7. I Set Forth My Soul (Part 2)
We are continuing as the second part of the last lesson. ~ By this we have known love because He set forth His soul for us, for our sakes, and we also are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters. ~
We have concluded that salvation requires one Person (Jesus) receiving another person (me) into Himself, with the second person (me) also receiving the first Person (Jesus) into myself. Salvation is always personal and costly. Then, Jesus connects us with God inside Himself. Sharing life with God is our Salvation; it is our goal. Then, our sharing of life with one another is God’s goal, His prize.
Redemption. Redemption is another matter, however. Redemption is all the little things Jesus does to cause us to KNOW His Love. Jesus’ goal is to entice us out of all our hiding places of fear and selfishness, to turn us around, that He might be God’s Salvation through us to others.
In Nicene theology, the Blood becomes Jesus’ bargaining chip with God. God really, really wants to burn me in hell, but Jesus offers God His Blood, which God values more than burning me in hell and thus grudgingly accepts the trade. For real, Jesus’ Blood is for us, that we might KNOW Love, something concrete, powerful, and personal to ASSURE us that it is SAFE to come out of our fear into the light.
No Way Yet to Enter. Those believers who remain in the outer court are hiding from God in fear and self-worship. Those who remain in the Holy Place are still hiding from God, though with less fear and self-worship. They have drawn near. Those who enter the Holiest remain always inside of God and enjoy full Salvation – for themselves.
Yet God is left with nothing. He still has NO way to enter into creation as LIFE.
Then Jesus does the most remarkable thing in all the history of God-with-us; Jesus turns us around. AND WE ALSO. – God’s entrance into our world.
The Only Solution. Let me come at this from another angle. I printed out an article by Gary D. Barnett on www.lewrockwell.com, titled “A Solution for the Masses Does Not Exist.” (The link will take you to that article.) Gary Barnett explains the only thing that will save the masses of humanity (and all of us) from the beast and that there is no other solution. I agree with him completely. That only solution is that every individual person must be FREE in quiet certainty inside of him or herself. When we get to studying John’s vision, I hope to use that article to list every point, because I am convinced that God’s solution will match every detail he raises.
God Must Have a Way. I will wait to develop my thoughts out from this article except to say that you should read it. If you are not in despair regarding this present world, you are not paying attention. Our hope is in the midst of all-despair.
Specifically, a world that does not know God is a world of death. The only answer is God seen and known. God wants to be seen and known out from the Source of all things. He must have a way into the knowledge of all. We are that way, Jesus as one with us – and we also.
I now realize that it was 1 John 3:16, pushing itself into my mind and onto my pages in late 2011, that began to TURN me AROUND. I must add that to “The Meaning of a Life.”
God Needs Us. Now, in the main box on this page, “My Soul Set Forth for Others,” we want to explore the “how” of God’s entrance into our world. This will be followed by the object of our love – “For Their Sake.” Before we get to the “how,” I want to look briefly at the “why,” why God needs us as His open door into creation, along with that same moment of respect God shows to us that He showed to Jesus. God moves through us ONLY with our express permission.
First, let’s bring in the statements of faith for this short passage, 1 John 3:13-18.
The Statements of Faith. ~ I know Love. I know that Jesus set forth His soul for me, for my sake. And I also am committed to setting forth my soul for the sake of my brothers and sisters. I give back to God only that which He has first given to me. I give back to God by giving the same love to my brothers and sisters. ~
~ God alone is Love. I am removed from death and live in life. I live in God; I love my brothers and sisters. I love in word, in action, and in truth. Whenever I see others in need, I give them whatever I have as they need. The love of God for others lives and remains inside of me. ~
You Saw No Form. God is omnipresent and infinite Spirit. God, in Himself, has no boundaries. God is undetectable by any created thing. God can be seen and known ONLY by placing Himself into something inside the created realms, whether heaven or earth, spiritual or physical.
And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice (Deuteronomy 4:12).
God has three forms only through which He shows Himself; any other form and He has sparked idolatry. Those three forms are a Voice, Christ Jesus, and the Church.
