7. The Gospel of Life

Audio Only





This Jesus Secret page and the next, “The ‘Gospel’ of Death,” are secondary titles, meant to give necessary understanding for the primary confessions of faith. I do not know yet if these two pages will be similar in their layout or if there will be differences of presentation. But I do want to think about and even write them together. I want a harmony of thought between them.

We are hardly into Revelation Chapter 2, and the entire book has become something very different to us, with a harmony and strength of life and direction for us beyond what we have ever known.

Two Critical Realities. The last session opened to us two critical realities we have never considered. The first is that the overcomer is fighting for the Father’s sake, the entrance of His knowledge into His Church. And second, that the beginning and ending of each letter to the seven churches combines together to place the ability of Jesus inside of us.

Then we begin to see how perfectly each particular ability of Jesus, made personal through us, overthrows each of the seven anti-Christ spirits preventing Christians from knowing God inside of them.

Defining “Life.” We have come to understand that the word, “life,” has two related but quite distinct meanings. The first meaning is the living energeia that causes us to be alive. We have many ways to describe this aspect of life, including Jesus sustaining us by His power-filled Word. The second meaning of life is the days of our lives, the ongoing unfolding of our walk with God, our life-story.

David saw both coming out from God, first our substance as an embryo inside of God’s Pro-Knowing, and second our days unfolding even before we are in them. The first is our personal and inward life with God; the second is our every step in life shared together.

Covenant and Kingdom. The essence of these two meanings is first, God sharing with us every particle of our life and His, in sweet communion, and second, our every next moment unfolding out from this shared life of Father and me. Or we could say “life as covenant” and “life as kingdom.”

Then, when we consider the ‘gospel’ of death, we see that God has given us two related, but different expressions of that death. The first is the words of the serpent in the garden, acting as the undergirding definitions of the lie, and the second is the seven spirits of anti-Christ keeping the daily lives of believers separated from the knowledge of God.

Defining Gospel Words. Then, I put the word “gospel” into both life and death, with the second in single quotes to show that it does present itself as the ‘gospel,’ even using gospel verses, yet it is empty of life.

Here is an example. – “Saved by grace through faith.” “Saved” – death will take you to heaven someday. “Grace” – unmerited – you don’t “deserve” it – contempt. “Faith” – the approval given by one’s particular sect.

Versus – Filled full and complete inside of Jesus by God’s acknowledged presence inside of you and through your active receiving of every Word God speaks as Jesus your only life.

From Complexity to Simplicity. The Bible is one of the largest of books in our possession and arguably the most complex, yet God says that His word to us is contained inside its pages. The Spirit searches the deep things of God, the most complex Being who contains all things inside Himself, and then POURS OUT that wondrous complexity into us.

The gospel then brings all that vast complexity of Word and of Spirit down into the simplest of expressions, easily received by the least of humans. Then, out from the simplicity and wonder of the Gospel, everything of Word and of Spirit becomes a perfect harmony together.

A Love Relationship. What we must somehow capture on our page is the simplicity of the gospel that then brings all the complexity inside of God into harmony and joy inside our knowing. And, of course, the simplicity is one Person whom we KNOW, Jesus, sent into us and we inside of Him in all. At the same time, as I an writing in Completion concerning Victory over each of the seven seals, I realize that our victory, our “weapon,” is actually one thing. Victory is Jesus in Person entering into each one, loving them.

Redemption is a love relationship with Jesus in Person. And Salvation is one thing – God through us into creation.

Forming our Pages. I think we can begin to form our pages. What we are actually doing is creating a simple layout of Paul’s gospel of entrance, vehicle, and destination. – That is the gospel, after all. We begin with entrance, then, the simple act of receiving Jesus. Yet when this action is real, it is much more profound in meaning than we have known. This will be followed by our one diagram, a circle that is Jesus, me inside of Him and He inside of me. The circle is John 14:20 and the entrance is Galatians 2:20. It is here that we express the simplicity of the gospel.

From Redemption to Salvation. In our simple diagram, the circle band is the cross, and yet, upon the moment of our entrance into Jesus, the cross has become a metaphor of the beyond-all love of Jesus for me.

In between this simple picture and our depiction of God’s Salvation, we need two boxes. The first is the way of redemption, that is, receiving His love, or – the way into the knowledge of God, the tabernacle. The second is what we do inside of Jesus, best expressed in our context by the words “eat of the Tree of Life.” Salvation then contains two things, our togetherness as the Church and God through us into our world, the actual meanings of “know the Father.”

A Preliminary Layout. Here is a preliminary layout of our page. The ‘Gospel’ of Death will be partly similar, first an “approved” Christian, and then inside of “the Christian life.” But the bottom portion of the page will be the diagram of the seven seals, that is, confusion blocking everything. Understanding the organizational pattern of confusion is important to me.

The Bible to Me. Let me explain myself again, and thus the importance to me of these two pages. From the moment I heard the word, “My son,” at age nineteen, I have never approached God except as my need to know a Personal God. I read my Bible fiercely, so that I might know the actual Words God speaks to me and what He means by them. One might say that my mission in life has been to save the Bible from the gospel of death. I never saw this as a “mission,” but as my own deep burning need to know the Father at Home in my heart.

