The New Creation and Creating Our Own World

I've been thinking on the new creation for the last several years, and the more I think about it, the more I realize and see that the idea over the last 50 to 60 years about changing the world are inaccurate; from the point of view of the Bible.

To this day all we here about it seems from many Christians is we must change the world in order to make it a better place. That's an idea that will never work.

The reason why is Jesus Christ never came to change the world, because the world had already forever been put under judgement, and is to this day.

When Jesus died for our sins, He didn't do it for the purpose of having us continue to be part of the dead, old creation, He did it because He was doing a totally, completely new thing, which is identified as the new creation.

Even the word translated in the Holy Scriptures as church needs to be thought of differently, because it basically means being called out, which points to leaving the old creation for the new.

Jesus said in John 15:19, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."

What Jesus has amazingly done and which few understand, is He isn't trying to save the world, in the sense of working on it to make it better, it can't be done. It's cursed and dead. Instead He has birthed an entire new creation in the midst of the fallen and cursed world, which is so different than the old creation that it stands as a light calling those still in the old dark creation out of it to the new.

This amazing new creation is the very life of Christ Himself. Now many at this time will probably question the creation part because Jesus Christ has no beginning and no end, and has always been. So from that point of view He could never be created. And you're right ... if you're thinking in terms of the old, physical creation.

But the new creation isn't a created creation, but it is a birthed creation. The new creation is one that has been given birth by the very life of Jesus Christ Himself within a people. It is Christ in you.

So back to the idea of improving the world. I hope you see it's impossible and not part of the plan of God at all. His plan is for an entirely different life to be released in the earth through a people He has called out of it.

Now that will definitely make the earth a better place, but it has nothing to do with adding something onto the world in a way that can make it better. This is why the Scriptures teach if you love the world you're an enemy of God.

James 4:4 "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

This is one reason why those who pursue and seek for God with a pure heart never feel part of this world and its evil.

John added, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15

The reason for all of this is God has an entirely new creation He as birthed, and it is in His Son. All who have truly been born again from above have had this new creation come down out of heaven in the person of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, and are no longer of this world. The two are entirely opposite of one another, and are in fact enemies of one another. There is absolutely no connecting point between them.

So what God has done is completely gotten rid of the old creation and replaced it with the new creation of His son. Old things have passed away, all things have now become new.

What that means for the followers of Jesus Christ is we have not only been born of God and are now His children, but an entire new creation is dwelling in us, and as we learn its principles, we don't attempt to add something on top of a world that is no longer considered even alive by God, but instead create our own world, or more properly, recreate under the leading of guiding of the Holy Spirit, from the many-sided wisdom of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

This is some of what was meant when Jesus Christ said as part of His response to His disciples when they asked Him how to pray, that we should ask that His kingdom should come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We want that heavenly kingdom to come to earth and permeate it with the fullness of Jesus Christ. That can only be done in a people that have a new creation in them, and who learn how to express that kingdom into the physical universe. It begins with changing within, but then working its way out for all to see.

Those who see this will encounter a major paradigm shift, as they realize this world can't be improved and is dead in the eyes of God. What He has done is far greater than that. He has brought about an entire new creation by birthing His Son in those who put their faith in Him.

Now this will result in salt and light existing in the physical creation and world system, but it will be something totally other than it, as Jesus Christ is completely and totally opposite of what this world is and represents.

All have sinned...

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God


1 John 2:5-6 - 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.


When taking into consideration the scripture "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," we can miss the overall implications of what it is saying. We must understand what the glory of God is in order to comprehend what it is we have all fallen short of.

The glory of God is nothing less than the person and nature of God Himself. We are expected by God to be like Him. That is, after all, why we were created, in order to bear His image and spread who He was across the face of the earth. That is the real meaning of the presence of God.

It's not some general presence that makes people feel good while they listen to some worship song. It's the taking on of the characteristics of Jesus Christ Himself, resulting in the world seeing who God is by our obedience to not only His words, but who He is, which His words represent.

This is why John said those who say they abide in the Lord will walk as Jesus walked. To do otherwise is a contradiction that can't be reconciled. We either obey and walk as Christ walked, or we aren't Christ's. It's impossible to be born again by the Spirit and continue to live as we have in the past.

As for sin, the word itself means to 'miss the mark.' What's the mark? Jesus Christ and who He is. What's the glory of God? Who God is as revealed in Jesus Christ.

All of us has come short of His glory in that regard. But salvation has not only brought us back in right standing with God, but brings the requirement that we open our hearts to Him and allow Him to change us into His image. We are expected to be like Christ, and anything less isn't acceptable to God.