God’s Only Appearance. The Voice continues, this is how the Covenant can say, “no one will teach each their neighbor and each their brother saying, ‘Know the Lord’; because all will know Me. Christ Jesus continues, except He has one Body only, one form, that is, the Church. And the essence and meaning of God-known through the Church is Christians loving one another with pure hearts fervently.
You and me being committed to one another, setting forth our souls for one another, is the ONLY visible appearance of God forever, the only source and cause of a world of Life.
God’s Awaited Entrance. ~ God’s entrance into being seen and known inside of His creation is my brethren and I sharing life together, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. The Church as local Communities of Christ is the form and body of God, and at the heart of the Church is God’s firstfruits, those who set forth their souls for the sake of others. This is me; this is who I am. I set forth my soul, just as Jesus did, for the sake of my brothers and sisters. In doing so, I am giving God my express permission to move through me into His Church and into my world. My brethren and I, being committed to one another, setting forth our souls for one another, are the visible appearance of God forever, the entrance of a world of life. ~
“Ought To.” When 1 John 3:16 first entered my awareness in the present word, I did not care for the phrase, “ought to,” because I read it wrong. I read “ought to” in terms of obligation in order to “connect with” God. When I finished “A Soul Set Forth for Me” on the previous page, I understood “ought to” as God means it. God has given me such an entrance into a shared life with Him; I “ought to” give Him His Heart’s desire in return, an entrance into creation that there might be life for all.
Nonetheless, I will retain the word “committed” because committed is someone who has already fully embraced “for Father’s sake.”
From the Midst of the Fire. Only one thing is required of us for setting forth our souls for our brothers and sisters, and that is willingness. “Yes, my Father, I want You to be Love through me.” Then God DOES ALL THE REST!
Yet whether it is God Love or God Voice, it’s always out from the midst of the Fire. To set forth my soul for you, I must step through and with that Fire. Fire means living and energeoing, utterly pure and authentically, substantially real. To set forth our souls for one another MEANS we drink together in deepest fellowship the same Cup Jesus drank.
Defining Commit. From Webster’s 1926: 1. To give in trust; to give into charge or keeping; entrust; consign. 3. To do. 4. To join. 5. To pledge or bind.
From etymonline.com: Late 14c., "to give in charge, entrust," from Latin committere "to unite, connect, combine; to bring together," from com "with, together" (see com-) + mittere "to release, let go; send, throw" (see mission). From 1530s as "trust (oneself) completely to;" from 1770 as "put or bring into danger by an irrevocable preliminary act.
To drink the same Cup with Jesus is to put one’s self into the same “danger”; it is an irrevocable action.
Committed. ~ Father, I want You to be love through me. Father, I will drink Your Cup. ~
~ I give myself in trust to God, that He might win His long-awaited entrance into the knowledge of all. I pledge and bind myself to God’s purposes, for Father’s sake. I know that God enters through Fire, that life comes forth through travail. I know that God through me for others costs me everything. That is no matter to me, for I made my decision long years ago. I will know God, and I will walk with a people who know God, in this age and on this earth. I join myself with Father in a shared life together to do together all God desires. ~
The Practical How. Now we want to consider the practical “how” of setting forth our souls for one another. What does such a thing look like in everyday life?
Actually, thinking about it, that is the end goal – reciprocal love. 1 John 3:16 is speaking of the beginnings of such love, setting forth our souls for brethren who are not yet in a place where they can freely love in return. To set forth your soul for such a one is to call that one into Life and Love, just as Jesus did for you. What, then, is the practical “how” of setting forth our souls for those Christians who remain unwilling to love in return?
God’s Cup. First, through all the years of Jesus attempting to draw me into Himself in my understanding, there was a whole lot of smoke. Because I did not trust God’s Fire, I kept my own fire as arrayed against His – thus lot’s of smoke. “And we also” happens only as we are pure inside of God’s Fire, that is, “By this we KNOW Love.”
God’s Cup is His own agony for the sake of all creation, starting with believers in Jesus who do not yet trust the Fire. Drinking of God’s Cup and sharing Hheart with God are the same thing. It means God and me together carrying this one inside our hearts all the way through death into LIFE.
