53. So I Send You

The topic I have selected for this Flow of Gospel Word through the remaining chapters of John’s Gospel is the fifth part in the agreement “cycle” between Father and Son, an agreement together that puts you and me at the center.

The statement “I send you just as the Father sent Me” is stated twice by Jesus, in His prayer, 17:18, and then in 20:21. The first establishes this sending inside the Symmorphy of Father and Son, and the second speaks it directly into us. I have selected this as the topic for five chapters because the rule of 1 John 3:16 commands us to do so. – By this we know love (carried through death) – and we also (so I send you). Those who love the Love of Jesus for them, then turn and love the brethren in the same way.

The Normal Christian Life. “I send you” takes the agreement between Father and Son and adds to it the same agreement between Son and us. Just as Jesus assumed the Father’s agreement in His speaking, so He assumes our agreement – those who desire His desire. We do not place any limit on the meaning or extent of “I send you just as the Father sends Me,” as far as God through us is concerned. Yet we do limit this sending to God, the One who walks beneath to carry, and away from any self-exaltation.

“I send you just as” is the Ekenosis, that we also call an invisible God through us into appearance as you and me, even as we humble ourselves for the sake of others, setting forth our soul to the Father just as Jesus did. When you know God, Jesus, us, and Salvation, then you know that “God incarnate in me” is the normal Christian life.

A Complete Picture. In seeking the overall Flow of Gospel Word, we could here place all four Gospel accounts together in order to have Jesus’ every step. In fact, we do go forward in John’s account, keeping the other accounts in mind. We could not have a complete picture without also including Psalm 22 with the four Gospel accounts.

What we want in this study, however, is what seemed important to John. We have seen that John’s selection of what things to include was with purpose. I have selected only a few verses across this account as “gospel verses.” Yet here is what I have found. Whatever verses I choose, one after the other, there is a wondrous Flow. And when I rearrange the verses, the Flow takes on new wonders.

Every Step Now Ours. (Chapter 18) • 4 Since Jesus was aware of all things coming upon Him, after He left the garden, He said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

Jesus being “aware of all things coming upon Him,” includes far more than the events of the day. This statement places Jesus parallel to Adam (as in Romans 5) – for Adam also knew all things coming, for he was not deceived. Yet this is “after He left the garden.” That means that Jesus’ final, intimate agreement with the Father to drink the Father’s Cup has already placed you and me into Him, literally and substantially. Every step taken by Jesus is ours as well.

4 Definition: Jesus “being aware” parallels Adam’s “not being deceived.” Yet Jesus has already drunk His Father’s Cup – and all believers are now inside of Him, His every step now theirs.

The Difference Is Source. • 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not out from this world-cosmos. If My kingdom were out from this world-cosmos, My servants would have fought that I might not be betrayed to the Judeans. But My kingdom is not out from here.” 37 Then Pilate said to Him, “Then You are a king!” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. • For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is out from the truth hears My voice.”

I typically translate the Greek possessive as “out from” when referencing God as the Source, and “of” when referencing anything else. Yet here Jesus is speaking of the world as source. The difference all the way through is not outward distinctions, but rather, Source. Kingdom is that which comes out from God, through Jesus setting forth His Soul, and by the Spirit.

What Is Truth. The kingdoms of this world are out from man, through human manipulation, and by the anointing of demons. – All.

Then Jesus says something remarkable. – For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world. Why? – to bear witness to the Truth. What does that mean? I have only now begun to ponder it. The meaning of the word “truth” is to us, as Pilate replies, ambiguous and hard to pin down. – What is truth? – Truth is that which is.  

Truth, then, is to face straight into the Lord Jesus in the voiced acknowledgement that we come out from God through His good speaking and by the Spirit every moment. Thus Jesus said, “Those whose Source is what is True, are those who HEAR My voice.”

Kingdom and Truth. To bear witness to the Truth, then, must be to walk as one who is always coming out from God through Jesus by the Spirit. “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” means acknowledge Me as your only Source. We could then say that Kingdom is relating together inside of sight restored (the Apocalypse, the Unveiling) versus the world as relating together out from the delusions of blindness.

36 Kingdom: The Kingdom and the world are distinguished by Source, not appearance. Is our Source always a God who gives Himself through us or is it ourselves for self-ascendancy?