Disturbing to Me. Then, when I sat under Buddy Cobb’s “Plan of God,” I was deeply disturbed that I could find no sense at all in this vast layout. There was no organizational pattern. And when I read John Calvin and saw that it was the same thing, a hyper-Nicene “gospel,” I could find no pattern of meaning in it as well. The big verses were missing, and the others were in the wrong place.

At the same time, Sam Fife had placed my own thinking upon God’s organizational pattern, shown clearly all through the New Testament, the Tabernacle of Moses. It is disturbing to me that everyone reaches for Nicene-Calvinist theology, but no one understands why.

An Horrific Inversion. This “wheel” of the seven seals that I have called “A Perfected Opposition” is that organizational pattern for which I was seeking. EXCEPT – it is inverted in order to fit the verses of the gospel. That is, take the arguments of Nicene/Calvinist theology, invert them, and you will find that they are actually coming out from these evil points of refusal.

Now, I have taken this extra space because everything on our page is already written in our study of John’s gospel. We will cover things briefly here, but we don’t need to build the full picture except in the Jesus Secret boxes.

Another Preliminary Layout. Here is a preliminary layout of “The ‘Gospel’ of Death.” The circle will be our previous picture of verses in the wrong places because the cross is in the wrong place. Here is the problem. When you invert Calvinist talking points to become what is really being said, you are plummeting into the depths of evil expression.

Thank You, Jesus. The essential beginning of any Christian life is the entrance of the Person of Jesus into the heart. This is a love entrance, both in the one receiving Jesus and the Jesus who enters. Both the receiving and the entering are deliberate and personal actions. Sorrow plays a role, not over “sins” as a nebulous substance, but over having hurt others, including God. Yet more than that, a deep sense of lostness, of needing help, is what opens one’s heart to receive the entrance of Love.

The believer is now inside of all Salvation, and the passage into knowing what is true is always an active receiving of an even more deliberate and active Jesus, that is, a love story.

Receiving Jesus. The Spirit of God first draws me to see great need inside of me and the Lord Jesus as Savior. There is a sense of lostness and sorrow, not over “sin” but over having hurt others, including God. I receive Jesus into my heart, and Jesus enters into me as all Salvation, as every Word God speaks. But I sense only the joy of Love and a deep innocence. I do not really know that Jesus shares all with me, but an active love story now begins.

Our Circle. Here is a picture of the circle now completed. It remains wondrously simple. The Door is Jesus’ love for me expressed by the cross, and it is two entrances at the same time, I into Jesus and Jesus into me. Every step of my walk into knowing what is already true has taken place inside this SAFE place inside of Jesus inside of me.

Wondrous Joy! The first immediately important thing for me inside of Jesus is that I am safe, that I have a place to belong.

Yet here is where the simplicity of the gospel turns into a vast and unending wonder, for inside of Jesus I find three more wondrous things. Inside of Jesus, I find the words of my Bible written upon my heart and fulfilled in my life. Oh, the wondrous joy! Inside of Jesus, I find my brothers and sisters with whom I have walked and all my interactions with them – Love only. But even more than all that, inside of Jesus I find God my Father at Home inside my heart – ALL the fulness of God.

Inside of Jesus. The moment I received Jesus, Jesus Himself entered into me. In that same moment, God placed me utterly into Christ. I have entered through the Cross, for I have been crucified with Christ, yet I still live, only now it is Jesus living as me. Now I live, all the human me, only inside of all that is Christ Jesus, and this same Jesus lives in Person as all-Salvation and as every Word God speaks inside of me, inside all that I am. Inside of this same Jesus is the Father, and Jesus, my only life, connects me always with Him. I do not know, at first, that Jesus shares all with me, but I look through Him to the Cross, now the very Love of Christ all around me, keeping me utterly safe. Jesus speaks to me what I must do through His faith: “Stay inside of Me.”

The Path of Redemption. God intends us to view redemption in two complimentary ways. Redemption is the path of our lives that takes us, step by step, into the full knowledge of what was already absolutely and completely True when we received Jesus. God takes time with us because He is KIND.

The path through the Tabernacle gives us the structure of things, where our various experiences with God fit and where all the verses of the gospel fit. Having walked through these things over many years, and being seated now turned around upon the Mercy Seat, going forth as Salvation, everything fits together for us inside of joy. We know the meaning of our Salvation.

A Romance. But everything in our experience over time that brings God, the Bible, and Salvation together into our present joy would not actually accomplish anything if the other part of this redemption path were missing. That other part is the entrance of the love of Jesus into us in every moment. Our path into the knowledge of God is a romance every step of the way.

Over the years I noticed something peculiar. Every time I found myself picked back up out of the mud and cleaned off, there was Jesus acting as if nothing had happened at all, continuing right on with me inside of Love. And that was the opposite of what the preachers claimed.

