From Glory to Glory
by David W. Dyer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"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 Sprit of the Lord." II COR 3:18
CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 1. THE LOVE OF GOD
CHAPTER 2. THE OFFER OF LIFE
CHAPTER 3. THE TWO TREES
CHAPTER 4. THE TWO NATURES
CHAPTER 5. THE SENTENCE OF DEATH
CHAPTER 6. THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL
CHAPTER 7. THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST
CHAPTER 8. MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS
CHAPTER 9. THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT
CHAPTER 10. DIVIDING SOUL & SPIRIT (1)
CHAPTER 11. DIVIDING SOUL & SPIRIT (2)
CHAPTER 12. BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
CHAPTER 13. THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE
CHAPTER 14. THE HOPE OF GLORY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE
God is invisible. He is a "God who hides Himself" (Is 45:15). Therefore, the only way we can know Him is when He reveals Himself in some way to us. Consequently, our relationship with Him is completely dependent upon revelation. The more He shows us about Who and what He is, the more we can know and appreciate Him. Without such spiritual understanding, we can only speculate about what He may be like and form a kind of mental picture of His person. To have true intimacy with God and to walk in His presence requires supernatural revelation.
If we desire to walk with God and cooperate with Him in His works upon the earth, it is necessary to have this spiritual revelation. Moses, before he began to build the tabernacle, the "dwelling place" of God, spent 40 days and nights in His presence. There He received much revelation about who God is and what it is that He desires. In the same way too, if we want to be coworkers together with Jesus for the sake of His kingdom, we must spend much time in His presence receiving divine revelation.
It is the intention of this author, therefore, to convey in as clear a manner as possible a small part of this wonderful revelation. It is his earnest prayer that, having written what is contained herein, it would be used by our Lord to reveal Himself in a clearer and more full way to each and every reader.
D.W.D.
CHAPTER 1. THE LOVE OF GOD
Why did God create man? This is an important question which needs to be answered by those seeking to understand their Creator and their relationship to Him. The responses most often given usually include such thoughts as: "Man was created for God's glory" or "Man was made to worship and glorify God." While such explanations certainly contain truth, they fall quite short of really pinpointing God's ultimate design. They fail to penetrate the depths of Biblical revelation and to provide a framework which is meaningful to us individually. Such answers tend to convey a general, impersonal impression concerning God's intentions for man. But I believe that the God whom the scriptures reveal has in His heart a plan of far more intimate, personal relevance than most of us have ever imagined. He is a God of love.
The message contained here has been and still is very difficult for me to write. In fact, I have tried many times over the years to address this subject on paper, but ended by only feeling inadequate. It is a subject about which I have preached more than any other. But at the end of every message, I inevitably feel that I did not do proper justice to this tremendous theme. It is so deep and so profound that mere human expression just is not sufficient. Perhaps the truth is that the love of God is truly unfathomable. It is something which no human being could ever fully express. Nevertheless, the importance of the revelation of God's love for each and every believer is so great, so central to our experience of Christianity as He meant it to be, that I feel I must at least try to put some of my small revelation about this vast subject in writing. May God in His mercy grant an anointing and spirit of revelation on this writing so that it could be a vehicle to transport you into the fulness of God's love.
The Bible is an incomparable book. There has never been and there will never be another book like it. In fact, it would be impossible for any human being or even a group of human beings to write such a book. Only God could have done it. The complexity of the Bible, the intricacy and interweaving of the plots and story line, combined with the amazing accuracy and detail contained in it, place it far above any other work which has been written. When you add to all these considerations the fact that this book was not penned by one man at one time but by many different men over a period of thousands of years, its extraordinary character is even more evident. Any honest reader of this book will eventually be brought to his knees in worshipful awe of God Almighty.
As with many great pieces of literature, in the beginning of this marvelous book we find a few of what could be thought of as "seeds" - the first small introductions to all that will be taking place in the rest of its pages. The book of Genesis is not simply an interesting story or a fabled account of the early history of man. Instead, in the first few chapters of the Bible we find in very concentrated form the essence of what God will be speaking to us throughout. In the first few pages of this book, the beginnings of all of God's intentions are manifested. Therefore, it seems important for us as we begin our investigation of God's purposes to look very carefully at the first several chapters of the Bible.
A MOMENTOUS DECISION
Shortly after the creation of this world, the God of glory held a solemn conference with Himself. Following this awesome consultation, He made the following pronouncement: "Let us make man, in Our image, according to Our likeness" (Gen 1:26). This is a very significant thing. The creator of the universe decided to fashion a being which resembled Himself. Now why did God do something like this? Why would He make a creature which could be described as a miniature representation of Himself? Surely we must conclude that it was more than just a passing fancy but that our God had in His mind a glorious purpose. Man was not an experiment, an afterthought, or simply a new kind of creature with which to populate the earth. Instead, when He formed man God was setting in motion an unfathomable plan which emanated from the depths of His heart. Consequently, man is a unique creature in the Almighty's design. He was the only being created with this great privilege of being made in the image and likeness of the Most High God. Truly we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps 139:14).
