The law and the prophets were until John {the Baptist}. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. (Luke 16:16 Emphasis added)
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you {as Christians} do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star {Jesus Christ in His Kingdom-Life} rises in your hearts. (2 Pet. 1:10-11, 19 Emphasis added)
Next we'll explore "The Law of the Spirit of Life."
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Mystery of Godliness apart XVII
By Major W. Ian Thomas
When God created Adam in his innocence, the Holy Spirit was a Royal Resident. He had unchallenged and exclusive access to Adam’s soul. He alone had the right to sit, as it were, at the key-board where the human personality was orchestrated. As He instructed the mind, controlled the emotions, and directed the will, the Spirit of Truth struck every chord in true harmony with the heart of God in Heaven. There was a matchless melody that rang out from his daily activities as an evidence that God was the source of Adam’s life. (This harmony was recorded in the stars and Heavens as they still resound this song of God's Grace. Emphasis added.)
The Deceiver, however, led Adam into believing that man could play the Instrument of his own personality. He pointed out the advantages of being free from the restrictive presence of the Holy Spirit.
Supposedly, Adam would be able to enhance his spiritual life when he was free to pick and choose his own tunes. By playing his own music, the tunes would only need to be in harmony with himself. He would no longer need to be concerned about keeping in harmony with God! Indeed, he could become his own god, and what could be better than that? (When this occurred man lost the ability to hear not only God's voice but also the song of the Heavens. Emphasis added)
What Adam did not realize is that once he had turned from the Tree of Life, and the Spirit had vacated the temple of his body, the father of lies would take control of the Music Room. In this fallen way of life, even though the Deceiver had led Adam to believe that he would have an opportunity to choose his own tunes, there would actually be a demon sitting at the key-board thumping away at the notes. It is “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” (Eph. 2:2) His name is The Flesh. He took control of the Instrument and began producing an awful noise.
The Instrument has not changed. It is the same Instrument that God originally used to make melodies in harmony with Himself. But having once produced harmony with the Life and nature of God, the instrument now produces discord.
This is the story of how fallen man became separated from the Life of God. The flesh-life, under the sway of Satan, is now at the keyboard producing iniquity and lawlessness in the world!
You do not need a new Instrument. The original is just fine. What you need is a new Musician. The Holy Spirit, when He is in full control of the key-board, will begin to play beautiful music within your soul. He will make your inner being like the Paradise of God. He is the One who is able to produce the Kingdom-Life of God through your mortal body.
But if I {the Son of God} drive out demons {including the flesh-life} by the finger of God {by the Holy Spirit}, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Luke 11:20)
Next we'll look at: "The Second Man – The Lord From Heaven"
When God created Adam in his innocence, the Holy Spirit was a Royal Resident. He had unchallenged and exclusive access to Adam’s soul. He alone had the right to sit, as it were, at the key-board where the human personality was orchestrated. As He instructed the mind, controlled the emotions, and directed the will, the Spirit of Truth struck every chord in true harmony with the heart of God in Heaven. There was a matchless melody that rang out from his daily activities as an evidence that God was the source of Adam’s life. (This harmony was recorded in the stars and Heavens as they still resound this song of God's Grace. Emphasis added.)
The Deceiver, however, led Adam into believing that man could play the Instrument of his own personality. He pointed out the advantages of being free from the restrictive presence of the Holy Spirit.
Supposedly, Adam would be able to enhance his spiritual life when he was free to pick and choose his own tunes. By playing his own music, the tunes would only need to be in harmony with himself. He would no longer need to be concerned about keeping in harmony with God! Indeed, he could become his own god, and what could be better than that? (When this occurred man lost the ability to hear not only God's voice but also the song of the Heavens. Emphasis added)
What Adam did not realize is that once he had turned from the Tree of Life, and the Spirit had vacated the temple of his body, the father of lies would take control of the Music Room. In this fallen way of life, even though the Deceiver had led Adam to believe that he would have an opportunity to choose his own tunes, there would actually be a demon sitting at the key-board thumping away at the notes. It is “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” (Eph. 2:2) His name is The Flesh. He took control of the Instrument and began producing an awful noise.
The Instrument has not changed. It is the same Instrument that God originally used to make melodies in harmony with Himself. But having once produced harmony with the Life and nature of God, the instrument now produces discord.
This is the story of how fallen man became separated from the Life of God. The flesh-life, under the sway of Satan, is now at the keyboard producing iniquity and lawlessness in the world!
You do not need a new Instrument. The original is just fine. What you need is a new Musician. The Holy Spirit, when He is in full control of the key-board, will begin to play beautiful music within your soul. He will make your inner being like the Paradise of God. He is the One who is able to produce the Kingdom-Life of God through your mortal body.
