Christ in His People

How does one talk about an infinite being that has no beginning or end; that has no limitations or shortcomings; whom is pure love as it can only be; and from that love spoke and designed a world into existence; to not only be a place where He would be welcomed and dwell, but planned to do it via the human race which He created in His own image?

The end and completion of that purpose and creation was to have a people who embraced His character spread out across the earth and fill it with His very glory. It wasn't simply a general presence or impersonal goal God the Father had in Jesus Christ and His brethren, but it was a very personal indwelling where the Spirit of God was to take up passionate and intimate relationship in man, which would have been accomplished immediately after the first creation when Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life - Jesus Christ. Instead they chose to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which temporarily set back the purpose of God He had in creating the earth.

None of this changed the secret purpose hidden in God from before the foundation of the earth, and mankind had to wait for the coming of the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ before seeing what type of humanity God desired, expected and commanded to be, while at the same time seeing how that would impact and change the human race.

Fascinatingly, God didn't really change the human race in the sense of making it better, as the old race wasn't able to be healed in any manner. Rather what He did in Christ was to kill it completely, and through faith in the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, He brought forth or birthed a new creation that was really what He had planned from eternity. If Adam had eaten of the Tree of Life with Eve, this event would have taken place almost from the beginning, and the eternal purpose of God would have expanded and grown from that moment in time. In other words, not long after the first Adam was created, His eating of the Tree of Life would have brought forth the Second Adam or mankind, and it would have been done without the emergence of sin.

As it happened, the wages of sin is death, and so the old man had to be killed off in order for Jesus Christ to take His place as the new humanity that was born and is being built into His people that place their trust in Him. Even if Adam hadn't sinned, I think His eating of Christ would have been an act which would have brought Him to being a spirit man rather than the living soul that he was created as. It would have been a form of death rather than death coming from sin; a death to self, which obviously Satan had no desire to see happen, as it would have probably ended the fallen angel long ago.

The great secret hidden from eternity is that God wanted to intimately dwell within a people, whom would be an exact representation of who and what He was and is. Satan's greatest goal is to work against that happening in a people committed to Jesus Christ and one another.

Remember, the presence of God is a living presence - a life. Not only that, but it's a life that brings the very life of God in it, which demands that those receiving it are transformed into who He is as a man (not His divinity, which is His alone).

This is why the scriptures say this in Colossians 1:

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. 25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. (NASB)

Christ in you! That's the amazing mystery hidden from all mankind, including the Jews, who even to this day, for the vast majority of them, still are blinded concerning this reality.

But we must go far beyond this as simply some type of teaching, as it demands, as it always has on the part of God, that His people welcome and embrace His indwelling presence. This goes beyond the idea of being born again or born from above when we're first saved. It means that from that embryonic birth, we're on a lifelong and eternal journey with God; one that is passionate, intimate, and has as the overall purpose that in our love relationship together the gap between who He is and we are shrinks, and that will be expressed in our attitude and relationship with God Himself, as well as with those who are on the journey together with us.

All of this is to say that it is impossible for the institutional church and its narrow and outward focus to participate in this reality in any way that was in the heart of Jesus Christ.

Read again the Holy Scriptures and see that all the dealings of God came forth for a relationship with Him, or an abandonment of that relationship. There was no middle ground from the point of view of God. Even Jesus said He would rather have people hot or cold, rather than somewhere holding the middle ground which makes Christ sick to His stomach (He'll spew them out of His mouth) concerning those walking in that manner.

Jesus walked in living relationship and fellowship with those who were called to be foundations of the church, as He did with the patriarchs of old. As Solomon said, the house he built for God had no way of holding Him when the created universe couldn't even hold Him.

The point being it's ludicrous and ridiculous how the man-made religious system that most people consider to be the revelation of what God wants in a people, is in fact working against that very purpose, which the writer of Hebrews revealed concerning the outward religion of the Jews as being vastly inferior to the life-giving revelation of Jesus Christ. Strangely, Christians have embraced an outward system that God has revealed does nothing to satisfy His heart or work towards His ultimate vision and goal, and have even persecuted and violently opposed those that hold to the living Christ without the props of institutional religious Christianity to hold it together.