Now this is the immediate expectation of God for His people, but it is worked out one step at a time.

We are given the goal and expectation of being perfect by God, which means becoming like Jesus. While we may never reach perfection in his lifetime, this is what we are to shoot for. God does.

Keep in mind, the entire purpose for creating man was that man would be like God in his characteristics and purpose (not Godhood). For example, we are to be patient as God is, while understanding we're totally separate from God in His Deity.

Take any revelation of Jesus Christ in the Bible and we're expected to be conformed to that very image. This is our privilege and responsibility. The Holy Spirit within us empowers us to be able to accomplish this.

False teachers have lowered the bar of Jesus Christ, making excuses and using cheap grace teachings to undermine the power and ability of the Holy Spirit to perfect His work in us.

This isn't something to be considered negative and weighty, but rather an invitation and command from God to be perfect as He is perfect. He wouldn't tell us to do something we aren't able to do with His help.

We have all sinned or missed the mark, but we don't have to accept continuing to live in sin. Jesus Christ is our pattern to live by, and when we surrender to Him, the Holy Spirit will take and work within us to conform us to what He is like. This is what was intended before man was ever created, and it is what God is after for eternity.

Seeing Christ

photo credit: faconline.org

If you're a true believer in Jesus Christ, and thus saved, you are born from above. It says "born again"
in many versions of the Bible, but the most accurate way of saying it is really born from above. You could say "born again from above," as a way of understanding and describing what has happened.

Once we are born of the Spirit of God, an immediate change begins to happen; not only of being forgiven of sins and a huge weight being lifted off of us, but of the Holy Spirit beginning to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ within us, as Paul mentions happening to him. "It pleased God ... to reveal his Son in me" (Gal 1:16).

The ultimate end of God for the Saints is that we are conformed to His image. But to be conformed, we must first have an inner revelation of Him; one that goes beyond mere intellectual understanding.

Jesus Christ is the great object of the focus of the Holy Spirit, as He takes the things of Christ and reveals them to us. This doesn't mean that there will be revelation of Christ outside of what the scriptures reveal, but it means there will be an understanding of what they actually mean in regard to Christ.

While it is good to receive insight and instruction from our brothers and sisters, there must be a place for each individual Christian to have this inner fellowship and revelation of Jesus Christ, otherwise all we deal with are external things, which have undermined Christianity since almost the beginning.

What is the first thing we will begin to understand once we start this walk with the Lord? It is that Jesus in His person is completely and totally different than we are. We won't and don't see this right away, but there is this almost immediate battle that begins as we start to see Christ, which is the Holy Spirit starting to show us how much we fall short of who He is.

Seeing Christ isn't primarily about getting a bunch of head knowledge about Him, it's seeing who He is in light of who we are, and understanding the Holy Spirit is revealing that in order to transform us to be more like He is.

This isn't making the old man better, it's working from the fact that we have died in Christ, and only the life of Christ living within us is to be manifested. This is done a little at a time and not as once, otherwise it would overwhelm us. That's the reason we must be quiet and patient, not getting in a hurry to be conformed to His image, otherwise we get a lot of artificial and outward results, which could deceive us, while losing out on the far more important inner changes, which will then be followed by the outward change.

We need to ask Christ to reveal Himself in us so we can little by little be made to be more like Him. This is what the Christian walk in its entirety is, only it grows to new levels as we see Him clearer and clearer within by the Holy Spirit.

Don't be discouraged when you see yourself in the light of Christ, as the purpose isn't to beat you down, but to call out to the Lord to continue to help and change you to be like Him.

What Jesus Requires of all Christians

Over 30 years ago I remember a man outside of the religious "Christians/Church" system saying a profound and enlightening statement that is true to this day, and of which those who profess to know and follow Christ, need to know and understand. That is that the term church, and by extension, Christian, no longer really have any meaning.

What he meant by that is people had created their own image of Christ and His church that is was so full of unbiblical practices and unbelievers, that it was close to impossible to even interact with someone in trying to show them what the Bible says about Christ and the practices of the Church, that we couldn't even start there as the beginning of our conversation, but had to blow up all sorts of misconceptions, lies, and fabrications just to be able to interact in a meaningful and productive manner.

Usually we couldn't even get past some of the most rudimentary aspects of tearing down the false foundations before we lost them. The listeners had had the modern-day practice of Christianity so ingrained in them that even when what was in the Bible was revealed to them, they couldn't and wouldn't believe it meant what it said.

