16.1 Likeness and Condition

This time we have two closely related, but slightly different concepts. Likeness means the Church as the visible expression of God to creation, and condition means the glorious liberty in which the Church lives. These are speaking of outward appearance, not the thin show of present humanity, but appearance coming out from the Substance of God, with the resurrection of our bodies as the first quality of this appearance.

The Church is what God looks like when free to be Himself inside of creation. Liberty is for God first; God set free. There is nothing more important to God than a Church who has placed Jesus upon herself, in her weakness, her blindness, and her great travail, KNOWING that God speaks the Truth.

The Power Flowing Through. The power flowing through this glorious Liberty is the happiness of God, Jesus proven faithful and True.

We have thought of these pathways of power as a flow through a channel, yet we must also envision a web or fabric, like the neural network in the human body, with the electrical frequency dancing across the whole thing. This neural network is not solid, but woven throughout everything else. The power, dancing across the neural network that is the Church, woven amongst all the peoples, is Joy. It is also the power to set free, to enclothe with goodness, to show forth abundance. This is the power of the blessing, of speaking good grace, of giving courage, of lifting up, the flow of the exuberant Father.

The Pathway Itself. The fabric of the power of liberty is Christian Community. Community takes on many outward expressions, but it’s meaning is the same, brethren walking together, committed to share one another’s lives in the Spirit and in liberty. The pathway, the Church, is commitment inside of liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

This liberty is not “libertine,” that is, “anything goes.” Rather, it is the liberty coming from the greatest cost ever paid, Personally setting you free of Himself. Thus the actual “neural network” is not the outer form of Community, but those who are firstfruits at its heart, Jesus through them, those who are “And We Also.” The pathway of liberty is their fellowship together woven across heaven-earth.

A Flow of Gospel Words. To proclaim liberty to the captives – My Spirit on all flesh – the power of the Highest will overshadow you – When the Devoted Spirit has come upon you – complete and whole – you are our glory and our joy – rejoice always – a temple of the Devoted Spirit – inside of Christ all will be made free – then the completion – that God may be all inside of all – we shall wear the image of the heavenly – the one giving us the Victory – who always leads us in the triumphal procession inside of Christ – the aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place – it is fully made visible that you are a letter of Christ – known and read of all men – where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom – having the glory of the Lord unveiled upon our faces, we all are reflecting the same image to one another as a mirror – God shines inside our hearts towards the knowledge of the glory of God.

The life of Jesus made visible in our mortal flesh – that what is dying may be swallowed up by life – the New has already become – you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to Promise – carry one another’s great weight of value – rule through just approval into age-unfolding life – walk inside newness of life – free from sin – will give life to your dying bodies through His Spirit – Creation itself will be made free from the slavery of decay into the freedom of the glory of the children birthed out from God – these He has also glorified – put on the Lord Jesus Christ – every man perfect and complete inside of Christ – when Christ your life becomes visible, then you also will be clearly visible with Him inside of glory – Christ is all inside of all – the first installment of our inheritance – the riches of His glory – The church is His body, the fullness of Christ who fills all inside of all – being built together for a dwelling place of God inside the sphere of Spirit.

Filled with all the fulness of God – into being a complete man, into the fulness of Christ – for we are members of His body – every knee will bow and every tongue speak Christ – that I might know the power of His resurrection – symmorphosed with His entire glorious Body – rejoice always – Let your gentleness be known to all – God made visible in the flesh – many sons to glory – whose house we are – I will be God inside of them and they will be a people inside of Me – a body you have fitted together for Me – Rivers of living water will overflow out from his belly – the one who sees Me sees the Father – We will come to him and make Our home in intimate closeness with him – that your joy might be filled full and complete – the Spirit will guide you into all truth – brought to full completion inside of one – that the world may know – if He becomes visible to us, we will be just exactly like Him – the love of God has been made visible among us.

Completed love casts out fear – this is the victory that has overcome the world – a pillar inside the temple of My God – I will write upon Him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem – sit with me inside of My throne – the kingdom of the world-cosmos has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ – a woman clothed with the sun – her child was seized into God and into His throne – Now is come the salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our God – I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them – I saw the devoted city, the New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband – Look and see, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them – the one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son – a river of water of life – His name will be on their foreheads – the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”

Acknowledging God as Father. We tried the curse; it didn’t work out too well. Let’s try the blessing, the acknowledging of God as all. And that’s a further set of words in our flow – the blessing, being and speaking the blessing, being encouragement, the windows of heaven opened – abundance outpoured.