But if I {the Son of God} drive out demons {including the flesh-life} by the finger of God {by the Holy Spirit}, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Luke 11:20)
Next we'll look at: "The Second Man – The Lord From Heaven"
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Mystery of Godliness apart XVI
By Major W. Ian Thomas
God uses His Word of Truth to help people understand why they experience a returning sense of spiritual emptiness within their soul. He wants them to recognize the hopelessness of ever experiencing a lasting fulfillment by following the self-seeking ways of this world. “God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ To those…who are self-seeking…there will be wrath and anger.” (Rom. 2:6-8) They can never expect God to manifest His Divine Life through them while living as “self-seekers.”
When man’s soul was left empty by the departure of the Spirit, Satan was permitted to enter in and introduce the self-elevating principle of pride. This pride naturally leads to self-will and self-sufficiency. Man will remain hopelessly lost {in this fallen state} until he turns to the Lord and permits the Son to lead him into the life of faith. The Messiah, who has come to establish the lost Kingdom-Life within the hearts of His followers, is the only hope that mankind has of being saved from his fallen nature. (Emphasis added)
The Mystery of Iniquity
Jesus once turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matt. 16:23 Emphasis added) Jesus meant exactly what He said. There was something in Peter that was still causing him to have a man-centered thought process. There was still an “old man” in him that resulted in a self-centered and self-seeking nature. Even though Peter was in a forgiven state {credited with righteousness and reconciled to God}, he was still being influenced by a thought process that had its source in the devil. (This reveals the three part process from a simple believer, follower unto disciple. Peter was still a follower because he still has not the revelation of sanctification unto righteousness. Emphasis added)
This wisdom {which is displayed by the self-centered nature} does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. (Jam. 3:15-16 Emphasis added)
Peter had tried to turn Jesus from the way of the cross. He was sincerely concerned about his Master. But he was still responding with a selfish motive. Peter was therefore saying something that was opposed to the Light of Truth. And Jesus knew that everything that is opposed to God’s Way of Life is a lie from the devil. (Emphasis added)
When Jesus came into this world, He both spoke and walked in a way that revealed God’s Truth. He was the “Living Word” or the Word made manifest. And He came to lead all of God’s called-out children into the same Kingdom-Life – the life that Adam lost at the Fall.
But we find that Peter tried to turn the Son {the Second Adam} away from the Truth and the Light. This was when Jesus provides a clear set of instructions to help His still then followers in the process of becoming a disciple to understand how they can follow Him into His Kingdom-Life from Heaven. “If anyone desires to come after Me {into the Kingdom-Life}, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25 Emphasis added)
God, through His Eternal Word of Truth, says, “Deny yourself, and take up your cross.” In contrast, Peter had effectively said to Jesus, “Save yourself, and turn from the way of the cross.” Peter’s statement was diametrically opposed to the Way of Life being revealed by the Son. Peter was expressing a motto representing the devil’s way of life. Jesus therefore said to him, “Get behind Me Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
(This is a key to becoming a disciple and the entry through the veil by accepting God's Way to His Kingdom-Life. Emphasis added)
Even though Peter had been walking with Jesus in a forgiven state, he had not yet been “set free indeed” from the devil’s sway over man. (John 8:36) It was not until Pentecost, when Peter was clothed with power from above, that Christ was able to establish His Kingdom-Life of Divine Love within Peter’s heart. (The second key to living in the Kingdom-Life which is the Eternal Life of God's sacrificial Love. Emphasis added)
The Scripture says that everyone “of the world” is now in darkness and under the sway of the devil. (1 John 5:19) The reason is quite simple: They are still following the self-seeking and self-exalting ways of the devil. We can therefore say that everyone who is still living by the maxim, “Save yourself” {where self – “self-will or “self-determination,” “self-seeking,” and “self-sufficiency” – is still at the center of your thoughts and actions} is still under the sway of the devil.
Peter was completely ignorant of the evil that was being displayed through his selfish desires. Although his words were sincere, his sincerity did not prevent him from displaying the darkness of his fallen nature. He was speaking the devil’s lies instead of God’s Truth.
It is not enough to simply become a believer or follower of Jesus Christ by looking to His shed blood for forgiveness of sins. There is an old Adam-life that must die before the Kingdom-Life of God can be displayed through a mortal body. Peter’s decision to follow Jesus was only a preparation that eventually led to being clothed with a Divine power on the day of Pentecost. Only then was his heart purified and the temple of his body filled with the Glory of God – the Son’s Life of self-sacrificing Love. (Acts 15:8-9)(The third and finial key to the Kingdom-Life of Christ's essence within His House, the House that He is the LORD over. Emphasis added)
If, as a Christian, you are still living for your own desires, and even trying to correct your selfish desires by human effort, you will find that you are still under a bondage to your self-centered nature. The end result, as it was for the Jews, will be “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” (Rom. 10:2)
These religious people of old wanted to save themselves and produce their own righteousness for God. But they were unwilling to die to their self-life. They therefore rejected the Kingdom-Life they could have received from Jesus Christ by taking His Way of the cross.(What many don't hear is that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, He is the God of all that is Life and contains His Life. That is House His Eternal or Kingdom-Life. Emphasis added)
The Jews were deceived by Satan. Not realizing that godliness is the result of God’s activity in man, and “being ignorant of God’s Righteousness,” they attempted “to establish their own righteousness.” (Rom. 10:3) Their desire for independence and self-sufficiency prevented them from being able to see the Light of the true Gospel. In effect, they rejected our Lord’s message because they did not want to die to their flesh-life and become vessels of “the Righteousness of God.” (v. 3) And, unfortunately, there are many people in the church today who are still rejecting Christ {His way of the cross} for the same reason.