37 Definition: Truth is what is, that all things come out from God through the good-speaking of Jesus and by the Spirit. To bear witness to the Truth is to live through faith that God is True, even while we are yet blind.

What Is Authority? (Chapter 19) 10 Pilate said to Him, “…Do you not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” • 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority against Me, if it were not given to you from above. Because of this, the one who turned Me over to you has the greater sin.”

At this moment of time, authority still resided in those out from Adam, for God does not remove what He has given. By three that afternoon of Jeremiah’s day of slaughter, about seven hours later, all humans would have perish upon the cross, leaving God free to give all authority to Jesus and to those in whom He dwells. But what is authority? Authority directs the Flow of Spirit.

Okay. In John 17:2, Jesus said that God has given Him authority to give life to whomever He wanted. The Spirit comes out from our bellies – AS we drink of Jesus as our only Source. – Sustaining all things by His power-filled Word.

Violence versus Grace: In contrast, authority in this world is that which directs the flow of violence. God had attempted to establish the authority of wisdom and respect in Israeli society, but they chose a king instead, that is, the authority over violence.

Jesus walked in the acknowledgement of the full union of God with Him, initiated by God. That means His every next step was inside of Grace, God ALWAYS directing His way, just as He does with us. Pilate’s “authority” was irrelevant.

19:11 Definition: Authority in this world is the right to control the flow of violence to compel others. It’s ultimate power is to kill. In the Kingdom, authority is out from Grace and it compels only by respect. Yet this authority also directs the flow of the Spirit of Life, giving Life to whomever it wills. When Jesus rose from the dead, all authority transferred to Him.

A Way We Cannot Go Ourselves. • 17 And bearing His own cross, He went out to the place called the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him and with Him two others, one on each side, with Jesus in between.

The most important definition of God through Jesus is hidden, to be found only by those who desire God’s desire. John saw Jesus go out from Pilate’s porch carrying His cross. Yet we read from the other accounts that the cross was placed upon Simon of Cyrene. From these two facts we conclude that Jesus stumbled under a cross He could not carry. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. – The one who sees Me sees the Father. Yet Paul’s gospel is most important. You and I were there INSIDE of this same Jesus, every step carried by Father through a Way we cannot go.

Our Only Life. 17-18 Definition: The one who sees Me sees the Father. Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever. In this walk of the Atonement, we see God as He REALLY is.

17-18 Definition: Paul’s gospel is clear. God was NOT in the Romans punishing Jesus instead of us; God was inside of Jesus reconciling the world to Himself. Never, NEVER, do we see Jesus in this Way except we KNOW that we also were there inside of Him, literally and substantially, and with God.

17-18 Ruling Verse 6: Jesus stumbled under His cross, He could not carry it. It was God who carried His Son, with us inside of Him, all the Way through death and into Life.

17-18 Ruling Verse 5: We are already crucified with Christ. We now live only through Him. We never halt between two; union with Christ is the only Life we acknowledge.

John’s Purpose Is the Church. • 26 Then Jesus, seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near her, said to His mother, “Woman, look at your son.” 27 Then He said to [John], “Look at your mother.” And from that hour [John] took her as his own mother.

This is the one thing John included that Jesus spoke outwardly during the first three hours of the cross. Again, John is selective for a purpose. Luke’s purpose, in getting his story from Mary, was to write a history, but John’s purpose was the Church.

26-27 The Form for God through Jesus: Mary herself became born again and filled with the Spirit, thus Jesus, her Son, lived inside of her as a member of His Church. Yet Mary, and her relationship with Jesus, became a representation of the Church, the mother of us all (see Galatians 4:26). By this instruction, Jesus is establishing our care for one another in His Church.

It Is Finished. • 28 After this, knowing that all things had been accomplished, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” 29 A vessel full of sour wine was sitting there with a sponge in it filled with the sour wine, and a stalk of hyssop placed around it. They brought it to His mouth. • 30 Then, when Jesus took the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded over His Spirit.

All four of the Gospel writers connected the events of Jesus upon the cross directly with Psalm 22. Luke gives Jesus’ words, “Into Your hands I ‘commit’ My Spirit,” that are the expression of Psalm 22:21, “You have answered Me.” Yet John had already included those words in Chapter 11, the raising of Lazarus. The word ‘commit’ is “set-forth alongside.” It was always God’s intention that we would place ourselves inside of Jesus through the personal view given by David.