All of these things are the visibility of God just being Himself inside His creation. Yet God Himself remains invisible, He is known as such blessing only when we declare all things to be out from the Father. The word in our mouths is not for us to be saved from God, but for God to be safe through us, that we would cause His knowledge and His blessing to be known as His. Church life in all abundance is the visibility of God.

A Flow of Our Words. Thank You, Father, that You have enclothed us with the Lord Jesus Christ, that You have made us Your image, that You have placed us already into celebration and glory. Father, we live inside of Your Glorious Liberty; Your Spirit, which You have shared with us, flows out from us bringing liberty and healing to all. Your abundance is all around us, Oh God, Your blessing and goodness. We live and walk only inside of You in all Joy.

And Father, we rejoice in Your Church set free; we see all our brethren as they are, clothed with Jesus. We have opened our door to You, and we acknowledge Your presence causing all, energeoing all, showing Yourself through all.

The Tension. The Church as the visibility of God is the end purpose of everything, the culmination of all things, and the reason for every other power, energeia, and doing. This means that the mighty appearance of God in creation, Christ Community, depends always on the successful movement of everything else, but especially on the continual propitiation coming out from lives laid down and love poured out, making the Church continuously free.

The tension is the firstfruits at the heart of every Community on earth, their bond together, their giving of all. We might not fully know what this fellowship of the firstfruits really means, those who share propitiation with Jesus, but it is the most IN-TENSE togetherness ever known.

The Entrance of Perversion. This is really, really sad. Adam and Eve were ASHAMED of looking like God. Every exercise of human pretending, every spin of a fake self-story, is one giant effort to cover over the deep, deep shame of looking like God. They hated Me without a cause. “Let’s put on a show. Let’s dance a dance. Look at how holy I am, see how much I just love everybody.”

Pretending is outward; hiding is inward. Adam was engaged with both when he accused God and Eve of being his problem. All the people of the earth are the same as they accuse Jesus of being “the wrath of the Lamb.” “Jesus is coming back soon, and this time, He is pissed off.”

A Flow of Darkness. Here is the message preached in every sermon, in every context, in every way. “The Bible says that you are supposed to be like Jesus, that you are supposed to do what is right. Look in the mirror, look at yourself, it is clear to both of us that you are NOT and that you do NOT. Therefore the gospel is clear, from here on out, you must pretend to be like Jesus and to do the gospel work, however I define both, like you have never pretended before.”

There is a true song, “This is me,” when sung by those who are real – a choir of down’s syndrome children, for instance. But “this is me” is also so often fake, the dressing of one’s self with wicked nonsense to cover over the deep hole inside, the SHAME of looking like and being the dwelling place of God.

The Actions of Overcoming. I possess the key of David; I have set before you an open Door. – And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, continuously stepping forth out from heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name.

This Door is not for us to enter God, for we are already inside of Him. This Door is for God to enter into the knowing of creation. We open that Door by seeing as God sees, and by calling the Church of Jesus by the same name, the same outward essence, that we bear. We have embraced our human weakness with content, we share every next moment with God. We are not ashamed of looking like God; we live to step forth with Him and with our brethren.

The Meaning of Victory. I saw a woman clothed with the sun. The POWER is in the one who sees. We SEE the Church, all who belong to Jesus right now, all across the earth, we SEE her clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of any outward nonsense.

And then, we open our mouths and we CALL her like we see her. Our call silences all other calls.

When Jesus said, “He shall not go out anymore,” He meant, “He is content with God as He is; he never again needs to put on a show. – He shall wear the name of My God with contentment. – He shall place Me upon My Church the same image he bears.” – And Life-made-visible swallows up death.

Personal Fellowship. Let’s place a new understanding on Revelation 3:12. – He will be content to be the image of God, to share life with the Father in deep fellowship; He will be content to be the image of My Church, to share life with other believers in deep fellowship. – This is who I am; this is what I do. He will be content to be just like Me.

This is the role of the Son in the Fellowship of God inside the Church, the One who makes it all happen, who paves the way, who joins together, who resolves difficulties. And He is saying to you and me, “I want to share what I am with you, so that you might be what I am inside the Fellowship of My Church and among our people.”

Relationship with other Pathways. This wondrous appearance of God to all creation as His Church, as believers in Jesus sharing life together, loving one another with pure hearts fervently, comes every moment out from Jesus giving Himself for her sake and setting her free from Himself. – And doing so through – And We Also – sharing Hheart with God.

To the one side of the appearance of God, the Church, is the Door of Faith, opened to Him, and on the other side is the Son in glory coming as Life and Light into all. We have gone full circle in tremendous power, and now we are ready to look at the Heart of everything, the Hheart we share with God.

