29. The Meaning of Life
Romans 8:28-30 gives us the larger picture of God’s purpose and how He accomplishes that purpose. As such, it is a complete package inside of which all the other ruling verses fit very well.
John 14:20 gives us where God’s purpose is found – inside of Jesus inside of us – and Romans 13:14 gives us our part – put on the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is John 17:3 of all verses in the Bible that gives us the central and clear statement of what IS God’s purpose, what everything is all about – to KNOW You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
The Tenth Ruling Verse. Here is the “tenth” ruling verse of the Bible as it appears in the first box on the page.
~ In that day you will know that I am inside of My Father, and you inside of Me and I inside of you. For this is age-unfolding life, that they should know You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ – with no other thought. ~
Just like Romans 8:28-30, the first ruling verse, these three verses together also give us the complete picture, the why, the where, the what, and the how. Place the two side by side, and we are certain in the Truth.
The Jesus Secret Page. This lesson is the third of three pages that I found necessary to add to the layout of John in The Jesus Secret II, “The Generation of Life,” “The Place of Life,” and “The Meaning of Life.” These three are the essence of what John hoped to convey in all that he wrote. The next lesson is “I Know Jesus Sent” and then, “I Know the Father.” This lesson must set the stage for those two. We have three further boxes on this page, then. The first is defining “Age-Unfolding Life.” The second is “Fitting the Tenth Rule Together” and the third is defining “To Know.”
Age-Unfolding Life. Typically, I use this lesson to work towards filling in the next box on the page. The definition of “age-unfolding life,” however, was something I felt compelled to write first. I find that this is something so deep and so important to me that I must write it before I might talk about it. Let that be the first part of its meaning.
~ Two definitions of age-unfolding life are given in the Bible, only two. There are no other definitions. These two go together in surprising ways.
1. This is age-unfolding life, that they should know You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ~
Life Forevermore. ~ 2. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! For there the Lord commanded the blessing—Life forevermore (Psalm 133).
Life is knowing God; life is knowing one another.
I know the Father through knowing Jesus Sent into me. As the completion of Jesus, I love my brothers and sisters in Christ reciprocally.
I WILL KNOW God on this earth and in this age, and I WILL walk with a people who KNOW God on this earth and in this age.
My every next step forever comes out from a life shared with God and with His people. ~
Continuing On. The entirety of The Jesus Secret II and the entirety of all that I have written is just a feeble attempt to convey, somehow, the meaning of this LIFE of knowing God AND of knowing one another.
Because there is more meaning to develop on this page, let’s go on to the next box, “Fitting the Tenth Rule Together.” I have placed three verses together as the “Tenth” ruling verse of the Bible without ever having considered how they work together as one ruling thought. John 17:3 is where we are going forever. John 14:20 is how we get there – forever. And Romans 13:14 is our part.
Our Journey. To know God is an infinite quest. It is a quest, a search for something of great value, filled with joy and wonder, excitement and adventure. At every point along the way, we find what we seek in full completion, yet there is never an end to our journey.
And we are never alone in this journey, for God shares it entirely with each of us, and we share it together. In fact, knowing one another is an essential part of knowing God. God is more excited about this journey that He shares with us, the unfolding of the ages, than we could be. To be known is God’s ultimate value and pleasure.
Symmorphy Made Personal. John 14:20, then, is the Tree of Life, and eating of that tree causes us to know God. For that reason, we can say that John 14:20 is a clearer explanation of the second part of John 17:3 – knowing Jesus Sent into us. We know God by knowing Jesus Sent into us. KNOW – that I am inside of the Father and you in Me and I in you.
Symmorphosed is the center of Paul’s ruling verse, with extraordinary God and Christ things on either side of it, whereas John 14:20 is just symmorphy made personal. Yet John 14:20 & 17:3 show us that sharing life with Jesus is also sharing life with the Father.
Vitally Involved. John 15:4 – Abide-dwell-remain inside of Me and I inside of you, I now see as the necessary companion verse for both John 14:20 and the second half of Romans 13:14. No other thought – do not think about whatever the flesh is doing or feeling – is the same as – STAY inside of Me.