My Willingness. Just as it was Jesus’ willingness to receive me into Himself that enabled God to connect with me, so it is my willingness to receive another into myself that enables God to connect with them. This is the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation operates at two levels, showing Christ and being Christ, that is, sharing with Jesus the willingness to receive.
The willingness and the action of receiving another inside one’s heart as the Mercy Seat of God is what gives God permission to enter into the knowledge of the other person. This action does not take the place of their, “Yes, Lord,” rather, it enables it. In a real sense, it is deliverance.
Placing the Verses. Without realizing it, I have just described the meaning of the actions taking place in Revelation 12:11 – by the Blood of the Lamb, by the Word of their Testimony, and not loving their lives unto the [one] death [of Christ]. This action is for others. It is the action of the Mercy Seat.
When I first saw what I have termed “practicing the Mercy Seat,” in late 2012, I thought it’s connection to Scripture was a bit “loose,” though I knew it was of God. Now I know the verses out from which such a practice comes – Receive [others] in just the same way Jesus receives you – we also are committed to setting forth our souls for [others]. – And they overcame him [for others].
Practice the Mercy Seat. And so I suggest that you pull out again the assignment titled “Practice the Mercy Seat.” You will find it in your copies of Knowing Jesus as He Is and Symmorphy I: Purpose. You will also find it here on my website.
It’s easy to do this for those you love, and that is something we practice. But when it really counts is when you DON’T WANT TO, for that requires you to humble yourself, to place yourself beneath someone you don’t like, someone who has caused you great pain unjustly. You see, there is where you find Father, beneath of all, lifting even the worst, that is, you and me, up into life. For an example of the real, read “A New Altar.”
A Principle of Spirit. I just watched a video setting forth a scientific hypothesis inside the electrical theory of the universe. The proposal was called “morphic resonance.” Morphic resonance postulates that when an action or a development is introduced for the first time in creation, it’s not an easy thing. However, once established, it becomes easier for the next to experience it, even if there is no physical connection between the two events. And the more things that experience it, even without any physical connections, the easier the process becomes.
This is actually a principle of spirit, one which I have known in my own experience since I was twenty years old.
Firstfruits. I like the term “morphic resonance.” It means that a change in the “form” of my relationship with God can then become the same thing happening in others around the world, even those who have no relationship with me.
This was my covenant with God, in my loneliness and tears, when I was but twenty years of age. This is firstfruits. – It has taken a year-and-a-half, through GREAT travail, for me to come to complete peace in placing the men I wrote about in “A New Altar” into the Mercy Seat of my heart inside of God. I know that others are now able to be and to do the same.
My Soul Set-Forth for Others. ~ Jesus did one thing for me; He received me into Himself. Yet God used that one action of Jesus to place me into all Salvation. The power belongs to God; my part is to receive my brother and sister in just the same way that Jesus receives me. I accept the cost of receiving my brethren in all their offences and failures. I place myself beneath of them, together with Father, that we might carry each one in our heart all the way into life. I serve my brothers and sisters; I give to them as they have need. I love them; I show them Christ. ~
~ I know that all things exist inside of and by the Spirit of God. I know that as I receive God and my brethren, joining them together inside my own heart, completely free of me, that I am giving my Father His desire, an entrance into creation. I know that out from me Rivers of Spirit are freed to effect change in the hearts and minds of many. Before, they could not believe, but now, the confidence that God is telling us the truth begins to open across the earth. I join together with my brothers and sisters in local Christ Community. God now has a Body; God has won His desire. ~
For the Sake Of. The Greek word “hyper” is found twice in 1 John 3:16, and is typically translated “for,” but “for the sake of” is also a definite choice. Technically, “for” and “for the sake of” mean the same thing; it’s just that “for the sake of” makes the meaning far more impactive. I have preferred the phrase “for the sake of,” or “for their sake” above any other of the choices.
Then, I look at the meaning and sources of the present English word “sake,” at etymonline.com, and I now know why. To convey the true meaning of “for their sake,” I must draw together an explanation out from the varied and extensive weave of meanings found in the etymology.
To Seek Out. “Sake” in “for the sake of” likely comes from Old Norse, for the word in Middle English means a formal charge of guilt, a cause of legal action against. The original proto-Indo-European word, however, became the English “seek,” to investigate, seek out. And so “seek” in Old English meant "search for; pursue, chase; long for, wish for, desire; look for, expect from."