Two Principles for Kingdom Building. Synergeia: The purpose of the Church is God-made-visible as the One who energeoes all inside of all. – “Thank You, Father, for You are doing everything!” When God is the acknowledged Source of all Energeia and movement (led by the Spirit), then He is seen as the appearance of every work done, the enclothing of Life, aka – Glory!

Symmorphy: The purpose of the Church is God-made-visible as the One who shares form with every little one inside His creation. This is not idolatry, for idolatry is without faith. This is contentment in all, that God is what He is, and that God is Good. When God is the acknowledged Source of all form and space in creation, then He is seen as the appearance of the deepest value, one another’s great weight of value, aka – Glory!

Guiding and Influencing. Humans are made for liberty. Evil in this world argues that if humans are free to do only as each one chooses, then everything will spin “out of control.” But liberty brings peace; whereas “control” always results in chaos. Why? – Because humans MUST throw off the chains. When the people know where they stand with you, that they are always free of you, with joy, they will be ready to heed your council and consider your wisdom.

Liberty does result in a certain level of friction, for that is the nature of reality. But God has placed us into human society with several qualities. The first is the Blood of propitiation, the quality of resolving problems. Other qualities include the oil of anointing and the light of clarity and understanding.

Building and Protecting. Just as all construction is designed for belonging, so it is also designed for liberty, for the respect given to each one. There are no more dangerous tyrants in this world than the ones who have set themselves to “keep you safe.”

The Blood says three things to us. First, it tells us the Value we are to Jesus. Then, because we are so valued, we know we belong and because we are so valued, we know we are free. This is the meaning of “set forth soul.” This is what we are, then, in all society, Jesus through us, first in the communities of Christ across the earth, the New Jerusalem, and through them into all human society. The Lamb is always the cornerstone, and we whom He sends, just like Him, are always the foundation.

Interaction and Sharing. There are three massive changes coming. First, the curse upon the earth will be replaced with blessing. Second, emptiness will be replaced with Father in abundance. And third, the rule of evil men will be replaced by the stability given to society through the network of resurrected sons. Material abundance will be vast. Yet when humans are slated with plenty, they become purposeless, or worse. Traditionally, humans have filled the vanity with gambling, addiction, and sports/video games/war. What will replace these?

In Community, believers will choose to work with their hands in growing their own food and in craft, regardless of the plenty. But I wonder if interaction and sharing, knowing well many people across the earth, might not become what we do.

Our Conclusion. The Church of Jesus Christ, brethren dwelling together in commitment and in liberty, is what God looks like in all creation. It is we who clothe her with the Lord Jesus Christ in all our seeing. It is we who place her into belonging and liberty.

Now, having turned around fully, we step forth with God set free into the Church as God has always intended. What beauty, what glorious radiance, what color and music and dancing, what joy on every face! Only one thing has been transformed outwardly – our eyeballs. We see glory, and we call our brethren by glory. We see Jesus on every face; we see the Father being Himself with all exuberant abundance.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is the central pathway of power, the law of Love. It is titled “The Knowing of Perception.” This will be followed by a lesson tying all these things together, how the power that sustains all things actually works. Every other pathway of power passes through Love in its operation. – Faith that works through love (Galatians).

“Knowing” is knowing the Father; “perception” is seeing all things as the Father sees them. There is a direct pathway from the heart to the eyes through the tongue. As we speak the Words God speaks, written on our heart of flesh, so our eyes see all things as God sees, the judgment of God, the judgment of Life.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, You have saved us from being the ministers of death we once were, of being the cause of all the evil taking place in your creation, for we did not acknowledge You. Now, Father, You have caused us to know You and You have written Your Word, the Lord Jesus, all through our hearts. We acknowledge You fully inside every moment, circumstance, and interaction, that You are Good, that You share all with us.

“Lord Jesus, You have set before us an open Door, Your Word in our mouth, that we might call our God into our world. You have given us the Spirit of Life, that Rivers of Joy might flow through us into the knowledge of all. Lord Jesus, we are with You in the day of Your power.

“Father, we see Your Church in every land on earth, all those whom You have given to Jesus for the Day of His Victory, our brothers and sisters. We see Your Church clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ; we see no shadow of darkness upon her. We see all Christians together as pure and devoted, beauty beyond compare, of such great weight of Value. Lord Jesus, we have fallen in love with Your Church, with You as her.

“Father, inside of the name of Jesus, we call it like we see it. We call Your people as pure, as beautiful, as justly innocent, as clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ in all things. Father, we call You into Your Church, into her knowing, into the receiving faith of every single Christian right now. We call forth Your Salvation in power, revealed upon this earth. We know, oh God, that You have already answered us.”