But putting the Lord Jesus Christ upon ourselves, in all that we are, is as exciting as knowing God. We are created to be involved. God would never know a Salvation in which humans are not vitally involved, yet only through faith and not through self-doing. Putting the Lord Jesus upon myself, as I have given my account, is a most faith-filled and life-changing endeavor.
Summing Up the Rule. Writing this bit has me adding boxes to these Jesus Secret Pages, including “Age-Unfolding,” “Sharing Form Together,” and “The Rule.” The box we are working on now is “Fitting the Tenth Rule Together,” but we will need to complete all three pages before we can sum up that rule in one simple sentence, a RULE from which our minds never leave.
Of truth, to KNOW God is to share life together with God in intimate participation and in every moment. KNOWING God is the most wondrously joy-filled way any human could ever live.
Fitting The Tenth Rule Together. My life is to know the Father, all now and ever increasing. Father and I share all life together, and our every next step forever unfolds out from that shared life. I know the Father through knowing Jesus Sent into me, for I am inside of Jesus even as Jesus is inside of me. Jesus is always connecting me with God my Father. I know Jesus and through Jesus the Father because I put the Lord Jesus Christ upon myself, upon every part of me and upon every moment I have lived. I call myself by Him without any consideration of my human weakness. I am never disconnected from God. Sharing life with God fills all that I am with Joy.
A Sliding-Scale Concept. It is in defining the action verb “to know” that I want to meander about in a number of different directions. We begin by asserting again that “to know” is a sliding-scale concept in all human languages. “To be aware of God” is to know God. “To share life together with God” is to know God. And every point in-between is also, “to know.”
Yet the word “to know” even contains infinity in itself. I can say two things at the same time and both are 100% true. “I KNOW all of God NOW.” – and – “My knowing of God will increase forever.”
The Spirit Knows. Knowing God is complete in every present moment, AND knowing God increases in every next moment forever. This is the mystery of God, which we know by the Spirit.
In fact, it is the Spirit that IS our knowing of God. – Who indeed among men knows the things of the man if not the spirit of the man that is inside of him? Even so also, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. More than that, we have … received … the Spirit who is out from God, that we might know …God. – For the one joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 2:11-12 & 6:17).
That We Might Know – the True God. Here is the other line that places this knowing inside of us. – We know that the Son of God is presently and actively come and has given us an understanding, a through-mind, so that we might know Him who is the True; and we are inside of Him who is the True, inside of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are speaking of the true God and life that unfolds the ages (1 John 5:20).
The True God is the God who humbles Himself when He shows up inside creation and who rejoices in the limitations of the flesh that He might touch people and lift them up. The “God” of the “Gnostics” (to know) was the same “God” through the image of the devil that hated being human.
Ginosko. Here are the definitions of the Greek word, ginosko.
Ginóskó: to come to know, recognize, perceive. – Properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance).
When we look at ginosko as it is used across the New Testament, 222 times, we see these meanings – and even deeper meanings, including sexual intimacy and receiving seed to bring forth life. Yet, at the same time, as we glance across the many times John used ginosko in relation to knowing God, the context leaves us realizing that there is far more meaning involved.
To Know – 1 & 2.
To know (transitive verb): 1. To perceive directly; to apprehend immediately by the senses or by the mind; especially, to perceive or apprehend as familiar or intelligible; to recognize; to discern the character of; hence, to recognize as distinct from something else; to distinguish; obsolete, to recognize as having authority; to acknowledge.
2. To perceive or apprehend as true; to recognize as valid or as fact on the basis of information possessed or of one’s understanding or intelligence; to have mental certitude in regard to, together with clear comprehension of; to perceive with understanding and conviction. – a consciousness of knowing, even knowing that one knows.
To Know – 3-5.
3. To be convinced of the truth of; to be fully assured of, as I know it, but I do not understand it; I know it but I cannot explain it.
4. To be apprized of; to have or acquire information about; to have or gain cognizance of.
5. To have immediate experience of; to be acquainted with; to be no stranger to; to be more or less familiar with the person, character, etc., of.
– The 1926 Webster’s uses this quote to illustrate definition 5. – He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). “Being made sin for us” does NOT mean that Jesus ever “knew” sin, yet He knew its grief.
To Know – 6-8.