Redemption. At the moment of our redemption, God placed us utterly into Himself, into all-Salvation. Because we don’t know what that means, God provided for us in the gospel a path into His knowledge throughout our Christian lives. This path is depicted by our walk through Moses’ Tabernacle. It is also an ever-increasing love relationship with Jesus inside of us. Redemption is a love story.

Metamorphy. Inside of Jesus, then, there is a process taking place that is of a most critical importance to God and to us. On God’s side, it is the proving of Christ faithful and true, and on our side it is how we become just like Jesus for real.

This is the process we have called metamorphy, becoming like Jesus by spending conscious time with Him, and especially by the flow of His words made personal as us through our lips. – The Word is in your mouth. All of Jesus’ expressions, eat of Me, learn of Me, drink of Me, are found inside this transfer of His substance to us and of our active participation with Him, the joyful receiving of our faith.

Eating of Life. All our lives, we remain inside of Jesus through faith and He in us. Inside of Jesus, we partake of Him as Word and as Spirit, now our only life. We speak His words as our own until we know the Father. Jesus entered into union with us first, and He transfers His substance to us every moment. As we partake of Him, we are metamorphosed into His same image; we become just like Jesus.

In Love with the Church. We find something else inside of Jesus that at times seems incongruous and disconcerting to us. We find all other believers in Jesus, but especially all those with whom we have interacted. As we are in Jesus, so also are they. As He loves us, so also He loves them.

Then this same Jesus looks straight into each of our eyes, and with all creative power and all earnestness of Soul, He says to us, “Love one another in just the same way that I have loved you.” And then we find something incredible happening to us, something we never expected. – We are falling in love with the Church.

Life Together. Inside of Jesus, we find all other believers. As the completion of Jesus, we love one another in a commitment of life together. Inside of Christ, we are built together as God’s dwelling place forever, the Church. We are the Mercy Seat of God.

The Biggest Thing of All. But the biggest thing we find here in the simplicity of living inside of Jesus inside of us, is even bigger than God our Father at Home in each of our hearts, as big as that is. The biggest thing of all is that God our Father dwells inside our togetherness as believers inside of Jesus, we together are God’s entrance into creation.

Through our togetherness, God is Love, visible and known. Through our togetherness, Father is Himself inside His creation in all abundance and overflowing JOY. This is the very simple and obvious result of a gospel of Love – Salvation Revealed!

Salvation Revealed. Salvation is God through us into our world. God is revealed as our Love for one another as believers, God among us. Through our togetherness, Father is Himself inside His creation in all abundance and overflowing joy, God known by all.

Will Never End. We see how the simplicity of the gospel, living only inside of Jesus who lives in Person inside of us, becomes the greatest impact of power and life to all creation.

And here’s the thing. There is not one verse in the Bible, in its actual meaning as God intends it, that is not found in full completion inside of this one page. Even more than that, there is not one moment of our lives, nor any true believer in Jesus, nor any expressed purpose of God or desire of Jesus not found in full inside this one page.

Yet our discovery of what is to be found ever more inside this wondrous Gospel of Life will never end.

Reading for Next Time. In actuality, the next lesson, “The ‘Gospel’ of Death,” is drawn primarily out from the seals of Revelation 6 & 8. And those things are drawn out from understanding the words of the serpent in the garden inside of “Christian” thinking and a life-long search to separate death from life.

I am writing of these things more completely in Symmorphy VII: Completion, and so the reading this time will be two lessons in Chapter 5 “A Perfected Opposition.” Those lessons are “5.1 Seven Anti-Christ Spirits” and “5.2 A Mighty Stronghold.” You can find them through the links or directly on the website. The audios are in place as well.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we come to You inside of the name of Jesus written all through our souls. Father, seal us utterly inside of this wondrous Gospel of Life which You have poured out so freely upon us. Seal us into the Lord Jesus, that we would never imagine a “self” separate from Him ever again.

“Then here, inside of Jesus, Oh God, make us to be Your Mercy Seat for the sake of our brothers and sisters all across the earth. We hear just dimly, oh Father, Your creation groaning for liberty and accusing You of evil, at the same time.

“And in the midst of all that outcry, we also hear Your people, calling upon Jesus in their distress even while refusing Him in their ignorance. And such we were as well for many years, loving You and accusing You, an awful Gehenna.

“God, our Father, You have loved us with an everlasting Love; our hearts belong utterly to You. You share every moment of our lives with us as one together in sweet communion, and every next step we take together, Father, comes out from our shared life. Let every next step be Your desire through us towards Your people, that they would be safe from all evil. Remove the cover from their eyes that they might see Jesus as He is.”

“God, our Father, You have seized us into Yourself and into Your throne; You have turned us utterly around. Salvation is You coming through us into our world. Today is the Day of Salvation.

“Let there be a Church upon this earth that knows You, that knows the meaning of Your Salvation. Let there be a people who love one another in committed life together and with pure hearts fervently.

“And most of all, Oh God, let each one of us be part of such a wonder, part of the fabric Your Joy, part of Father come Home. Let it be so. And even as we speak together with You, so we call it to be so.”