Oh God, You Know. I want to continue with casting a wider net of thoughts, for we must know the inner soul of Jesus through the final hours on the cross – AND – we must know ourselves there inside of Him, symmorphosed with His death, sharing all with Jesus.

The Scripture John mentions in verses 28-29 is Psalm 69. Some don’t like to apply Psalm 69 directly to the thoughts of Jesus, even though New Testament writers do, because of verse 5 – O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You. Yet Paul said that Jesus “became our sin” in 2 Corinthians 5. David gave himself to God regardless. Jesus gave Himself to God regardless. We give ourselves to God regardless. We do not keep anything from God. Part of our interest is that Psalm 69 is also David expressing the mind of Jesus in His distress, which means that so are portions from many other of David’s psalms.

God’s Ruling Thoughts Made Visible. Then, in verse 30, John gives Jesus’ final words as “It is finished,” whereas Luke had said, “I set-forth My Spirit alongside of Yours.” I will take those two “final words” as two separate things Jesus said, yet they are clearly related together. Luke’s “final words” are a confirmation of 1 John 3:16, whereas John’s choice is a confirmation of Romans 8:30 and Hebrews 10:22, the absoluteness of the Blood and Cross of Christ. Yet Luke had just included the fact that the veil inside the temple was torn in two, a confirmation of Hebrews 10:19-22, Ruling Verse 6.

Also, the word “thirst” does not occur very often in Scripture, but several of the times that it does, it speaks of the desperate lack and longing of being human, which Jesus shares with us. But consider thirst as it comes just before “It is finished.”

From Thirst to Completion. 28 Definition: Thirst is an expression of the deepest longing and need inside of all humans, shared entirely by Jesus. The direction we turn our thirst determines our Source.

28-30 Covenant: All gospel writers connected Psalm 22 directly with Jesus upon the cross, making David’s words to be Jesus’ own thoughts. God intends us to know the meaning of Jesus’ distress, in setting forth His soul for us, especially the words, “You have answered Me.” Those words save us.

30 Ruling Verses 1, 5, & 6: “It is finished” is the beginning of our Salvation, already ALL, already accomplished. Jesus’ thirst and His drinking of sour wine confirm us inside of Him even as He carries us into God, fulfilling the Father’s Desire.

30 Ruling Verses 5 & 6: The Cross and the Blood are absolute and without end, shared absolutely in all union with us.

I Am Telling You the Truth! • 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear and immediately out came blood and water. 35 And the one who saw this [I – John] has borne witness, and his testimony is true. And he knows the truth that he is speaking, that you also might believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled; “Not one bone of Him will be broken (we are bone of His bone – we cannot be broken).” 37 And again, another Scripture says, “They will look on the One they have pierced.”

Verse 35 is an extraordinary statement. Compare this with Hebrews 6:13-18. John’s word must already be assumed to be True, but just as God also swore an oath, John repeats three times, “I am telling you the Truth. – I SAW this very thing.” Then, verse 37 again references Psalm 22, which John is using to confirm what he SAW. And in Psalm 22, right after “You have answered Me,” comes the Church!

In the Midst of the Church. You have answered Me. – I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You. Then this very line is also quoted in Hebrews 2 – “In the midst of the Church, I will sing praises to You.”

Jesus worships the Father from inside His body, the Church. That worship is the Fellowship of Father and Son, taking place inside our gathering together. The worship service in our gathering together is Jesus inside of us fellowshipping with the Father! And this is the very thing towards which John is testifying. – My own hands, these very hands you see here, have handled the Word of Life (1 John 1:1 – paraphrased).

34-35 Definition: John sees the Church drawn out from Jesus’ side, parallel with Genesis 2:21-22, Eve drawn out from Adam’s side.

Marriage Union: 34 Ruling Verse 5: This Blood and Water out from Jesus’ side demonstrates to us our ONLY Source. We come from NOWHERE else. Yet in coming out from Jesus, God takes us by the hand and leads us to Him again, that Jesus might enter into marriage union with us. This is the place of Ephesians 5:30-31, flesh of His flesh, one flesh with Him.

28-34 The Form for God through Jesus: The moment Jesus said, “It is finished,” He had fulfilled the Father’s Desire, for He had brought us inside Himself into full joining together with God. This Church, now, which the Father Himself draws out from Jesus’ side and then brings to Him as His Bride, is God’s dwelling place forever.