According to the Holy Spirit, He is going to shake all things in heaven and earth, and the result will be only that which is of Christ will remain. Paul noted a similar truth in regard to those who are planting seeds in the lives of others, in that there will be those that build with inferior material, which will result in death for the hearers, and only they themselves will be saved. A horrific and terrible testimony of those refusing to embrace the living Christ in a way that stands with Him outside the camp, willing to bear His reproach with Him.
(Hebrews 13:13)

Even when weak believers embraced the disaster of Constantine in the 4th Century AD, there were those that understood this wasn't the will of God for His people, to institutionalize and build things that took on the bizarre name and designation of Church. It wasn't long afterwards that the unbiblical concept of clergy became an official belief, and the embracing of the Roman Empire as a model for the practices of the people of God the way that it was lived - if you could call it living.

All that has done is left people attending a building with a person in the front spewing pathetic "sermons" which is now considered to be taken right from the Bible, even though they are nowhere to be found.

Jesus is alive and living, and He desires to intimately dwell in a people. That is something that brings about a daily interaction between God and His people, and based upon that fellowship, daily interaction in Christ with one another. At least that's what is desired and wanted, and a growing number are learning and taking the steps to make that a reality in their lives with one another.

Most of the readers who frequent this blog know that and probably wonder why it's being brought up again. The answer is I believe God is taking us to a new level in this life in Christ together, and we'll need to more than ever before commit to one another in Christ on a daily and/or consistent basis. Those not willing to take these steps will find it more and more difficult to make it as the world continues to fall apart at the seams beyond what it has even in the past.

We need to and must be part of one another's lives. Not in some place where you attend some unbiblical practice every Sunday morning, but rather participating in the "one to another" that is expressed and alluded to throughout the entirety of the New Testament revelation. It's also expressed in the Old Testament, but it's not as easy to see because it speaks in types and shadows of what became real in Jesus Christ and His people.

I believe in the days ahead there will be a growing need for the people of God to have a revelation of the organic life of Christ and how He expresses Himself in a people concerning spiritual and practical things.

The attempt by governments, central banks, and so-called Christians who enable and support them, to become everybody's daddy and provider; attempting to take the place of God Himself in their lives, will only grow worse, and the promises already have gone beyond the point of sustainability, and eventually it'll implode, leaving those without a real spiritual family alone to deal with the fallout on their own.

This is a word that goes beyond the revelation of this being what God wants as part of His eternal purpose in that we are facing circumstances in life that demand we take these steps if we want to survive the shaking that is coming upon us in the not-to-distant future.

What I mean by that is the eternal purpose of God has always been and will always be. Now it must be embraced and obeyed and responded to as it never has in the past by God's people, because they will not be immune to the following destruction if they are alone when it comes. And if all that is going on is God's people are attending a building with no true, daily fellowship and interaction, they will not be able to help and aid one another as they should, even if it enters into their hearts to do so. Most will be thinking natural and not spiritual family, and for many that think they'll be helped by those in the faith, there will be a rude awakening.

After all, if it's not happening in regular times, how can it happen and be taken care of when real difficult times come. You can't just turn on a dime and suddenly be ready for all of this.

But even if none of this were to happen, this is the way of life that God expects, desires and wants for us, and in that sense, must be received and lived no matter what the circumstances surrounding us are.

The bottom line is we must find one another in Christ, abandon the shoddy, shallow religious Christianity that now dominates the world, and live a life together that is worthy of the Lord that died for us.

To do that we must die to ourselves and our desires, and ask God to show us the kind of love it will take to bring this about. Only He can do it, but we must be aware of the eternal nature of this calling, as well as recognize the dangerous times we live in where this could be the only way we survive what is coming upon the earth.
This will require closer living together, commitment to each other daily, being open and flexible, and a sincere love of Christ and the brethren. Anything less than that will result in failure.

We all need to get a greater sense of urgency with what is happening in the earth today. God has given us the very provision we need in His Son and the sharing of His life together daily. That's organic, living fellowship; one that is immensely practical in love and taking care of one another.

And if you're reading this 100 years from now, the principles of what we're talking about will never change, as they're based upon the very heart of God before He ever created man. After all, disasters and difficult times will always come and go on this earth, and outside of holding to Christ and one another, there is nothing else that we can count on until Jesus Christ ends His short work on this earth and all enemies are put under His feet.

For now though, we see Christ, or at least should, and we must start making it our ultimate purpose on this earth to live out the fellowship we have with Him towards and with one another. That will require boldness and a pioneering spirit which forsakes everything in order to satisfy the heart of God in Christ Jesus.

Outward, institutional religion won't help, and it's more of a hindrance than anything else. We must become radical with this, allowing Jesus Christ to reveal to us what it is He wants us to do in response to it. Start to pray and prepare now, as the time is coming when it'll be too late for those not heeding His call in this generation and time we live in.