6. a. to have sexual commerce with. b. to be conversant with; to have practical knowledge or information of; to have technical acquaintance with; to be skilled in.
7. To confess; disclose; reveal. Obsolete.
8. Bible. To care for; guard; also to have heed for; regard.
This is so very interesting. The most frequent command in the New Testament is “watch out, take heed, beware,” which we now see as the first level of knowing God. In Webster’s we see simpler and more complex meanings, but all point to even deeper meanings than are included. “A consciousness of knowing” points towards a Spirit knowing.
The First Level of Knowing God. Finally, let’s go through God’s organizational pattern for knowing God, the Tabernacle of Moses, to see more of what “knowing” God means. We start at the gate and continue into the Holy of Holies. Then we turn around and proceed back out to the gate.
To know: 1. To be aware of God and of His claims on us; to fear God in a moment of honesty and vulnerability – I am a sinner; I am lost; I need help; to place all of one’s sins upon the sacrifice, that is, upon Jesus, upon God; to know the Bible mentally and factually; to plant the words of the Bible in one’s heart without requiring “meaning.”
All of these are in the first level of knowing God.
The Second Level. Then here is the second level of knowing God. Remember that every one of these things is the complete meaning of “to know,” yet “to know” always increases to the next.
2. To have the soul, that is, mind, emotions, and desires, flooded with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of knowing that knows all that God is and has; to possess a through-mind by which to know God; to perceive by the Spirit the words of the Bible become Christ Jesus inside of us, written upon our hearts of flesh; to walk in the light and enablement of the Spirit; to approach knowing the Father; to give all in order to enter into the knowledge of God.
(These are not always strict dictionary definitions.)
The Third Level of Knowing God. Remember, also, that the Tabernacle actually gives us seven levels of knowing God, not just three. Here is the third.
3. Acknowledging Christ Jesus as one’s only life; being fully confident that one is part of Christ and of His same kind; speaking the Bible as Christ made personal; embracing God’s words as sexual intercourse, receiving Seed to bring forth Life; dwelling inside the presence of God without ever leaving in the consciousness of the mind.
4. Doing the most daring thing any human can ever do – turning around inside the Holiest, inside of God; receiving the Father as One who shares life with the human; agreeing to be His Salvation revealed.
Completion in the Holiest. The fifth level of knowing God, then, remains in the Holiest until that full experience of completion as God has now brought to us. (Third or fifth depends on perspective, that is, we can speak of “three” levels of knowing God and we are complete, or, we can speak of seven levels of knowing God, of which three take place inside the Holiest.)
5. To share Hheart with God; to be penetrated with the meaning of “And we also”; to embrace a view of the Church as the passion of Jesus inside; to know the Spirit of intercession for the sake of others; to be the Mercy Seat of God, the throne of heaven; to know sharing life with the Father every moment; to be sealed into all completion.
Commitment to Church. The sixth level of knowing God, then, is knowing God inside His Church, that is, knowing one another. And the seventh level of knowing God is the experience together as the Church of God-known through us. We could even add an eighth level, and that would be the resurrection of our bodies which will seal us forever into a life shared with God and with one another in all outward appearance, that is, all expression of God-known.
6. To commit one’s self to speak as and for the entire Church; to commit one’s self to walk together with other believers in Jesus; to know one another inside God-among-us, that is inside of Love; to love one another with pure hearts fervently.
God-Known through Us. 7. To be God-made-known, both individually and together; to be Love revealed; to be the Salvation of God made visible; to know the full expression of God in outward appearance; to thrill with the joy of Father released to be Himself as He pleases.
We are very limited in our ability to hammer all these things out. Accurate dictionary-style definitions would take much thought by many together. Having written all this, however, I am still left not really knowing how to put together the box titled “To Know.” I will think about all these things and also where the next two pages are taking us and give it a try.
To Know. I perceive God directly and His claim on me; I apprehend immediately that I have fallen short of Him. I close my mouth and place all I am upon Jesus. I plant God’s word in my heart that I might know Him. I apprehend God’s Spirit as my own and by that Spirit I know God. I perceive with understanding and conviction that every Word God speaks is Jesus written on my heart. I go on to know the Lord.
I am convinced of the truth of Christ my only life; I am fully assured that I dwell only inside of God. I know that I am birthed out from God, having received His Seed and having brought forth His life.
