22.3 The Name of God
The one presently and actively overcoming… I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, continuously and actively stepping forth out from heaven from My God, and My new name (Revelation 3:12). – And His name will be upon their foreheads (Revelation 22:4).
Here is the same thing in Paul’s gospel. – Do not share the same outward pattern of expression with this age but be metamorphosed [that is, share the same pattern of expression by being with Christ Jesus] by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Notice that I have changed the translation of Romans 12:2 in the JSV. The reason for that change is the topic of this lesson.
Being Just Like Jesus. We are considering the completion of God and the completion of the human. A human, in completed form, is a being who is exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ, as Jesus is human, except for honor.
I do not believe that, as humans, we will exist in the form of God, that is, all here now and personal inside of all. Because, you see, the completion of God is many humans just like the Lord Jesus, walking together as one, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. We remain humans in form forever, yet our form as one body together is the dwelling place and completion of God, the fulfillment of all His desire. Nonetheless, our human form carries the stamp and essence of Christ Jesus.
His Name upon Us. How does our human form carry the stamp and essence of Christ Jesus, of the New Jerusalem as the revelation of the Father, and even, of the Father Himself? For this, I believe, is the meaning of “His name upon our foreheads,” upon all that we think, upon our entire story of self.
We all, then, having been unveiled in face, are reflecting the glory of the Lord [to one another] as a mirror and are being metamorphosed into the same image from glory into glory, just exactly as from the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). Notice that I have changed this translation as well. We will bring the Greek word metamorphoó into English as metamorphose and metamorphy in order to keep the original meaning of the Greek, the reason why Paul chose that word.
Pattern of Expression. Notice in Romans 12:2 that Paul used two words as parallel to each other, suschématizó and metamorphoó. Notice the difference in the translation – share the same outward pattern of expression with this age – versus – share the same pattern of expression by being with Christ Jesus.
Notice the one word from the first that is missing in the second – “outward.” Sharing the outward pattern of expression with this age is false and anti-human; it comes out of a refusal to give thanks and the wearing of every mask of pretending under the sun. Sharing the same pattern of expression is still visible, yes, but it comes from a deep inward reality, that is, spending every moment together with the Lord Jesus inside our hearts.
The Process of Completion. Then, the word “renew” as in “the renewing of your mind,” is anakainósis, which means “completing the process of being brand new.” This word is used only twice by Paul as well, here in Romans 12 and then Titus 3:5. – According to His mercy, He saved us through the bath of the rebirth [regeneration] and through the renewing and making fresh of the Holy Spirit.
And so again, as in 2 Corinthians 3:18, it is the bath of the Holy Spirit wherein this PROCESS takes place. And that is what our new word, metamorphy, first means; it is a process of completion. It is becoming what we are.
Our Part in the Completion. The completion of this process (and Romans 8:30 tells us it is already complete, even as it begins) is the name of God written upon us, that is, the stamp and essence of the Father Himself now become our all-expression. This is what we are made for; this is what it means to be human.
Metamorphy, taking on the essence of Jesus by spending time with Him, is our part in this completion. As our part, it is critical, for it is our faith. God never violates our faith, but waits always upon our permission before anything He speaks is fulfilled in our lives. Yet our part is also tiny, compared with the other side of this process, and the other side of this process is Jesus’ part.
I Will. Notice the power of Jesus’ words in Revelation 3. – I, Jesus, will write upon him the name of My God, and I, Jesus, will write upon him the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, and I, Jesus, will write upon him My new name.
Jesus’ action, His part of this process, we will call by the Catholic term, transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is Jesus’ writing upon us the name of God, the stamp and essence of the Father’s revelation, that is, image, and metamorphy is our part in that process. Here is that same meaning regarding Jesus. – This Son is the shining forth of glory and the character and exact reproduction of God’s substance, sustaining all by His power-filled Word.