35 Covenant: God wants us to KNOW our Source.

The Energeoing Flow of Life. (Chapter 20) • 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended towards the Father; go, however, to My brothers and sisters, and say to them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”

Jesus has a job to do. He came to “bear witness to the Truth,” that means that He came to give us a visible picture of real. Darkness is mental delusion, people believing nonsense even while living inside of absolute Light and Goodness. We NEED a visible picture into knowing what is real. And it is the prepositions that show us what is real, “out from” and “towards,” a continuous cycle of movement, the energeoing Flow of Life. We acknowledge that we come out from God every moment, and that we return into God every moment, just like Jesus.

To Say, “Father.” To say “Father” is to say Source. “I am always coming out from God. I am always placing myself back into God, regardless of all my lack. Meanwhile, I am about my Father’s business. I know nothing else concerning myself.” To say, “Father” is to speak the same story of self that is Jesus.

17 Life: Life is a Flow. Life means God as our Source and our Return. Just as we come out from Jesus every moment, so we first come out from God. And just as God leads us to Jesus, so Jesus takes us back, inside Himself, into the Father.

17 Speak Christ: To say “Father” is to say Source. “I am always coming out from God. I am always placing myself back into God, regardless of all my lack. Meanwhile, I am about my Father’s business. I know nothing else concerning myself.” To say, “Father” is to speak the same story of self that is Jesus.

Out from God to Removing Sin. 19 Jesus came and stood among them, and He said to them, “Peace to you.” 20 Having said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples rejoiced, having seen the Lord. • 21 Jesus then said to them, “Peace to you; just as the Father sent Me forth, so I also send you.” • 22 And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive Spirit Devoted. • 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain any, they are retained.”

Consider the progression: (1) the Sending, that is “God manifest in the flesh,” (2) the Flow of the Spirit, that is, power, and (3) the authority to direct that Spirit, the “sword of Jesus’ mouth” – forgive them, the authority to remove sin. “To retain” does not mean “to impose.” It means that we leave people free. Some are just not ready to know God and live.
 
Being Sent. What does it mean to be SENT, just as Jesus was sent? All I can do is circle around the question with some thoughts.

21 Ruling Verse 9: Being sent by Jesus just as the Father Sent Him is an agreement between Jesus and us, inside of and equal to His agreements with the Father. The purpose of the sending is always to fulfill God’s Desire, which is two things, His word proven True and a Church in whom to dwell.

22 Ruling Verse 3: The disciples were born again when Jesus breathed the Spirit into them. The Spirit flooding their souls in power is Pentecost, when Jesus also entered into them.  

21-23 Ruling Verses 3 & 4: And inside the very act of sending is all authority over the flow of the Spirit of Life and over all accusation, to cast it down. We have the authority to remove all sin from those who want to know God and live.

Out of Our Staggering Blindness. 28 Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and my God!” • 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who believe without having seen.”

The proof of Christ is to believe that God is telling us the Truth, and to continue to believe, without ANY outward visibility or evidence. This is so very important, for we are, in fact, BLIND, which, while an accurate description, is also a kind way to say psychotic insanity. Blessed are those who believe – what? Those who believe that Jesus is inside of them as every Word God speaks fulfilled, sharing all, and always joining them with the Father. I bear witness to the Truth – this is the ONLY Way out of our psychotic delusion, out of our staggering blindness.

A Shared Responsibility. 29 Definition: We are BLIND and LOST. The only Way out of our psychotic delusion is to be loved by and filled with Jesus, and then to see HIM through faith alone as every Word God speaks already fulfilled.

We are now seeing a pattern of several things together. In the agreement between Father and Son, each bears full responsibility to give to the other what the other wants. Including us in the sending means that we are not “just beneficiaries,” but rather active participants. Thus to be sent is to carry, with Jesus, the responsibility to bring to the Father what God wants. Only thus can we know divine Fellowship.

The authority of Jesus inside of us to direct the Flow of the Spirit of Life is our license, one might say, or right, to give ourselves with Jesus for the Father’s sake.

A Gospel of Life. 30 Indeed, many other signs Jesus also did in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. • 31 These things have been written, however, so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son out from God, and that in believing, you may have life inside of His name.