Tradition had and has become so strong, that to contradict it, even when revealing it in the Holy Scriptures, is considered evil and a lie and attack from the Devil, even in light of the evidence that has been presented.

I'll give you an obvious and quick example which most of you reading this will resist and continue to resist. It it is, "God does not dwell in temple's made with hands." It's said several times in the Bible, the most well-known being just before Stephen was stoned to death over it.

The majority of Christians, to this day, will use all sorts of mental gymnastics and explanations in an attempt to make this mean something that it doesn't. Why so much resistance? It's because the person understands deep down what the cost of that acceptance would be. Their entire world would be placed in an upheaval if they were to embrace and obey this revelation from God Himself.

Although not even the focus and topic of this article, "God does not dwell in temple's made with hands" is the beginning of where the study of and understanding of what God has meant for His people as the corporate expression of Himself called the church.

All that was said to lead to the requirement of Jesus Christ for His people. Let's look at Matthew 16:24–26 to see what that is.

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Let's take note of a key statement by Jesus here. He said the words “If anyone would come after Me....” The word "anyone" means that there is no one exempt from the statement and requirement He revealed.

So if we say we believe in Jesus Christ, here is what He said He demands of us and how we'll live.

First He says we must deny ourselves. That is the individual and consequently, corporate foundation that flows forth from people that assert they know Jesus Christ. It's a total abandonment of living for oneself and turning around and living unto Christ. Pleasing Christ is the motivation of those entering into true fellowship with Him.

Next He says to take up our cross and follow Me. This goes beyond the first statement to a reality of the fact it could cost us everything if we follow Jesus Christ, and we need to count that cost as we make a decision for Christ. It will cost us everything in the end. That may not be practically true, but for those taking up our cross, it will mean to us it won't matter one way or the other. Nothing has our hearts and minds except the person of Jesus Christ. From there a people grow into a holy temple expressing the person of Christ towards one another while revealing Him visibly to the world.

Finally Jesus says if we are to come after Him, it means we are to follow Him, which isn't a reference to running around the world (although for a few it could mean that), but rather it points to the fact that we are to live and walk as Jesus Himself did. John says that in his first letter, that we'll know those who truly know Christ because they'll walk as He did.

Yes there is grace there in that we aren't expected to start a journey in a perfected practical outworking of believing in Christ, but we are expected to and required to have a perfect heart.

After all, the standard of Jesus Christ has never been lowered. That's why we are told to be perfect because He is perfect. That exhortation remains, and while we don't start there, it remains the goal that we be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

That which was mentioned in Matthew should be the very minimal requirements of those who claim they are Christ's. It's the starting place. It's the baby stage. It's the birthing stage. It's expected of all of those that call upon the name of the Lord.

Understanding Creation Day 1 as it Relates to the Person of Christ

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And

the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the

morning were the first day.

KJV




With the battles between evolutionists and creationist having escalated, it has largely taken away from the real importance of the first several verses of the Holy Scriptures, which we'll get into in a moment.

That's not to say it's not important to challenge and deal with the numerous lies and unproven falsehoods associated with the evolutionary theory, just that it has absolutely nothing to do with why the creation account was revealed by God.

Even the unfolding of the actions taken by Jesus Christ in the Bible concerning creation aren't readily understood as to their meaning, as it was in fact something that came from what was the nature of the Godhead expressed in visible form. In other words, they were glimpses into the nature of God; so much so that it was said later on that no man will ever have an excuse when standing before the judgement seat of Christ, as the creation declares Him continuously.

So while it's interesting and generally important to read about the physical creation, it's far more important to get a revelation of, and respond to the invisible characteristics and nature of Jesus Christ which the creation was based upon. To that end we'll now look at some aspects of Christ on the first day of creation.

We're not going to touch on the enormous amount of revelation in the first few verses of the Bible and creation, as it could take books to do so. Rather, we'll look at what are the most important parts of the revelation instead of going off into numerous secondary directions which would take us down too many rabbit holes and get off the most important characteristics of Christ as revealed to His people.

Where I want to begin is with the place where it says "... darkness was upon the face of the deep."

Without getting too deeply into the erroneous teaching on the idea there was a pre-Adamic race, I do want to comment on it briefly to eliminate that as even being a remotely relevant or accurate depiction of what was happening during this early stages of the creation.

The reasoning behind alleged pre-Adamic race is the assumption God doesn't create anything that could be called "... without form, and void." But the truth is, and the Scriptures declare that in fact God did create it that way.