God began His creation of the human race with a single individual, Adam. However, as He contemplated His creation (most of which He had earlier pronounced "very good" [Gen 1:31]), He noticed that something was missing. His attention was focused upon one lacking element which He evidently considered to be a very important deficiency - Adam had no wife. It was in this context that God uttered some words which are especially important and which I believe reveal to us something about His own heart. He said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Gen 2:18). Why would God do such a thing? Why did He go to all the effort to create Adam and then as soon as the work was done, pronounce it unfinished? An incident like this must be more than coincidental. It seems possible that when He spoke this sentence about the first man, He was echoing a longing which He felt deep within His own heart. Could it be that our God does not enjoy being alone? Could it be that He desires an intimate union with a being like Himself? Could we possibly understand from this eloquent picture that perhaps our King intends to be married?
The answer to these questions is undoubtedly, YES. Beyond a doubt, God is speaking to us through this passage about something which is deeply upon His own heart. Keeping this thought in mind, let us examine more of the scriptures together and see how they indeed do support such a hypothesis.
THE SEARCH FOR A BRIDE
Shortly after making the first man, God declared His work incomplete and then set about "building" a bride for Adam. However, instead of immediately commencing this work, He did a most unusual thing. He first brought all the animals before Adam's gaze, and Adam named them. "But," we read, "there was not found a helper comparable to him" (Gen 2:20). What an interesting statement this is! It sounds as if God was not merely requiring Adam to name animals as a little duty before his wedding but far more importantly He was looking for a suitable helper for him. He and Adam together were examining all these birds and beasts in search of a proper mate. However none could be found.
Of course I'm sure that many of these creatures were very nice. I imagine that some appeared quite cute, cuddly and furry. But somehow something was not right. None of them could stir a response within this man. So, as we have already discussed, God set to work to remedy the situation. Afterwards when Adam awoke he was presented with a beautiful sight. The woman whom God had made was standing before him. As he gazed upon her with delight something stirred in the deepest recesses of his heart. Something within his breast responded to this new creature. Then this powerful feeling which he had never felt before found expression in the words: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen 2:23). She was just like himself. What all of the creatures could never be to him, this woman was. Here he had found a proper counterpart with whom he could join in intimate union.
Now all this does have an extremely important application to our present discussion about God and His intentions. You see, even though He is surrounded by myriads of angels, even though His whole creation lies before Him, none of these other creatures are adequate to provide the intimacy and companionship He desires. None of them can fill this position because they were not similar to Himself. Just as Adam could not find a mate among any of the animals but had to wait until God prepared a wife for him, so too our Lord is looking for a "someone" - His future bride - of whom He could say, "She is like me, 'bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.' " Dear friends, this is far more than just a lesson in ancient history. Rather here we find an eloquent, prophetic illustration of an important spiritual principle. God's design for the universe is that only creatures which are similar can mate or marry. Only beings which are alike are permitted to have this kind of intimate union. Birds mate with birds, cattle with cattle, fish with fish, and so forth - each one after its own kind (Gen 1:21,24). This truth is clearly seen in the illustration we have just reviewed as well as being commanded by the scriptures (Lev 20:15,16). Therefore, in accordance with His own law, God can only join in intimate union with a being like Himself. In order for Him to marry, He must find a being who is His counterpart.
Many of the details contained in the first pages of Genesis confirm this supposition that God indeed does have and has had from the very beginning a burning desire for an intimate companion. It may be easy for the casual reader to overlook these items as being insignificant. However, here in the first few chapters of Genesis are revealed some substantial, clear indications of all God's future intentions concerning man.
TWO "PARALLEL" WEDDINGS
In the beginning of the Bible, we encounter the original wedding. The first man Adam finds and marries a beautiful woman, especially constructed by God for him. And if we read through to the end of the story, we will discover that the Bible also ends with a wedding. Jesus Christ, the "last Adam," receives a bride which has been especially prepared for Him. Now in the scriptural record there are many parallels between these two marriages. In fact, these parallels are so striking that I am forced to conclude that the Genesis account must be considered strongly prophetic. God, when introducing His book, placed in the first few pages a holy prophecy which is even now being fulfilled in His people.
Part of this prophecy concerning Adam and the creation of Eve, we have already examined. But as we look further, we discover even more wonderful indications of God's design. We should notice that God caused "a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" - a death-like state in which God's work upon him was done (Gen 2:21). While he was in this condition, an incision was made in his side and God removed something (our translations say it was a rib). Then from this part of Adam, God "built" (Heb) a woman for him. In a similar way our Lord Jesus entered into death for us on the cross. There, His side was also pierced and something came out of that side &endash; "blood and water" (Jn 19:34). It is with this eternal substance which flowed from the side of our Savior that God is "building" (Mt 16:18) the bride of Christ, the eternal "woman" who will dwell with Him forever.
