12.1 Full Salvation
© 2019 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
This little book began with the injunction of Isaiah to prepare a highway before our God so that He might win the desire of His Heart, that He might fulfill His intentions and purposes in the history of creation. In the last lesson of this chapter, we will return to that metaphor to see what a highway prepared for our Father really means, a way for Father into His creation, that He might show Himself through His body, that He might fellowship with us.
At the same time, we looked at the difference between the world of death flowing out of Adam’s cold decision in the garden, and the world of life flowing out of Christ, that is, out of the tree of life. This world of life has never yet been.
Renewing our Minds. When we say, “this world of life has never been,” however, we are not talking about the substance of all reality but rather the knowledge of such a Salvation in the Christian mind. And because Christian, that is, millions of individual Christians as well as the Church of Christ together do not know the gospel of full Salvation, the appearance of all things remains as the appearance of death.
This is why Paul said that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, that is, by changing what and how we think. Changing “what” we think cannot be an exercise of “correct” thoughts replacing “incorrect” thoughts, for such an exercise remains in death. Renewing our minds means putting another Person upon ourselves through faith and by the Spirit.
Enclothed with Jesus. Full Salvation IS living inside of another Person and this Person living inside of us, the Lord Jesus in all the revelation of Father. – In that day you shall know that I am inside of the Father and you inside of Me and I inside of you. – Put on, enclothe yourself with, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet we must add two more dimensions to this full Salvation, because God fills all things with Himself and every created being exists only by the good speaking of Jesus already. – This is age-unfolding life, to KNOW You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Life isn’t God in us; life is KNOWING God in us.
God Among Us. Knowing Father through knowing Jesus Sent begins inside each one of us individually, but God seen and known by all requires an outward dimension as well. God seen and known requires a Body.
Full Salvation, in its ongoing expression, is the Church – which is His Body, the fullness of Jesus who fills all inside of all (Ephesians 1:23). Full salvation is God among us as all our connections together, that is, a family of people, walking together, loving one another with a pure heart fervently. It is here that we belong and are made complete. It is here where Father is at home and can show Himself as He is.
Every Word. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). You and I live by every word coming out from God.
Is that word an obligation of debt that engenders and requires human performance, a performance that always falls short of the word? Is that word an impersonal ether, or “force” that we attempt to connect with and “manifest” all by ourselves? Or – is that word a Person, Jesus, the One who actively loves us, who continuously gives Himself to us, and who connects us always with Father?
Acknowledgement. The Words coming out from God’s mouth are, in fact, a Person, and He already lives as us. For that reason, we know that we are simply acknowledging what is already true.
In fact, all we are doing is obeying Paul’s injunction – the fellowship of your faith energeoes by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is inside of you inside of Christ Jesus (Philemon 1:6). By acknowledging that these things are true, that is, Christ, He Himself becomes the melody, harmony, and rhythm of our song. We speak the same words of Christ by which we are sustained. In this way alone are we transformed in our thinking.
The Word in Your Mouth. The transformation of your mind takes place, not as you memorize words or treat them as ideas or struggle and fail to implement them. That approach, we well know, cannot work. Rather, the transformation of your mind takes place as all of the Word that is Christ Jesus Himself within your heart passes from your heart to your mouth through your confidence that Jesus IS faithful and true.
As those Words that are Jesus are found inside your mouth, you ask and believe you have received, and then you speak those same words as Christ personal as you. Then, as you speak Christ, the Words pass to your eyes, that you would see all things pure through the eyes of the Lord Jesus and from there to the everyday thinking of your mind.
Salvation through You. As you cultivate this path of the Word, the Lord Jesus Himself, out from your heart to your mouth, then to your eyes, then to the normal thinking of your mind, you are putting the Lord Jesus Christ upon yourself. And you are doing so entirely by the confidence of faith that God requires.
Yet this is you “going into” God. That is, you are harmonizing your story of self, the fabric of your human person, with God’s words becoming you. Then you discover that, although your Salvation very much includes your connecting with God through every word that Jesus is, when you KNOW that God IS, then Salvation is complete and ready to come through you out to all creation.
