3. Seven Aspects of Christ
Everything God did in the earth, as stupendously awesome as it was, shaking the foundations of all things to their core, proving His Word in the face of all calamity and darkness, demonstrating the supernatural power of God upon the earth, bringing all foes and all liars into submission upon their faces before Him, all of it, was done in and through a simple, gentle, and quiet people, a scattered people, to whom none of it was a surprise. Not really. It will not be a surprise to them, because they already believed that God would do all that He says, in their lives, in this age, and on this earth.
There is so little focus in the Christian world today on what God is actually doing right now in the earth. Most don’t have a clue. God’s people receive truth and revelation, power and anointing from God and then take those things in every conceivable direction. Few consider the revelation of Jesus Christ. I am not saying that to disparage anyone who is genuinely seeking the Lord, but there is so much being offered in Christian realms that simply does not appeal to me in any way; primarily, it does not speak to the fulfilment of the New Covenant.
There is no question in my mind that we are at the end of the age. By that, I do not mean the end of history and the life of man upon this planet by any means. The age that is ending is the age that began on the Day of Pentecost in AD 29. It is the age of the “in-part” that Paul spoke of. It is not the ending of the “age of grace” as some absurdly claim, but rather the time of limiting God.
The age of the New Covenant will end differently than the age of the Old. With the Old Covenant, God had a contract with a small group of people racially descended from Jacob. To fulfill that covenant, God sent them His Son. But thinking they could get their hands on the inheritance without the Son, they murdered Him. This act broke forever all terms of the Old Covenant. That Covenant ended upon the cross and has no existence today.
In stark contrast, the age of the establishment of the New Covenant will end with its fulfillment in all fullness of all of its terms. God Himself will do this.
But that is not the only age coming to an end. At the same time that God fulfills all terms of the New Covenant, He will bring this age of human folly to a close, the age that began with the fall of Adam into darkness and separation from God. The time of in-partness, has been two thousand years long, or two days. The age of human folly has been six thousand years long, or six days.
But we must understand that God is doing and is about to do mighty and wondrous things and we will see those things with our eyes. What God does now upon this earth will surpass all things He did in the past put together. When God accomplishes all that He is presently doing and has ended the time of man’s rebellion and separation from Him, all creation, looking back upon what just happened will notice three dramatic things about the great and wondrous thing God has done. And make no mistake about it. All of creation, all of human history, all of God’s redemption story is all about what is happening right now on the earth. This day is what it all was for.
The first thing all creation will understand about God’s final act in fulfilling His intention and determination is how far off-base the church’s understanding of these times really was. The church’s definition of the end of the age and the revelation of Jesus Christ turned out to be as far away from reality as was the Jew’s definition of what the coming of their Messiah would be. The shock of watching most of today’s Christians, especially American Christians, opposing the Lord Jesus Christ vehemently in His return and joining with those who seek to put Him to death once again, will have stunned heaven.
The second thing obvious to all is that everything God actually did upon the earth as He birthed the fulfillment of His eternal purpose was in extraordinary agreement with what He actually said in the New Testament, stripped of all the human definitions tacked onto what He says – and understood by the Spirit of truth. In fact, everything God said in the New Covenant had its perfect fulfillment in unimaginably powerful ways in the lives of His people on the earth.
But the third and most extraordinary thing that all created beings will recognize with all amazement is this. Everything God did in the earth, as stupendously awesome as it was, shaking the foundations of all things to their core, proving His Word in the face of all calamity and darkness, demonstrating the supernatural power of God upon the earth, bringing all foes and all liars into submission upon their faces before Him, all of it, was done in and through a simple, gentle, and quiet people, a scattered people, to whom none of it was a surprise. Not really.
It will not be a surprise to them, because they already believed that God would do all that He says, in their lives, in this age, and on this earth.
That is why Jesus talked so much about weeping and gnashing of teeth. It was all there for whosoever will, but few wanted to believe all that God says. When the many see how simple it really was to be a part of the awesome and wondrous fulfillment of all that God has spoken from the beginning – all you had to have done was to yield to His hand and to believe with a simple heart all that He speaks. “I belong to You. Let it be to me according to Your Word.” When they see it and realize that they will wait another age before they also can enter in, they will weep.