Of course, when you set out to establish your own righteousness, all you produce is “self-righteousness.” Your own estimate of what righteousness really entails, even when borrowing teachings from the Bible {as other religions have done}, is still your own imitation of righteousness. Since this self-produced righteousness does not come from the Divine Life of God, it is not the real thing. God’s Kingdom-Life of perfect Love cannot be produced through these human efforts.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled {“fully met” – NIV} in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4)
God uses His Word of Truth to help people understand why they experience a returning sense of spiritual emptiness within their soul. He wants them to recognize the hopelessness of ever experiencing a lasting fulfillment by following the self-seeking ways of this world. “God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ To those…who are self-seeking…there will be wrath and anger.” (Rom. 2:6-8) They can never expect God to manifest His Divine Life through them while living as “self-seekers.”
When man’s soul was left empty by the departure of the Spirit, Satan was permitted to enter in and introduce the self-elevating principle of pride. This pride naturally leads to self-will and self-sufficiency. Man will remain hopelessly lost {in this fallen state} until he turns to the Lord and permits the Son to lead him into the life of faith. The Messiah, who has come to establish the lost Kingdom-Life within the hearts of His followers, is the only hope that mankind has of being saved from his fallen nature. (Emphasis added)
The Mystery of Iniquity
Jesus once turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matt. 16:23 Emphasis added) Jesus meant exactly what He said. There was something in Peter that was still causing him to have a man-centered thought process. There was still an “old man” in him that resulted in a self-centered and self-seeking nature. Even though Peter was in a forgiven state {credited with righteousness and reconciled to God}, he was still being influenced by a thought process that had its source in the devil. (This reveals the three part process from a simple believer, follower unto disciple. Peter was still a follower because he still has not the revelation of sanctification unto righteousness. Emphasis added)
This wisdom {which is displayed by the self-centered nature} does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. (Jam. 3:15-16 Emphasis added)
Peter had tried to turn Jesus from the way of the cross. He was sincerely concerned about his Master. But he was still responding with a selfish motive. Peter was therefore saying something that was opposed to the Light of Truth. And Jesus knew that everything that is opposed to God’s Way of Life is a lie from the devil. (Emphasis added)
When Jesus came into this world, He both spoke and walked in a way that revealed God’s Truth. He was the “Living Word” or the Word made manifest. And He came to lead all of God’s called-out children into the same Kingdom-Life – the life that Adam lost at the Fall.
But we find that Peter tried to turn the Son {the Second Adam} away from the Truth and the Light. This was when Jesus provides a clear set of instructions to help His still then followers in the process of becoming a disciple to understand how they can follow Him into His Kingdom-Life from Heaven. “If anyone desires to come after Me {into the Kingdom-Life}, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25 Emphasis added)
God, through His Eternal Word of Truth, says, “Deny yourself, and take up your cross.” In contrast, Peter had effectively said to Jesus, “Save yourself, and turn from the way of the cross.” Peter’s statement was diametrically opposed to the Way of Life being revealed by the Son. Peter was expressing a motto representing the devil’s way of life. Jesus therefore said to him, “Get behind Me Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
(This is a key to becoming a disciple and the entry through the veil by accepting God's Way to His Kingdom-Life. Emphasis added)
Even though Peter had been walking with Jesus in a forgiven state, he had not yet been “set free indeed” from the devil’s sway over man. (John 8:36) It was not until Pentecost, when Peter was clothed with power from above, that Christ was able to establish His Kingdom-Life of Divine Love within Peter’s heart. (The second key to living in the Kingdom-Life which is the Eternal Life of God's sacrificial Love. Emphasis added)
The Scripture says that everyone “of the world” is now in darkness and under the sway of the devil. (1 John 5:19) The reason is quite simple: They are still following the self-seeking and self-exalting ways of the devil. We can therefore say that everyone who is still living by the maxim, “Save yourself” {where self – “self-will or “self-determination,” “self-seeking,” and “self-sufficiency” – is still at the center of your thoughts and actions} is still under the sway of the devil.