In verse 31, John tells us exactly why he chose the specific things he included in his gospel all the way through. He could have included many, many other things, but he did not. Instead, he carefully set out his choices of what to share so that we might possess LIFE – a Gospel of Life.

31 Life: In his gospel, John included those things that would convey to us a Gospel of Life. To “have life inside of His name” is to possess the same shared Life with the Father, just like Jesus, to belong only to God and to live for His sake.

Caring for Others. (Chapter 21) • 17 Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you dearly care for Me?” …And he said to Him, “Lord, you know all; You know that I dearly care for You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” – • 22 Jesus said to [Simon Peter], “If I desire him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

We pair verse 17 and verse 22 together for one whole thought – how we relate to one another and why. To care for Jesus is to give life to those who belong to Him, for He is inside of them, living now as them. To follow Jesus is to KNOW that He is Lord, that He does what He wants with His own, and that it is NONE of our business. Jesus never tells anyone what He is doing inside someone else’s heart – except to know that He is.

Two Rules for Ministry. I just saw this. Preachers chide Peter for refusing to say, “I agape You.” BUT – that was Peter passing the test, not boasting in himself, knowing that God alone is Love.

17 & 22 Ruling Verse 9: The ministry of Christ is to lift up, to give the knowledge of God to, every little one who believes into Jesus. With this task is the injunction that what God is doing in the life of another is NONE of our business. We follow Jesus.

17 & 22 The Form for God through Jesus: God has one Desire, His Church as His dwelling place inside of Jesus as all Word fulfilled, written upon their hearts.

Speak Christ: I have the right to be a son of God. I have the right to give myself to the Father, with Jesus, for the sake of my brethren. I have the right to give to those for whom I care LIFE as the knowledge of God Alone as Love through me.

In the Volume of the Book. • 25 There are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they should be written, every one, not even the world, I suppose, would have the space for all the books that could be written.

The Spirit of God is pointing directly to what John is about to see in his vision, the Scroll that only Jesus can open, the countless number of “books,” that is, Jesus written as every Word God speaks in the hearts of multitudes beyond count. – In the volume of the book, it is written of Me. – Jesus was not speaking of paper and ink, but of our hearts.

Definition: Jesus is now written upon our hearts as every Word God speaks (see 2 Corinthians 3:3). We are the “many books being written.” The Spirit is pointing directly to Revelation 5-6, the opening of the Scroll to see Jesus within.

What Matters Most. Some of these lessons in the Flow of Gospel Word through John’s gospel covered only one chapter. This lesson covers five. Some of those lessons were overwhelming. This lesson seems to have come down to simplicity – what matters most.

Let’s list some of what matters most to Jesus. 1. That we know that we ARE inside of Jesus all the way through, that God carries us with Jesus all the way into Life. 2. That God is our only Source, that we come out from Jesus every moment. 3. That we now direct the Flow of Life into others. 4. That our Salvation is already all. 5. That we care for our brethren. 6. That we are inside of Psalm 22, inside the agony of Jesus’ Soul, sharing all with Him and joined with the Father. 7. That God has brought us to Jesus as His Bride and that Jesus has extended Himself over us. 8. That God is our Father.  

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we know that we are always coming out from You, for You are our only Source. And we know that we are always returning into You inside of Jesus. And Father, we know that Jesus sends us into this world just as You Sent Him, that we might bear witness to the Truth that You are the only God, the only Source of all.

“Father, we acknowledge that every particle and moment of our lives is You revealing Yourself through us, in the fulfilment of all Your desire. Every step that we take is about Your business, to bring all our brethren inside our hearts into You, that Jesus might be glorified inside of them. Father, it is Jesus inside of us worshipping You in the midst of the Church. It is Jesus in us bringing all into Your Love.

“Oh God, Your Church in this world is in great need, for many have swallowed the spirit of anti-Christ, prophesying violence into people’s lives. Yet we know that You have reserved many for Yourself. Inside of the name of Jesus, we cast down all that opposes You inside Your Church, that You might be glorified inside a people on this earth, now in the completion of the age.

“Arise through us, Oh God, to cast down Your enemies, to redeem for Yourself a people in whom to dwell. We belong to You, Lord Jesus, now in the day of Your Power. You are unveiled through every moment of our lives. You see us, Oh God, for we belong to You, and we carry in our hearts all whom You have given to us, here inside of Jesus. We sing together with Jesus, for You have answered us.”