The Writing Upon. The two Greek words used by the writer of Hebrews are apaugasma, a shining forth or radiance, and charaktér, an impression, representation, exact reproduction; a graving-tool. The word “name” is a metaphor that means the same as these two words, a shining forth and an exact reproduction, that is, “image.” And it is the image of God’s substance.
The word transubstantiation, then, means the action of Jesus whereby He transfers to us His own substance, which is the substance of the Father, such that we become what He is. This action of Jesus is the “writing upon,” and, in fact, “the engraving tool.”
Two Parts of the Same Process. In the remainder of this lesson, then, we want to more carefully define our new meaning for the word “transubstantiation,” and our meaning for the newly coined word, “metamorphy.” In the larger picture, we can think of Jesus’ part of this process, transubstantiation, as being 90% or even 99% of the equation, but Jesus’ part does us no good without our 1% of the process, our faith, our interaction with Jesus, which is metamorphy.
For that reason, we also want to spell out the steps of our part in becoming just like the Lord Jesus, His name written upon us, the character and exact representation of the Father. That is, how we become what we already are.
The Absence of Jesus. Before doing that, however, I want to make this one comment. Everywhere I look at the teaching of others I find a remarkable absence of Jesus’ part in this process, for to so many, Jesus is far away from us. It seems so many teach our tiny part as being the entirety of the process, that it is up to us to become like the Lord Jesus, on the one hand, or a zap by Jesus upon “those who did their best” “when He comes back” or “when we ‘go to’ heaven” on the other hand. And so when I read so much discussion of how we live “the Christian life,” I am filled with such sorrow, for indeed, the absence of Jesus’ most significant present and active role in our becoming like Him is not just sad, it is evil.
I Guarantee. The Catholic term “transubstantiation” is used to mean the process by which the substance of Jesus is transferred into the substance of the bread and wine of the communion, that is, of the Eucharist. This meaning comes from John Chapter 6, eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood. And the power of our definition of “transubstantiation” is found in Jesus’ words in verse 55. – Indeed, my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Very simply, it means, “I guarantee you that if you eat of Me, you will become just exactly like Me,” or, “I am capable of doing what I say, and I am always doing what I say, transferring My substance to you, as you spend time with Me.”
From The Jesus Secret II. Here, then, is a generalized rendition of Jesus’ part of this process, transubstantiation, as worded in The Jesus Secret II.
~ Christ my Redeemer said that His flesh is true food offered to me as bread. As I consecrate my life to receive every Word Jesus is, there takes place a change of the whole substance of my flesh into the substance of the flesh of Christ and of the whole substance of my life into the substance of His blood, with no change in my outward human appearance. ~
~ This transfer of substance from Jesus to me, this transubstantiation, is the continuous work of the Lord Jesus living in my heart. He alone causes His life to be mine. He alone causes His Spirit to be one with my spirit and His flesh to be my flesh. Christ Jesus lives as me. ~
Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation: The process by which Jesus transfers His substance to one who believes in Him. This work is done actively by Jesus every moment and is complete from the start. Nonetheless, it causes no present change in the outward appearance of the believer, thus it is known entirely through faith. The believer must actively receive and acknowledge that “Jesus is sharing His life with me” in order to know how to respond to this wondrous transfer and sharing of substance.
This substance is the very life of God, given to Jesus and now shared with us. This substance is the fabric of our beings inside of God. We are the shining forth of glory and the character and exact reproduction of God’s substance; we are sustained by His power-filled Word.
Again from The Jesus Secret II. Metamorphy is our side of this process, our response to Jesus.