Peter was completely ignorant of the evil that was being displayed through his selfish desires. Although his words were sincere, his sincerity did not prevent him from displaying the darkness of his fallen nature. He was speaking the devil’s lies instead of God’s Truth.
It is not enough to simply become a believer or follower of Jesus Christ by looking to His shed blood for forgiveness of sins. There is an old Adam-life that must die before the Kingdom-Life of God can be displayed through a mortal body. Peter’s decision to follow Jesus was only a preparation that eventually led to being clothed with a Divine power on the day of Pentecost. Only then was his heart purified and the temple of his body filled with the Glory of God – the Son’s Life of self-sacrificing Love. (Acts 15:8-9)(The third and finial key to the Kingdom-Life of Christ's essence within His House, the House that He is the LORD over. Emphasis added)
If, as a Christian, you are still living for your own desires, and even trying to correct your selfish desires by human effort, you will find that you are still under a bondage to your self-centered nature. The end result, as it was for the Jews, will be “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” (Rom. 10:2)
These religious people of old wanted to save themselves and produce their own righteousness for God. But they were unwilling to die to their self-life. They therefore rejected the Kingdom-Life they could have received from Jesus Christ by taking His Way of the cross.(What many don't hear is that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, He is the God of all that is Life and contains His Life. That is House His Eternal or Kingdom-Life. Emphasis added)
The Jews were deceived by Satan. Not realizing that godliness is the result of God’s activity in man, and “being ignorant of God’s Righteousness,” they attempted “to establish their own righteousness.” (Rom. 10:3) Their desire for independence and self-sufficiency prevented them from being able to see the Light of the true Gospel. In effect, they rejected our Lord’s message because they did not want to die to their flesh-life and become vessels of “the Righteousness of God.” (v. 3) And, unfortunately, there are many people in the church today who are still rejecting Christ {His way of the cross} for the same reason.
Of course, when you set out to establish your own righteousness, all you produce is “self-righteousness.” Your own estimate of what righteousness really entails, even when borrowing teachings from the Bible {as other religions have done}, is still your own imitation of righteousness. Since this self-produced righteousness does not come from the Divine Life of God, it is not the real thing. God’s Kingdom-Life of perfect Love cannot be produced through these human efforts.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled {“fully met” – NIV} in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4)
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Mystery of Godliness apart XV
By Major W. Ian Thomas
Life in the Spirit
“…As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this He meant the Spirit… (John 7:38-39)
…Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)
The Holy Spirit produced a never-ending river of Life from within the spirit of the first Adam before the Fall. The Son’s Living Water welled up and overflowed from the fountain of his soul into a manifestation of God’s Eternal Life. The nature of this life from Heaven kept his mind and emotions under the control of God. Everything he did and every attitude he expressed was inspired by the Spirit of God.
God literally expressed Himself through Adam. In the same Way that Christ {the Second Adam} displayed the Father’s Life and works, the first Adam was also the “radiance {or “outshining” – BBE} of God’s Glory.” (Heb. 1:3)
Adam’s responsibility as a free moral agent was to offer himself to God in faith to be an instrument of His Righteousness. The mystery of his godliness was simply a matter of a conscious choice to walk under the control and power of the Holy Spirit. As he yielded to the Spirit, God would use His power to display His Life and works through Adam.
It is quite obvious that if this process had been purely mechanical, and Adam had possessed no capacity to exercise his own choice, he would have been no more than a robot. But God created man with a free will. Through an active choice of his own will, Adam would be required to live by faith in God, continually walking by the Spirit.
We need to see how man was created to be a mere instrument of God’s Life of Righteousness. This principle for living still applies to God’s children today. Because of what Jesus Christ has done at the cross, God’s called-out children can now enter into the Life of Promise and begin walking by the Spirit as Adam did before the Fall, and as Jesus did after the Fall. They can enter into the Holiest of All and receive Divine Spiritual Life from God.
…Now the Righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…even the Righteousness of God, through faith… (Rom. 3:21-22)
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin {self-will}, but present yourselves to God…as instruments of Righteousness to God. (Rom. 6:13)
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection {or completion in the Life of Love}…This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. (Heb. 6:1,19)(The veil being the flesh of Christ Jesus for by His strips we are healed, it is the passing through these strips that we enter behind the veil even the veil of the old Temple. Emphasis added)
Man was made by God to be an instrument through which God expressed the power and authority of His Kingdom. As man received his life from God, he would also share with God in a dominion over this world. But this authority could only be expressed through man by virtue of his “faith-love” relationship of intimacy with God. As man lovingly submitted to all the leadings of God’s Spirit, God would supply him with the needed power to accomplish everything he was assigned to do.
God has a plan for each of His creation. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10 Emphasis added) Man is therefore expected to enter into God’s plan/Will. And he is expected to carry out his assigned work through the power of God’s Spirit.