Humans and Father Together. You, in all that you are, in every moment of your life, are utterly and only coming out of God through the good-speaking of Jesus.
But that is not and never will be a rigid “perfection.” God always sets you free of Himself in every present moment. Thus you, as God’s thoughts expressed, relate with God only through your delight in being God’s thoughts revealed. You are perfectly free to be what you are, a human. And thus, you are free of God to make your own mistakes. Nonetheless, as you walk together with the Father out from whom you come every moment, walking together in the present moment as He shares your life with you, then you and Father together make all things good.
Jesus as Word. Let’s bring back in the five continuous actions of Jesus as Word from Lesson 1.3 “Sustained by Word” – Creating – Sustaining – Setting Free – Subduing – Connecting.
(1) We come into existence every moment because Jesus speaks God’s thoughts concerning us. (2) We are sustained in our existence every moment as Jesus causes us to exist by the words of His power. (3) We are set free from all control and in full respect of our persons every moment by the liberty that is Christ Jesus. (4) Jesus always actively wins our hearts every moment. (5) We are always being connected with Father, Father and us together, by every word that God speaks.
Never, in all the ages to come, will this dynamic process of our existence ever alter or cease.
Singing in Harmony. The goal of the transformation of our minds, then, is that we would think, in all ways, as Jesus thinks. And that goal is not that we “copy” Christ, but that we acknowledge Christ.
Thinking as Jesus thinks, then, is two things always together. First, that I can do nothing of myself, therefore I give thanks. And second, that God embeds my every step inside of His love, therefore, I rejoice with all confidence. Then as we acknowledge the good things of Christ inside of us, Jesus Himself in Person, so we come into harmony with the speaking of our Father. And as we together sing in harmony as Christ Himself, so our Father is now able to show Himself as He is to His creation through us together as one Body, the dwelling place of God.
The Proving of Our Faith. We have no need to set again the awful contrast between the joy of Christ written in Person all through our hearts versus the harsh emptiness and frightened hopelessness of the serpent’s “gospel.” Yet, in order for us to participate joyfully with our Father as He shows Himself through us together, we must know His purposes inside of the darkness of all that screaming unbelief.
Here is how Peter puts it. – The proving of your faith, being more precious than perishing gold, that your faith being refined through fire might be found into praise and glory and honor inside the unveiling of Jesus Christ… receiving the full completion of your faith, the salvation of your souls, [that is, your self-story, your entire human consciousness] (1 Peter 1:6-9 – reduced).
Through Utter Weakness. John, in his vision, saw this same reality as a woman, the Church of Christ, millions of Spirit-filled believers all across this earth, clothed fully with the Lord Jesus Christ. This precious Church, screaming in the agony of her travail, brings forth the very life of God into the knowledge of creation through utter weakness and in the very face of the serpent.
It is this picture John gives us by which God is contradicting everything that took place in the garden of Eden. Revelation 12 is the full triumph of Christ Jesus through us over Adam and the serpent. – And they overcame him – as they, with the Blood of Jesus in one hand and the one death of Christ in the other, speak Christ their only life.
The Great Contest. Here is the great contest of the ages. Did God indeed say? – versus – Jesus proven faithful and true. And Jesus proves Himself faithful and true through our confidence that He IS, through “Let it be to me.”
Against Adam’s unthankfulness, we give thanks knowing that our Father shares all things with us. Against the serpent’s accusation, we bless others, knowing that rivers of Life flow always out of us. Against Adam’s hatred of being God’s image, we rejoice that Father shows Himself through our every human expression. And we cast down out from the minds of our brethren the serpent’s false posing as “what God looks like.”
Our Great Salvation. Against Eve’s turning to outward wisdom and beauty, being deceived, God has set His Church, you and me, in utter weakness, in utter trust, in the very face of the lying serpent, that God IS life through us. When God is finished proving His Salvation, no one will ever again look for God in outward show or fake human performance.
The Salvation of God, the revelation of Father, is a family of people, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, old folks and children, walking together through the daily tasks of life, loving one another with a pure heart fervently, giving space to one another and to Father, in kindness and encouragement.
And out from this Great Salvation there flows an unending River of Life.