To broaden our focus, I will lay out seven aspects of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Everything God does has first an inner part and then an outer part. The outer part exists only as an extension and outworking of the inner part.
1. Our union with Christ (inner)
— being transformed into the image of Christ (outer).
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2
In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you. John 14
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3
Christ is my life, I have no other life. Every part of who and what I am He carries inside Himself, including all of my weakness and lack. And Jesus fills every part of me, of my humanity, in the messiness of my human experience.
At the same time, I am becoming what I already am before God right now. There is a rest in what I already am, but there is also a becoming of that same thing. Both of these truths go hand in hand, simultaneously. Right now, Jesus reveals Himself in all the messiness of my human life in this world. At the same time, He is transforming me, from the inside out, into the same image of Christ standing in glory before God from before the foundations of the world. I am just like Him, for I see Him as He is.
2. The acceptance of our limitation and weakness (inner)
— the overthrow of the curse (outer).
I will glory in my infirmities, for when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8
For this mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption. 1 Corinthians 15
Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8
I do not “try” to do what I think God “requires.” There is no victory over anything without first coming to a complete and continuing rest in the sufficiency of the salvation of Christ inside. “His grace is sufficient for me” must be far more than a slogan; it must be the essence of our life. That is one side of this truth.
But at the same time, nowhere does God say that I must continue under sin or under any part of the curse. I believe God to see total victory over sin in my life, to walk without sin, to walk in full victory over physical death and all aspects of the curse right here on this earth in this life. I expect a grace from God that has not yet been given to the church that will enable me to do just that. Everyone says that all things are possible with God. Yet most reject the possibility that He would work the same freedom from sin in my experience that Jesus Himself walked in.
Can I do this? Of course not. Will God do it in me as I walk in expectation of faith before Him? This is the great challenge that was thrown in God’s face from the beginning. Will God prove Himself true? Watch and see.
3. The ministry of intercession (inner)
— the river of life (outer).
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. John 7
And they shall nourish her there . . . Revelation 12
Central to Christ residing in us in our humanity is the action of intercession. We think that we ourselves are going through things, struggles, difficulties, and so on. But that is only if we see ourselves as separate from God. When we walk in the consciousness of our union with Christ, then we see these things entirely differently. Everything we go through, God is working for the good of others. In a way, we stand in the stead of many. As we pass through and find the revelation of Christ in the valley of the shadow of death, we open the door to many to come freely through. Christ is working His reconciliation through our circumstances. This is our great privilege.
At the same time, there is an out-flowing of the Spirit of Christ through us. Everywhere we go, a river of life flows out of us, touching, healing, bringing life to others. We may not see it, but that does not mean it’s not happening. If we believe in Jesus, the river of life flows. What times we see it in actuality bringing healing and life to others, it is our joy.
But more particularly, I find the Spirit of Christ in me drawing these words to great depths for our lives right now, “And they shall nourish her there.” We are called to be the ark, to be Joseph, to be the provision for many who will not know where to turn in the times to come. God is filling us right now with the knowledge of Himself with power, that we might be that nourishing when it is needed.
I believe with all sincerity of heart that the Lord has me writing these things and placing them on the Internet, making them available to all. The teaching of Christ our life is an ark and a light and a nourishment that, though few are interested now, yet, before this thing is over, many will search it out, desperate for the life and truth that is on these pages.
4. Casting down the accuser (inner)
casting down powers and principalities (outer).
And they overcame him (the accuser) . . . Revelation 12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6
God shall crush Satan under your feet shortly. Romans 16
Beings that do evil cannot exist except God give them form and energy; God bends the doings of all evil for good. Yet evil itself is neither God nor His intention. Evil exists because in God’s determination to have the many-membered son He desires, He ordained that He would form that son through the defeat and overthrow of evil, through casting off that which limits God. God allows evil to exist that we might defeat it and cast it off.