The dominion that man received over his appointed sphere of work was derived from God. He could only exercise God’s power in the world while he responded to the Divine Will and lived by the Spirit through dependent faith.
God intends to remain Sovereign over His universe. And yet, He would accomplish the work He wanted to do in the world through the dominion given to His Spiritual children. In response to His revealed Will, they would depend on Him to use the power of His Spirit in all their assigned activities of daily life.
In effect, God chose to display a unique form of Sovereignty. He would first reveal His Will to His sons and daughters, and then depend on them to carry out the work through their prayers of faith. This is how God has planned for all His Sanctified children to live.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire {My Will as revealed to you}, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7 emphasis added)
I tell you the Truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing… And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so the Son may bring Glory to the Father. (John 14:12-13)
Again, man was designed to be God’s highest expression of His power and Glory. God’s dominion over the world would be visibly expressed through the work of His children. Without this visible expression of Himself {the “Light of Life” from Heaven}, the world would remain lost in darkness.
When man turned from this walk of faith and ate from the forbidden fruit of self-will and self-sufficiency, God departed from his soul. This left him empty, in darkness, and on his own. He also forfeited his right to express God’s dominion and power through prayer.
We can see that Adam was converted from the Life of God. Every “conversion” occurs when there has been a change of mind. Adam changed his mind about how he wanted to live. He allowed the devil to poison his understanding. Believing the lie that he could improve his spiritual life by walking in the strength of his own flesh, he separated himself from the Life of God. The Holy Spirit then withdrew from the human spirit, and man’s soul was plunged into the darkness of fallen humanity (sin caused death and death is separation from the Spiritual Life of God that enabled him to name the beasts, plants and to have dominion over all things, and to live in fellowship with God emphasis added).
Something else also occurred at the Fall. When the Spirit of God was no longer filling man’s {mankind’s} soul with the Living Water that naturally wells up to Eternal Life, he was left empty and unfulfilled. He then became self-centered, or egocentric in all that he did. His life-purpose then became centered around his own efforts to find a means of spiritual fulfillment.(Because of the emptiness of the void within him and the thirsting this void caused. Emphasis added)
This self-centered nature, which naturally lives for its own desires, is called “the flesh.” Referred to in the Bible as “sin” in its singular form, it involves the evil principle of living by self-will and self-sufficiency. This life of “sin” is what produces a multitude of “sins.” (Rom. 7:14, 20; John 16:9 emphasis added)
The Bible therefore distinguishes between “sin” and “sins.” Everyone who lives according to their own personal desires is living by the “sin” nature. This flesh-life or “old man” has a self-centered nature that will naturally produce a multitude of sins. (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9)
The depravity that every person inherits from Adam is an empty soul. As long as there is an emptiness within, the individual will naturally turn to the self-seeking
ways of this world to find his spiritual fulfillment. This is the essence of sin.
“Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. “My people have committed two sins {two all-encompassing evils}: They have forsaken Me, the spring of Living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that
cannot hold water.” (Jer. 2:12-13)
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters… Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy. Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good {eat from the Tree of Life}, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to Me; hear Me, that your soul may live {in the Kingdom-Life}. (Isa. 55:1-3)
Life in the Spirit
“…As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this He meant the Spirit… (John 7:38-39)
…Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)
The Holy Spirit produced a never-ending river of Life from within the spirit of the first Adam before the Fall. The Son’s Living Water welled up and overflowed from the fountain of his soul into a manifestation of God’s Eternal Life. The nature of this life from Heaven kept his mind and emotions under the control of God. Everything he did and every attitude he expressed was inspired by the Spirit of God.
God literally expressed Himself through Adam. In the same Way that Christ {the Second Adam} displayed the Father’s Life and works, the first Adam was also the “radiance {or “outshining” – BBE} of God’s Glory.” (Heb. 1:3)
Adam’s responsibility as a free moral agent was to offer himself to God in faith to be an instrument of His Righteousness. The mystery of his godliness was simply a matter of a conscious choice to walk under the control and power of the Holy Spirit. As he yielded to the Spirit, God would use His power to display His Life and works through Adam.
It is quite obvious that if this process had been purely mechanical, and Adam had possessed no capacity to exercise his own choice, he would have been no more than a robot. But God created man with a free will. Through an active choice of his own will, Adam would be required to live by faith in God, continually walking by the Spirit.
We need to see how man was created to be a mere instrument of God’s Life of Righteousness. This principle for living still applies to God’s children today. Because of what Jesus Christ has done at the cross, God’s called-out children can now enter into the Life of Promise and begin walking by the Spirit as Adam did before the Fall, and as Jesus did after the Fall. They can enter into the Holiest of All and receive Divine Spiritual Life from God.