Now there's no doubt this is all shrouded in mystery, which is mostly what the meaning behind the darkness laying on the face of the deep meant.

Another reason for the error is based upon the faulty use of the word "replenish" the earth when God ordered Adam to do so. The idea is the word replenish has to mean there had been a time when the earth was populated before. But the word just as easily could have been translated as "filled," which in fact it is in other translations of the Bible.

But the definitive understanding concerning this issue is Adam Himself. In 1st Corinthians 15:45 it says this, "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit."

The first man Adam refers to his being the representative of the first mankind, while the last Adam, who was of course Jesus Christ, was the representative of another mankind; one of a completely different makeup than former Adam, or the first mankind.

This clearly and efficiently slashed the feet from under the false teaching of a pre-Adamic race. Adam was the first of the natural mankind - there was no other before him. Period. It doesn't get any clearer than that. How can the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures reveal that Adam was the representative of the first mankind be contradicted by those who make up an entire scenario based upon nothing but human assumption and reasoning? There was no mankind or other race before Adam. He was the first of all flesh.

I mention all of this because many have been made to believe in this nonsense, and so get totally distracted from the weightier matters of creation, and really the only ones that really are important to those who believe.

The scriptures reveal over and over again that God and Jesus Christ, working with the Holy Spirit, created the earth and the universe. There's no reason for any true believer to doubt that, so most should simply stop listening to any of the numerous lies out there that attempt to contradict that face. Jesus is the creator. That's really all we need to know and believe concerning that issue.

For those who battle these lies in a public forum, of course it's important to pursue and expose many of these matter so the unbelievers can see that there is a God behind the creation we all walk in and interact with. Those claiming to know Christ and whom give credence to these liars need to re-examine themselves as to their faith. There is no evolution, and there is no "mechanism" following initial creation that would include
evolution in any way. The creation account is enough. All of us should be settled and unmoved by any other falsehood and assertions made by men; whether non-Christian or allegedly Christian.

Those catering to the lies do so in order to be found palatable and respectable among men. We should all know that Jesus Christ reproves strongly any that attempt to please men and love the world and its praise.

Let's get back to the Scriptures. So "darkness was upon the face of the deep." This is one of the first revelations of an amazing Characteristic of Jesus Christ and the Godhead. As a matter of fact, it's totally central to their person hood, and all of life flows out from it as far as the Godhead goes, and by extension, those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

The reason why we talked a little on the pre-Adamic race is found in this verse. If that is the focus of believers, they'll miss the true meaning of what was being unveiled by Christ of Himself when He created.

What was it? Two things. The first is that darkness was not a part of sin. It had nothing to do with it whatsoever, as sin hadn't entered the world yet because man hadn't even been created or tempted. That means whatever darkness refers to, it has nothing to do with sin.

It's already proven from the Scriptures that Adam was the first mankind. So there wasn't sin from some type of prior mankind that God was dealing with in His creation.

So the first thing to learn is God hides and shrouds things in mystery. That's what this darkness is referring to. As a matter of fact, God actually names this darkness "night." He didn't name some non-existent sinful aspect of a prior creation, but something He created that we are told nothing about.

I'm referring to the fact that the earth, the water, and the darkness existed without us being told how it came into being. The first revelation of an actual step taken in creation was when God said, "Let there be light." Before that we simply have this earth without having and form and being void and covered with water and darkness. That's it. We know nothing else about how it came into being. The book of Job deals with some of the planning aspects of the creation, but we still aren't told exactly what God did to bring it into being. We're simply presented with the fact that it was there.

And even if later in the Biblical account it had been revealed, it wouldn't have been known until later by those it would have been unfolded to, meaning the way it was unveiled retains the purpose as to how it was created, explained and described.

All of that means that the earth and how it was at the time of the initial creation was done so intentionally by God in that condition and order, and consequently something exists in Jesus Christ that is explained in that reflection of reality.

The question is this: what was it that was explained about Christ that the waters covering the earth reveal? We know that the darkness reveals that there is a mystery that is hidden that is about to be revealed. That mystery was named by God as night, suggesting throughout this dispensation more and more of the mystery hidden in Christ will be revealed and understood by those that are His and hungry to know Him fully. Not simply for the purpose of knowing about Him, but through revelation and experience, knowing Him as to who He is.

That's what this darkness is referring to, and why the Holy Spirit was agitated upon the waters in anticipation of and ready to work with what was about to happen next in the creation order, and as to how God works with His people.