But our part is to cast down the accuser in our own minds and hearts. Separating our mind from all accusation against us is the battle we are in. Knowing about our union with Christ does not remove us from the assault against our minds and hearts. We must “practice” that union until it is unassailable, until the prince of this world comes and finds nothing in us. We strive to come into complete rest in Christ living through us.
But outwardly, right now, the whole world lies under the sway, the control, the governing dominion of the evil one. To consider any idea for improving life on this earth that does not include at its core the removal of Satan and all of his demons utterly and completely from this planet and from human experience is not only pointless, but actually serves the purposes of darkness. As we cast down the accuser in our own hearts and minds, we release the powers of heaven to do their part. We do not “get rid of Satan” per se, but God Himself breaks the evil one under our feet.
5. The fulfillment of the covenant (inner)
— the contest over the inheritance (outer).
The meek shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5
For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come – all are yours. 1 Corinthians 3
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.Revelation 21
Come, let us kill Him and the inheritance shall be ours. Mark 12
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10
When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.” — And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Revelation 11
In the last few months, addressing this issue has become illegal in the United States, as it already has been in much of the world. Judaism is anti-Christ. The nation and government of Israel, as it exists right now today, is the head of the beast that was wounded unto death and now lives. The same small group of people who opposed Jesus directly during His ministry, the Pharisees, continues to this day in the same opposition. It may astonish you to know that, at the present moment, the faction of the Pharisees dominates utterly the American political system, the media, business, and finance, and that of most of the rest of the world. And through the television set and the media, the Pharisees of the Babylonian Talmud teach us how to think about everything; that’s why God calls it “the image of the beast.”
God needed the Pharisees to oppose Jesus. He hardened their hearts for His purposes. He is using them in the same way and for the same purpose today. The second witness of Christ is central to what God is doing in the earth today, to the revelation of Jesus Christ. God requires a second witness to prove all things, a second confrontation, a second death, a second resurrection. This also is Christ our life.
But this is the outer parts of the inheritance. The inner part, where God has us right now, possessing all things, including all things of the age to come. This also, we must explore.
6. Being members one of another (inner)
— together, giving an invisible God shape and form
so that He might be seen and handled (outer).
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.” Then I said, “Behold, I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of Me – to do Your will, O God.” Hebrews 10
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. John 1.
We are members one of another. God is preparing each of us for the place He has ordained for us in His temple. There is no truth of God that is fulfilled in any of us as individuals separate from one another. All things that God speaks, He fulfills in a many-membered corporate body of people. The greatest event of the ages is the moment when the Father Himself fills His fully prepared temple. That moment is soon to come. The fulfillment of all that God speaks takes place, not in “heaven” but on this earth and in His people.
God is an invisible Spirit. He cannot be seen or heard or touched. But this is not satisfactory for God. He is forming for Himself a body, that He might reveal Himself through that body. God wants to be seen and heard and handled – through us.
7. The right to become a manifest son (inner)
— Seated upon the throne of God (outer).
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those… who were born… of God. John 1
All authority in heaven and in earth is given unto me. Go therefore… Matthew 28
I will give to my two witnesses and they will prophesy. Revelation 11
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Revelation 3
The first part of authority is the right to become a son of God. We have that right and no one can take it from us. But a right is not something “granted” from another; a right is held as an inherent and integral part of an individual’s person before God. This right is known only by those who boldly enter in.
To sit with Jesus upon the throne of God is to be the authority of God in the universe. Every word we speak carries great authority. We have no idea. Upon that throne, the Mercy Seat, our very hearts, we and God work together to make all things good.
This layout of seven things, inner and outer, concerning the revelation of Jesus Christ is not meant to be exclusive, simply a way to approach the wondrous experience that God is taking us through. We will not experience any of the outer until first we know fully that which is inner. Yet God never stops with the inner, but always proves His mighty victory in that which is visible and outward.
This is the incredible purpose for which God has seized us in His determination. This is the turning, the transition between two ages.
This is the day in which we live.