To Know (Cont.) I have immediate experience of God with me; I am confident with all confidence that God now reveals Himself through me. I share Hheart with God; I am sealed into all completion.
I become an example of the apprehension of God inside the Church. I show His Heart to my brethren and they to me. We know one another even as we know God in us through the Lord Jesus. We walk in the familiarity of God among us, revealing God to all. The knowledge of God flows out from us together as rivers of God made-known. God and I share life together forever.
A Shared Life. Regardless of all the many things that are found inside the meaning of “to KNOW the Father,” I find my heart drawn utterly into knowing what it means for me, personally, to share life with God. You see, it’s not “touching others” that causes me to know God, but rather, God and I together touching others.
What is man, that You are always thinking about him? What is man, that You want to fellowship together with him inside of a shared life? – And there I will meet with you and I will fellowship together with you in a shared life above the Mercy Seat.
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is “I Know Jesus Sent.” We know the Father, the ultimate reality for which we are created, only through knowing Jesus Sent into us. – This is age-unfolding life, to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Read all of John 17, focusing closely on verses 1-8 and 24-26. – That the love with which You loved Me might be inside of them, and I inside of them. To know Jesus Sent is to know the full meaning of symmorphy, sharing form together, and it is to know the deepest parts of a Blood Covenant.
Our Prayer. We will continue to go back and forth between metamorphy and synergeia in our prayers; however, we will also continue to speak as the Church for her sake.
Last time, I did not arrive at the wording I wanted until the last line, “Let our ‘Yes Lord,’ be the ‘Yes Lord’ of all.” God’s people are sheep. They do not know the way and are afraid of getting it wrong and losing Salvation. Just as we needed Jesus to speak for us before God, so our brothers and sisters need us to speak for them. And we also.
Standing for the Church for her sake is our first step into the sixth level of knowing God as the Ark of the Covenant.
What Is the Church? I want us to fix in our understanding, our “mind’s eye,” for whom it is we are praying. Cast your mind across all Christians you have known of every stripe, color, and flavor. Cast your mind across every country and people-group on earth. Reach out to include every sect, and denomination. Include all in the heavens out from all human history. Include those who do not yet know the Lord Jesus, but who will. Consider Christians you don’t like. Draw into your mind the faces of those you once despised.
This is a third part of this experience of Completion; God will enlarge you to be compassion for ALL.
Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we stand here inside Your presence, in intimate participation with You and with one another, as, and for the sake of Your entire Church in heaven-earth. Enable us to speak for their sake what others are not able to speak, not until their eyes are opened to the Path of Life.
“As and for the sake of the entire Church, we repent, Oh God, of not desiring to know You above all things. Cause us, with all who belong to Jesus, to KNOW You.
“As and for the sake of the entire Church, we repent of 2000 years of turning Your gospel away from the tree of life and into the tree of knowing good and evil. Cause us, with all who belong to Jesus, to see John 14:20 as our only LIFE.
“As and for the sake of the entire Church, we repent of having not obeyed the one command of the gospel that counts. Cause us, with all who belong to Jesus, to put the Lord Jesus Christ upon all that we are, with no thought regarding our human weakness.
“As and for the sake of the entire Church, Oh God, we close our mouths about ourselves. It is so good to be utterly and completely WRONG; apart from Jesus we can do nothing.
“As and for the sake of the entire Church, we stand upon firm and we SEE the Salvation of God, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling all. We SEE all sin purged away; we SEE no more disconnection from God. We SEE a life shared with our Father forever. – For ALL who belong to Jesus.”
“As and for the sake of the entire Church, we stand inside of You, Oh God, and inside the Completion of every word You speak. Let our confidence in You be their confidence in You. Let our rejoicing in a shared life with You be their overflowing Joy.
“Father, let our travail stand in for theirs; let our groaning for the resurrection, for our bodies swallowed up by life, be their faith in You.
“Father, cause Your people all across the earth and throughout the heavens to KNOW YOU, that we might also KNOW YOU, together with them. For God, we will not let You go, we will give You no rest, until every least little one who loves Jesus has passed out from death and into LIFE.
“Let it be so; it is so, inside of the name of Jesus.”