What was this mystery hidden within the waters and covered by darkness? Of course it's the entirety of who Christ is. But the real question is what do the waters themselves represent. To go on with knowing, experiencing and understanding Jesus Christ, we must understand the waters themselves before we can begin to comprehend what was hidden in them.

At this point it isn't too difficult to understand the waters, as in the context it is in, and as it is throughout the Holy Scriptures, the water represents death, or baptism. Not death in the sense of that which came about as the result of sin, but death in the sense of the total denying of oneself.

Since man wasn't created yet, this is an obvious reference to Christ. This is why it says this in Revelation 13.8, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (Beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world. How could that be when we know He came to the earth a little over 2,000 years ago and died? Some sloppy translations of the Hebrew attempt to make it look like the foundation of the world reference is in regard to those written in the book of life. While that's true, it's not here that it talks about that. Here it's talking about the fact that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world.

That means that when we come upon the first verses of the creation account, that was when the actual slaying happened. I don't want to get sidetracked by getting too much into this, as it's the slaying that matters, not how it happened seemingly at two different times in history. As a matter of fact it didn't. They aren't two separate events, but one in the same. One explains it as it happened in eternity, the other explains it as it happened in time and space on the earth.

Again, it's what it represents that is important, not delving into how eternal events are migrated into the physical creation from outside of time.

What we have here is the essence of who Christ is. Jesus Christ didn't die for our sins on the cross out of nothing at all, and the sacrifice and denial of Himself for our sake didn't happen only because of sin. It was and is something inherent in the Godhead, and from within His total love and denial of self He first created the earth, and that brought about the crucifixion of Christ in the eternals.

But the point is it cost Jesus Christ everything when He created the heavens and the earth, and it was expressed in time when He died on Calvary.

What that implies and confirms is an extraordinary thing was driving Jesus Christ when He created when He was known as the word, and that passion, which is identified in the

Scriptures as His eternal purpose, continues to be the driving force behind everything He does.

The bottom line is Jesus Christ gave everything He had, and that was expressed at the beginning by the waters covering the earth, because it revealed that within Christ there is this immense willingness and characteristic of His nature of being dead to Himself. Waters point to being willing to die unto oneself in order to have the life of God live through us. Christ is the example of that in these beginning verses of the Bible, and is why it is said He was crucified from that very moment the creation came into being.

And just like the darkness filled the land when Jesus died on the cross on Calvary, so the darkness covered the waters in response to the crucifixion of Jesus from the foundation of the world.

Death of Himself wasn't a response to sin by man alone, it was something that is part of His very nature and makeup. It of course brought about His physical death on the earth, but it was motivated by something that He was and is. Man was the recipient and beneficiary of the magnificent offering of Himself for our sins, but it was based upon the fact that He begins in death and always moves from there to life. One can't truly live unless they really die.

Christ shows us that it is something experiential at the very core of His being, not only something He demands of man alone.

In other words, Jesus Christ was the lamb of God within and in eternity before He ever came into the world as a man. This wasn't just figuratively, but it literally happened at the time of creation.

Why all of this is important to see isn't so we can have some interesting things to talk about. May that never be. The reason I'm sharing it is because this very thing that Christ is and lives by, is what He also requires of us, or rather, is how He will live in us when walking in us throughout our earthly journey.

So whenever any of us are looking for understanding and guidance, understand that creation teaches us that first we must be covered with the waters, dying to ourselves, before the life of Christ will spring forth from within to answer the situation and circumstances we face, or to fulfill a specific calling He has given us.

Nothing can come forth into live unless it dies. If there is no death it is impossible for there to be a resurrection. And resurrection is life. Life that overcomes death. But death can only be overcome when you go through it.

Those that are willing to experience that over and over again throughout their lives, will find life and times of refreshing just as many times.

One thing I've learned experientially in all of this is we must not get too bogged down in the cross and crucifixion side of it, without understanding that that isn't the final place God has for us at any time we're going through it.

The whole issue is that His life can be manifest as we continue to die daily. That's what the meaning of the earth being shrouded in mystery with the waters covering all that was about to be brought to life by and in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is at that moment the words come forth, "Let there be light." That's the beginning of His life manifesting itself in us.

But to have light manifested, just like to have resurrection in regard to life, we must go through dark times if light is to come in the morning. That light is His life, and those who are willing to have Him draw and guide through darkness, won't be staying in it indefinitely. Darkness and the cross are went through so that light and life can be revealed. That's where the beginning of all things coming from Christ into this world through our being temples of the Holy Spirit launch.

It's there that out of our innermost being comes rivers of living water. Only broken vessels are able to release the treasure of Christ dwelling within them.