~ Metamorphy is that transfiguration I undergo as I spend time with the Lord Jesus, receiving Him as my life and acknowledging every good word He is, made personal as me. This transfiguration does not alter my human form, but rather, it places the kind gentleness of Jesus upon me, as seen by others. Yet this outward face of Jesus, now my face as well, comes out from the singing of my soul as I am in perfect tune and harmony with the pattern of expression that is Christ Jesus, the revelation of the Father. ~
~ My part is to eat of Christ, to spend time with Him as He lives inside my heart. My part is the confidence of faith. ~
Metamorphy. Metamorphy: The process by which a believer engages with Christ Jesus as He transfers His substance to him or her. To share life with God, the same substance that is Jesus, we must KNOW that we do. This active knowing is the acknowledgement of faith, receiving all that Jesus speaks as a description of our own substance. For that reason, we walk through faith and not by sight, for our outward appearance is not at first altered.
Our engaging with Jesus as He causes us to be His own life every moment is “spending time with Him,” for it is Himself personally that He shares with us. As we spend time with Jesus, now our substance and life, so we take on His same pattern of expression as the express image of God. As we share His life through faith, so we take on His gentle kindness.
The Steps of Metamorphy. Each one of these steps is an action of the believer in Jesus; each one is a commandment of the New Testament, those commandments that are life.
1. Repent of Adam’s rebellion at the root of your being through all your human experience, that is, give thanks inside of and for the sake of all things, especially when you don’t want to.
2. Remove from your mind all false images of Jesus and of the Father. The only Jesus you know is the Jesus who lives in your heart, and the only God you know is the God who arises inside of you as springs of living water. John said that we are like Jesus as we see Him as He IS. If you have an image of Jesus and you are not like that image, then your image must be false. Get rid of it.
Receive and Acknowledge.
3. Receive the Lord Jesus into yourself as every Word God speaks written all through your heart. Ask God, “Let it be to me according to Your Word,” and then believe that He has.
4. Acknowledge every good thing inside of you inside of Christ Jesus, that is, speak the same Word that is Christ, that you might know Jesus Sent into you. Spend time with Jesus.
5. Acknowledge the Father as sharing your life with you and as sharing His life with you. Acknowledge the Father as part of your being and day, every moment. Spend time with the Father.
6. Set forth your soul, tithemi psuche, for your brothers and sisters in Christ, knowing that you can, knowing that in doing so you are just like the Lord Jesus Christ as the Mercy Seat of God. Be honest. Be true. Be real as God made you.
Be Confident.
7. Be confident. Be absolutely confident that your little bit is ALWAYS nothing more than giving back to Jesus the vast extent of His continuous, dynamic, all-here-now and personal ACTION towards you.
Be confident that giving thanks places you together with God. Be confident that placing the true image of Jesus in your mind, a man stumbling under a cross He cannot carry, carrying you, carried by God all the way through, makes you just like Him.
Be confident that when you ask God to fulfill His word in you He already has. Be confident that speaking Christ made personal as you causes you to KNOW Jesus Sent into your heart as every Word God speaks.
Be Metamorphosed. Be confident that the Father, indeed, always shares your life and every moment of your day with you. Be confident that joining the Father with all your human distress, even as you bring your brothers and sisters into your heart, regardless of any or all offense, and there join them together with the Father that they might be free of you, that in doing so, you are synergeoing with God for their sakes and that great good is coming into their lives and yours as a result.
But most of all, be absolutely confident that Jesus is, in fact, always and absolutely transferring His substance to you by His Spirit as you dwell with Him, regardless of no change whatsoever in your outward appearance, that is, through faith. Be confident that Jesus does live as you.
Be metamorphosed by a mind made brand new. Become the same pattern of expression that Jesus is by spending time with Him.
The Place of God’s Name. The completion of this process, then, is the completion of Jesus, that is, many believers in Jesus loving one another with pure hearts fervently. This is Jesus’ new name, it is the New Jerusalem, the dwelling place and revelation of God All-Carrying. We are, with Jesus, the shining forth of glory and the character and exact reproduction of God’s substance.
God writes His name upon us, “These sons walking together are My completion. Here is the place of My Name.”
Yet there is one more step in this process, for there is also a slight change in our outward human appearance together, our physical bodies swallowed up by life, that is, what God looks like, His appearance inside of creation.