1.1 The Purpose of this Course
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The purpose of this course, Symmorphy III: Kingdom, is to establish in our understanding the outworking of all things that are Christ and of the New Creation out from a God who reveals Himself through many.
Nothing that is of God is isolated to the individual. God is a Person and very personal, yes, so everything that is of God must begin in and as individual persons, you and me, knowing God arising in us as individuals. But God is the relationships of family, and He shows Himself as He really is to creation through many relating together.
All things that are God arising in us must also flow out from each one of us to connect us together as one body, first.
Out from Us
Then, all things that are of God must flow out from us together as one body to shape and to mold the new creation, a new universe coming out of the tree of life.
More than that, God is in us reconciling the world to Himself. This function of God through us operates in each of us as individuals, but – God never ends with us as individuals. Rather God reconciling the world to Himself through Christ Jesus in us and as us becomes God reconciling the world to Himself through us as one body together. Thus we share the task together of bringing every individual person, each in its season, out of the old creation and into the new creation that is, even now, flowing out of our bellies.
God’s Intentions
God’s desire, in taking you through this course, is to reveal Himself as He is through you, specifically through your relationships with other believers in Jesus. As your faith connects with what God actually says about the new cosmos coming out from Jesus in you, then God is released to win through you that which His heart desires. God wants to share with you and as you the joy of family, of brethren walking together as one. God wants to move through you to set all creation free, to bring every individual person out from the old and into the new. By taking you through this course, God has every intention of fulfilling His desire through you.
Benefits for the Learner
The benefits to the learner coming out from engaging with this course are many.
First, you will grapple with and come to know God’s intentions towards moving out from His symmorphy with you, you and Him together. You will know your part in this outworking and you will know God’s part. Second, you will see how the delights of your own heart are part of God’s intention for the shaping of the new creation. You will see the new creation flowing out of you and swallowing up every element of the old. You will be equipped to move forward with the Lord Jesus in establishing His victory upon this earth.
More Benefits
You will face the darkness of this world, and you will defeat it. You will face death, and you will defeat it. You will cast the curse and all demons off of this planet. You will set creation free. And this is just for starters.
You will see rivers of living water flowing out of you bringing all things into submission to the Father. You will walk together with your brethren in love as the revelation of Father now and forever. You will know Jesus Sent as He is, a many-membered body, a family of people.
I’m not selling you on this course, but on the Kingdom of God.
The Problem
Why is a course such as this needed?
As you progressed through Symmorphy I: Purpose and Symmorphy II: Essence, you found dramatic changes taking place in your essential underlying assumptions about what God is, who you are, and what God’s purpose through you is. Now, it is of utmost importance for you to look outward, to see how you and Father together are going forth, first as the one Body of Christ together with your brethren, and second as the establishment of God’s kingdom throughout the universe. To stay only with the beginnings of God’s purpose, Christ now your only life, is, in the end, to stagnate. We are not of those who draw back, but of those who go forward in God.
In Your Midst
Jesus did not limit the kingdom of God to what is within us. The word Jesus used included the reality that the kingdom of God is among us, or – in your midst. Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is (in your midst)” (Luke 17:20-21).
In other words, the kingdom of God is God as He flows out from each one of us to connect us together as one body and to connect with and to order the entire creation by LIFE, that is, by the intimate knowledge of God, Father’s heart revealed.
Know the Kingdom
For this reason, it is essential to us to know, first, how the words of Jesus in John 17 shape this new creation coming out of us. Then, we must know how Christ passes from being every Word God speaks to being a many-membered Body. We must know God’s design for Christ as a Body of people, how we are to relate together. We must walk together with other believers in Jesus in order to know Christ as He really is.
Then, we must know how this testimony of Christ, many walking together in love, proves to all the world that the Father sent Jesus. We must know the Kingdom.
Let It Not Be So
But there is another problem in addressing the Kingdom of God, what it is, and how we are part of it. That problem is the gross miss-definition of the kingdom of God as found in separated Christianity. Most who teach on the kingdom of God use the kingdoms of men in this world as examples of what the Kingdom of God is like. – This is horrifying.
Jesus said, “The rulers of this world do this . . . LET IT NOT BE SO among you.” There is so very much that is of the evil one in our “Christian” knowledge of the Kingdom, stuff that must be replaced with what God actually says inside of our union with Christ.
Defining “Kingdom”
In spite of its limitations, we will begin with the dictionary definition of “kingdom.”
Kingdom (Webster’s 1926): 1. The rank, quality, state, or attributes of a king; royal authority; dominion; monarchy; kingship. 2. A state or monarchy, the head of which is a king. 3. The territory or country subject to a king or queen; the dominion of a monarch; the sphere in which one is king or has control; a realm; a domain. 4. The spiritual dominion of God or of Christ, or its sphere of extent; the spiritual realm having God as its head.
The Knowledge of God
These definitions of the word “kingdom” as writers have used it are useful, so long as we know what God and Christ are. But our knowledge of what the kingdom IS must take on greater dimensions of specific understanding. Here is the foundation of understanding God’s kingdom.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them (Hebrews 8:10-11).
Defining the Kingdom of God
Kingdom of God (a preliminary working definition, one that we hope will grow and become more specific as we go forward):
1. The entire universe knowing the Father as He really is.
2. The complete absence of human government, that is, using violence of some sort in order to force compliance.
3. God arising in each one as their light and life, His Person inside of their person.
4. The interconnections of Spirit, of respect and love, between members of the Body of Christ as examples to all.
5. The Father just being Himself towards others through us.
6. The order or arrangement, the patterns and connections among all things flowing out from the tree of life.
Kingdom and Covenant
The next course in this series is Symmorphy IV: Covenant. We will use the word, “Kingdom,” then, to speak of the knowledge of God flowing out from each one of us to connect us together as one body and to reveal Father to creation. Then, we will use the word, “Covenant,” to speak of the knowledge of God unfolding in and as us, the ever increasing knowledge inside ourselves of sharing heart with God. Covenant is sharing heart with God; kingdom, then, is this shared heart revealed outwardly, connecting all things as one. Thus these two courses will sometimes cover the same topics, but will present these topics from two different perspectives.
Kingdom First
Kingdom will present a truth as it flows out from us to others, and Covenant will present that same truth as it is known in us, personally, as we share heart with God. We place Kingdom first and Covenant second simply because that’s how God does it.
You see, God preached Kingdom through Jesus, through the synoptic gospels, and then He showed Covenant through Paul, through Paul’s gospel of Christ our only life. In our hearts and experience Covenant comes first and Kingdom comes second. But God had a purpose of having Jesus preach Kingdom first and Paul giving us Covenant second.
Restatement of Purpose
It is part of our purpose to discover why God placed these two revelations of Himself in that order. The purpose of this course, Symmorphy III: Kingdom, then, is to discover how every truth of God, arising in us, unfolding Himself through us, flows out of each one of us to connect us as one body together, and then how that same reality of Christ flows out of us together to shape and form the new creation, to draw all things out of the old creation and into the new. In short, how we reveal Father’s heart to all.
The Kingdom is God becoming known as He really is by all. The Kingdom is Father just being Himself towards others through us.
A Call to Action
Read this book; take this course. Spend careful time on each lesson; review and reflect regularly; tackle and complete each assignment. Engage directly with God in Person inside of you. As you do, the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to you as the One who fills your heart with all of His glory.
This course, Symmorphy III: Kingdom, as you spend time in it, will cause you to know the Father, His Person inside of your person, just being Himself towards all others. And it will do so by showing you Jesus alive and real living in your heart, now your very and only life.