…Now the Righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…even the Righteousness of God, through faith… (Rom. 3:21-22)
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin {self-will}, but present yourselves to God…as instruments of Righteousness to God. (Rom. 6:13)
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection {or completion in the Life of Love}…This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. (Heb. 6:1,19)(The veil being the flesh of Christ Jesus for by His strips we are healed, it is the passing through these strips that we enter behind the veil even the veil of the old Temple. Emphasis added)
Man was made by God to be an instrument through which God expressed the power and authority of His Kingdom. As man received his life from God, he would also share with God in a dominion over this world. But this authority could only be expressed through man by virtue of his “faith-love” relationship of intimacy with God. As man lovingly submitted to all the leadings of God’s Spirit, God would supply him with the needed power to accomplish everything he was assigned to do.
God has a plan for each of His creation. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10 Emphasis added) Man is therefore expected to enter into God’s plan/Will. And he is expected to carry out his assigned work through the power of God’s Spirit.
The dominion that man received over his appointed sphere of work was derived from God. He could only exercise God’s power in the world while he responded to the Divine Will and lived by the Spirit through dependent faith.
God intends to remain Sovereign over His universe. And yet, He would accomplish the work He wanted to do in the world through the dominion given to His Spiritual children. In response to His revealed Will, they would depend on Him to use the power of His Spirit in all their assigned activities of daily life.
In effect, God chose to display a unique form of Sovereignty. He would first reveal His Will to His sons and daughters, and then depend on them to carry out the work through their prayers of faith. This is how God has planned for all His Sanctified children to live.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire {My Will as revealed to you}, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7 emphasis added)
I tell you the Truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing… And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so the Son may bring Glory to the Father. (John 14:12-13)
Again, man was designed to be God’s highest expression of His power and Glory. God’s dominion over the world would be visibly expressed through the work of His children. Without this visible expression of Himself {the “Light of Life” from Heaven}, the world would remain lost in darkness.
When man turned from this walk of faith and ate from the forbidden fruit of self-will and self-sufficiency, God departed from his soul. This left him empty, in darkness, and on his own. He also forfeited his right to express God’s dominion and power through prayer.
We can see that Adam was converted from the Life of God. Every “conversion” occurs when there has been a change of mind. Adam changed his mind about how he wanted to live. He allowed the devil to poison his understanding. Believing the lie that he could improve his spiritual life by walking in the strength of his own flesh, he separated himself from the Life of God. The Holy Spirit then withdrew from the human spirit, and man’s soul was plunged into the darkness of fallen humanity (sin caused death and death is separation from the Spiritual Life of God that enabled him to name the beasts, plants and to have dominion over all things, and to live in fellowship with God emphasis added).
Something else also occurred at the Fall. When the Spirit of God was no longer filling man’s {mankind’s} soul with the Living Water that naturally wells up to Eternal Life, he was left empty and unfulfilled. He then became self-centered, or egocentric in all that he did. His life-purpose then became centered around his own efforts to find a means of spiritual fulfillment.(Because of the emptiness of the void within him and the thirsting this void caused. Emphasis added)
This self-centered nature, which naturally lives for its own desires, is called “the flesh.” Referred to in the Bible as “sin” in its singular form, it involves the evil principle of living by self-will and self-sufficiency. This life of “sin” is what produces a multitude of “sins.” (Rom. 7:14, 20; John 16:9 emphasis added)
The Bible therefore distinguishes between “sin” and “sins.” Everyone who lives according to their own personal desires is living by the “sin” nature. This flesh-life or “old man” has a self-centered nature that will naturally produce a multitude of sins. (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9)
The depravity that every person inherits from Adam is an empty soul. As long as there is an emptiness within, the individual will naturally turn to the self-seeking
ways of this world to find his spiritual fulfillment. This is the essence of sin.
“Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. “My people have committed two sins {two all-encompassing evils}: They have forsaken Me, the spring of Living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that
cannot hold water.” (Jer. 2:12-13)
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters… Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy. Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good {eat from the Tree of Life}, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to Me; hear Me, that your soul may live {in the Kingdom-Life}. (Isa. 55:1-3)
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Mystery of Godliness apart XIV
By Major W. Ian Thomas
The First Adam
In his innocency and before the Fall, the first man acted consistently under the gracious and exclusive influence of God’s Spirit (Genesis 1:26-27). The Spirit of God dwelled within Adam (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7). God was working in him “both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13) This inward action of God lifted Adam spiritually out of mere animal status and into the life of godliness. While animals would live by the flesh {and be without the spiritual life of God}, Adam would live by the Spirit of God in union with God’s eternal Life.
The thing that separated Adam from the animal kingdom was his human spirit. His spirit was the “Lamp of the Lord.” (Prov. 20:27) The lamp, when fueled by the oil of the Holy Spirit, enabled him to display God’s “Light of Life” in this world. Because everything he did was motivated by the Life and Will of God, he was enabled to display the image and glory of God.