Finally, in Webster’s 1926, “sake” becomes: 3. Final cause; end; purpose of obtaining; cause; motive; concern; account; regard and respect. – Place any of these words instead of “sake,” as in, “for the regard of” or “for the final cause of.”
Seeking Their Completion. “For Father’s sake” then takes on great meaning out from these thoughts, but our topic here is “for their sake.”
Our brethren stand accused by the evil one, yet inside themselves before God. We are inclined to accuse them as well, for they are guilty of accusing God and hurting others. Yet we choose to seek out their end state, that is, just like Jesus, and call them by Christ and not by appearance. Our goal is to make them our best friends inside of Jesus, yet to receive them into ourselves we must accept and even venture into the awfulness going on inside their souls. To do such a thing requires the faith of the Son of God, that is, our own confidence in Jesus.
For Their Sake. ~ My brothers and sisters stand accused by the evil one in the presence of God. Although I am fully aware of their acts of injustice and their own accusations against God, yet I was the same when Jesus received me. I see my brethren as they truly are, just like the Lord Jesus Christ as the revelation of the Father. With Father, I place their regard above myself; I want them to enjoy the same freedom inside of God that I enjoy. I bear gladly with any momentary pain, for it is my confidence in Jesus that is the faith of the Son of God, a faith able to reach into the darkness and draw each one into full Fellowship with God. ~
Firstfruits as Crystals. The hypothesis of morphic resonance was presented in terms of the formation of crystals. Symmorphy had entered the English language prior to my use of the word, found in the very small scientific field of the study of crystals.
God’s use of any crystal in the Bible, that is, gem stones and glass, etc., especially in John’s vision, is referring to His firstfruits, humans, you and me, those who go before, those who make it possible for others. As we live for Father’s sake, so we make it possible for others to live for Father’s sake. As we love one another, so we make loving one another the thing everyone becomes inclined to do. This is us; this is who we are.
Reading for Next Time. We are now just past halfway through our study of John’s letters. In fact, it is easy to see now that the confessions of faith prior to “I Set Forth My Soul” were meant to take us into that ruling place that is the Mercy Seat. Then, we can see that the remaining confessions of faith are meant to be coming out from that same place.
The next lesson is titled, “I Ask for All Word Fulfilled.” Read 1 John 3:19 to 4:5 several times, a total of 11 verses. – And whatever we might ask, we receive from Him, because we keep, guard, and watch over His commandments [inside of His full completion] and we are doing those things pleasing to Him.
Let’s Pray Together. Let’s practice the Mercy Seat together. Choose one individual person in your present life, one who requires you to humble yourself to receive them. I am praying for my son-in-law, Matthew. You choose someone by name.
“Father, I give You all thanks that You have caused me to know You, that You have made me part of Yourself, that You share every moment and step of my life with me. Father, I see the Blood of Jesus sprinkled upon my heart; I acknowledge the Love of God shed abroad from my heart; and inside of that Love, I embrace the authority You have given to me.
“Father, I pray for M—–. I know that You and I are praying together. Father, I embrace the pain caused me by M—–; I share in Your travail, for Your sake, my Father. I see my brother (sister) as he (she) really is, just like the Lord Jesus as the revelation of the Father. I see him (her) as my best friend forever.
“In spite of all the hurt, I draw M—– into my heart, into the Love of God out-poured, there above the Blood. I join him (her) together with You, my Father, and I release M—– into the joy of a life shared with You. Father, I am confident that our precious Devoted Spirit is now working in M—–’s life, drawing his (her) heart into Your love, into a full acknowledgement of Your life inside of him (her).
“Father, I cast down the accuser who accuses M—– inside of Your presence day and night. I silence the evil one forever. Let your mighty angels bind him with chains and remove him from the human experience. Father, I release M—– from all of his (her) fear and unbelief. I open his (her) heart to the knowledge of Jesus our only life. I embrace him (her) with all joy, even as he (she) arises with me into LIFE.
“Father, I know that through my confidence in You, You win Your desire, You move through the Highway I have prepared for You; You are now seen and known inside my world. Let it be so; it is so.”