God gave a warning (as a law because with it was given the penalty for disobedience) when He provided Adam with an eternal access to the Tree of Life. It was a warning that carries over to all mankind: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) If man turned from a life of living by faith in God’s power to an independent life of walking in his own will and sufficiency, he would separate himself from the spiritual life of God. And that is exactly what happened in the Fall.
Our Creator never gave man the right to decide good and evil on his own. And if he acted like a mere animal by choosing to live by his own fleshly desires {living as he saw fit or – “right in his own eyes” (Deut 12:8)}, he would become separated from the Eternal Life of God and exist in spiritual death [darkness, under the influence of evil]. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” (Rom. 8:13)
Man’s choice to live by an independent and self-sufficient spirit is the essence of evil and darkness. It is the source of every sinful action. This path of choosing for ourselves how we will direct our steps {sin} is what keeps fallen man separated from the Life of God. We can therefore see why true repentance must include a real turning back to a dependency on God and receptivity of God's working in us.
…Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted {turned}and become as {dependent as a} little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven {the Kingdom-Life of God}. (Matt. 18:3, emphasis added)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)
Adam would not need laws to control his activities as long as he lived by the Spirit. The fruit of God’s Spirit – His divine nature – would enable Adam to always have right actions. “Against such things {the fruit of God’s Spirit} there is no law.” (Gal. 5:23)
There was only one spiritual principle that Adam was required to remember: He would need to continue to live by the Spirit of God. In other words, eating from the Tree of Life meant that he would need to live continually by faith, under the control and power of the Holy Spirit.
When Adam turned from this walk of faith, choosing to walk in his own strength and by his own will, he fell from the “Light of Life.” He was then cast out of the Garden into carnal darkness. Not only did he lose the fulfilling spiritual life he had received from God, but he also became deeply corrupted by a self-centered nature. This fallen nature became another source of iniquity [enmity to God] in the world [lawlessness, wickedness and all evil].
Adam did not die physically when he turned to “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and began directing his own affairs. He did, however, lose the power that had enabled him to be a lamp of the Lord’s “Light of Life.” (John 8:12). When he turned from the Tree of Life {when he stopped living by the Spirit of God}, the Spirit stopped manifesting the Eternal Life through his spirit. He lost the spiritual life of God, and the light went out!{The eyes of man reveal the nature of man soul, for to have clears eyes is to be redeemed thereby being able to see clearly. To have the Light of Life restored. Emphasis added}
Redemption involves restoring the lamp to its original purpose. The Christian is a lamp of the Lord. But God cannot display the light of His glory through the lamp until it has been set apart and fully sanctified for His exclusive use. There must be a real presenting of the body to God and a complete turning from the independent and self-sufficient ways of the world before it is possible to display the “Light of Life” from heaven. The followers of Jesus who are willing to take this narrow path, will have an opportunity to return to the spiritual paradise of God and eat from the Tree of Life.
…For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them {a life that Adam shared with God in the Garden of Eden}…” Therefore “Come out from among them {the independent and self-sufficient ways of the
world} and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” {into the Kingdom-Life}… Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 6:16-17, 7:1 Emphasis added)
…To him who overcomes {the independent and self-sufficient ways of the world} I will give to eat from the tree of Life {the Kingdom-Life of God}, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Rev. 2:7)
While this spiritual Paradise of God, which can now be established within the eternal soul, is only a dim reflection of the Life we will enjoy when we receive our glorified bodies, we can still enjoy an abundant fullness of the Son’s Spiritual Life in this world. (John 10:10) We can walk in Holiness with God and enjoy His Life from Heaven, as the Son did when He walked in a mortal body, as the son of man. (1 John 2:5-6 emphasis added)
Our Lord has made it possible to follow Him through the cross and into the firstfruits of His resurrection Life. (Matt. 16:24-25) If we will enter this path and
permit Him to establish His Kingdom-Life within our hearts, we will be enabled to “put on the New man, which was created according to God, in True Righteousness and Holiness.” (Eph. 4:24) In other words, we can now be recreated into the Spiritual Image of God by returning to the “tree of Life” through Jesus Christ. “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of Life.” (Rev. 2:7)
Arise, shine, for your Light has come, and the Glory of the Lord rises upon you… Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn… Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy… The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting Light, and your God will be your Glory. (Isa. 60:1, 3, 5, 19 Emphasis added)
Next we'll look at, "Life in the Spirit"
The First Adam
In his innocency and before the Fall, the first man acted consistently under the gracious and exclusive influence of God’s Spirit (Genesis 1:26-27). The Spirit of God dwelled within Adam (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7). God was working in him “both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13) This inward action of God lifted Adam spiritually out of mere animal status and into the life of godliness. While animals would live by the flesh {and be without the spiritual life of God}, Adam would live by the Spirit of God in union with God’s eternal Life.
The thing that separated Adam from the animal kingdom was his human spirit. His spirit was the “Lamp of the Lord.” (Prov. 20:27) The lamp, when fueled by the oil of the Holy Spirit, enabled him to display God’s “Light of Life” in this world. Because everything he did was motivated by the Life and Will of God, he was enabled to display the image and glory of God.
God gave a warning (as a law because with it was given the penalty for disobedience) when He provided Adam with an eternal access to the Tree of Life. It was a warning that carries over to all mankind: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) If man turned from a life of living by faith in God’s power to an independent life of walking in his own will and sufficiency, he would separate himself from the spiritual life of God. And that is exactly what happened in the Fall.
Our Creator never gave man the right to decide good and evil on his own. And if he acted like a mere animal by choosing to live by his own fleshly desires {living as he saw fit or – “right in his own eyes” (Deut 12:8)}, he would become separated from the Eternal Life of God and exist in spiritual death [darkness, under the influence of evil]. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” (Rom. 8:13)
Man’s choice to live by an independent and self-sufficient spirit is the essence of evil and darkness. It is the source of every sinful action. This path of choosing for ourselves how we will direct our steps {sin} is what keeps fallen man separated from the Life of God. We can therefore see why true repentance must include a real turning back to a dependency on God and receptivity of God's working in us.
…Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted {turned}and become as {dependent as a} little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven {the Kingdom-Life of God}. (Matt. 18:3, emphasis added)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)
Adam would not need laws to control his activities as long as he lived by the Spirit. The fruit of God’s Spirit – His divine nature – would enable Adam to always have right actions. “Against such things {the fruit of God’s Spirit} there is no law.” (Gal. 5:23)
There was only one spiritual principle that Adam was required to remember: He would need to continue to live by the Spirit of God. In other words, eating from the Tree of Life meant that he would need to live continually by faith, under the control and power of the Holy Spirit.
When Adam turned from this walk of faith, choosing to walk in his own strength and by his own will, he fell from the “Light of Life.” He was then cast out of the Garden into carnal darkness. Not only did he lose the fulfilling spiritual life he had received from God, but he also became deeply corrupted by a self-centered nature. This fallen nature became another source of iniquity [enmity to God] in the world [lawlessness, wickedness and all evil].
Adam did not die physically when he turned to “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and began directing his own affairs. He did, however, lose the power that had enabled him to be a lamp of the Lord’s “Light of Life.” (John 8:12). When he turned from the Tree of Life {when he stopped living by the Spirit of God}, the Spirit stopped manifesting the Eternal Life through his spirit. He lost the spiritual life of God, and the light went out!{The eyes of man reveal the nature of man soul, for to have clears eyes is to be redeemed thereby being able to see clearly. To have the Light of Life restored. Emphasis added}
Redemption involves restoring the lamp to its original purpose. The Christian is a lamp of the Lord. But God cannot display the light of His glory through the lamp until it has been set apart and fully sanctified for His exclusive use. There must be a real presenting of the body to God and a complete turning from the independent and self-sufficient ways of the world before it is possible to display the “Light of Life” from heaven. The followers of Jesus who are willing to take this narrow path, will have an opportunity to return to the spiritual paradise of God and eat from the Tree of Life.
…For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them {a life that Adam shared with God in the Garden of Eden}…” Therefore “Come out from among them {the independent and self-sufficient ways of the
world} and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” {into the Kingdom-Life}… Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 6:16-17, 7:1 Emphasis added)
…To him who overcomes {the independent and self-sufficient ways of the world} I will give to eat from the tree of Life {the Kingdom-Life of God}, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Rev. 2:7)
While this spiritual Paradise of God, which can now be established within the eternal soul, is only a dim reflection of the Life we will enjoy when we receive our glorified bodies, we can still enjoy an abundant fullness of the Son’s Spiritual Life in this world. (John 10:10) We can walk in Holiness with God and enjoy His Life from Heaven, as the Son did when He walked in a mortal body, as the son of man. (1 John 2:5-6 emphasis added)
Our Lord has made it possible to follow Him through the cross and into the firstfruits of His resurrection Life. (Matt. 16:24-25) If we will enter this path and
permit Him to establish His Kingdom-Life within our hearts, we will be enabled to “put on the New man, which was created according to God, in True Righteousness and Holiness.” (Eph. 4:24) In other words, we can now be recreated into the Spiritual Image of God by returning to the “tree of Life” through Jesus Christ. “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of Life.” (Rev. 2:7)
Arise, shine, for your Light has come, and the Glory of the Lord rises upon you… Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn… Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy… The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting Light, and your God will be your Glory. (Isa. 60:1, 3, 5, 19 Emphasis added)
Next we'll look at, "Life in the Spirit"
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