As we begin to read the first few pages of the Book, we encounter a wonderful garden. This garden was the scene of the first wedding. Out of this garden is flowing a river and in the middle of the garden grows a tree called "the tree of life" (Gen 2:9). Additionally the text mentions that in this land there is an abundant supply of gold, something called "bdellium" and onyx stone (Gen 2:11,12).
At the end of the book, in the account of Revelation, something of great splendor and glory is described. It is a city which is the scene of the last and most glorious wedding of the universe. But yet we notice that this city contains many of the same elements as the garden. Where we once read of gold buried in the ground in Eden, we now are shown an entire city radiating golden splendor and having its street paved with the same substance. The onyx stones described in the garden can now be seen along with many other precious stones, polished, perfected and built up into a glorious wall surrounding the entire structure. This wall, adorned with "all manner of precious stones," (Rev 21:19,20) is symbolic of all true believers in their transformed, glorified state.
In the New Jerusalem there is also a river. This one is a river of crystal clear "water of life," which gushes out from underneath the throne of God and the Lamb. That river, perhaps spiritually related to the one which we saw in the beginning, is now available for "whosoever will" to come and drink. It is here representative of the life of God Himself to whom we can come and be satisfied. Not only this but the tree of life which appears so singularly in the beginning is now growing abundantly on both sides of the river with its twelve crops (one crop each month) of fruit freely available to everyone. Even the leaves of this tree are important: they provide healing for the nations.
Now let us not forget the "bdellium." This word is encountered in chapter 2, verse 12. We've often read about it here in this verse, but what is it? If you don't know, then you are in good company. Even the Bible scholars and translators do not really know. In fact, the meaning is so obscure that they have borrowed this Latin word "bdellium" instead of an English translation. One of the best ways to determine a word's meaning is to discover how it is used elsewhere in the Bible. So we can use this method to help us with our inquiry. The only other place where this word appears is in connection with the "heavenly bread," manna, which is described as being small, white and round (Ex 16:14,31), and "the color of bdellium" (Num 11:7). Therefore, I would like to suggest that this word bdellium could be referring to what we know today as pearl - something small, white and round. In fact, two ancient manuscripts translate this word as "pearl." So, since Biblical scholars do not really know what this substance is and since, as you will soon see, this translation harmonizes so well with other parts of God's word, I think that it could be acceptable to adopt this meaning.
THE GATES OF PEARL
Looking again at the New Jerusalem, we find that each of its twelve gates is composed of a single large pearl. Do you know how a pearl is formed? It begins when a grain of sand or some other small irritating object gets into the shell of an oyster. As this irritation increases, the oyster begins to secrete a juice from its side which surrounds the offending object with a layer of smooth, precious, pearly substance. Out of a wound comes something of great value. Surely such an illustration is pointing us to the Savior. When His side was pierced, a substance came out which has provided a "gateway" for us - our entrance into that eternal city. He is the "Pearl of great price" (Mt 13:46).
So you see that all the raw materials about which we read in the scene of the first wedding have, by the end of the book, been prepared and built up into a glorious setting for an eternal wedding - the wedding of God's own Son. While in the beginning we are shown a man receiving his wife in the midst of a garden, at the end it is God's people who are participants in that indescribably holy event: the marriage of the Lamb. In fact, the city itself is described as a bride adorned for her Husband (Rev 21:2). The beginning and ending of this book, though written thousands of years apart, are thus seen in unsurpassed harmony which could only come from God Himself. Now, after considering all this, don't you also believe that God has been desiring this from the beginning? Don't you see beautifully depicted here an illustration of God's heart's desire? All these parallels from the beginning and end of the scriptures cannot be an accident. Surely they must be speaking to us something of eternal consequence and importance. God is revealing to us His heart's desire.
In the creation of man we can also find further support for this understanding. Since man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26) , it is not unreasonable to suppose that to some degree our inner feelings reflect those of our Maker. And one of the most powerful desires within a man or woman is to be married to someone they deeply love. Therefore, love and the desire for intimate companionship cannot be very far from the heart of God. When we read in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world," what do you think this love is like? Is it just some sort of paternal pity? Is it simply attributable to the fact that God feels sorry for us poor, sinful, little human beings whom He made and so has decided to rescue us? Perhaps God's love includes such elements as these, but I believe that in God's love for the world is embodied something much more profound. For God so loved the world! The intensity of His love is beyond description. It is so much a part of His nature that in one passage of scripture we read that "God is love" (I Jn 4:16). I believe that you will see as we proceed through this book that this speaks of the love which He has for His bride. It is nothing less than the Heavenly Father's desire for eternal companionship with someone like Himself.
When Jesus was with His disciples eating what we call "the last supper" He said: "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you" (Lk 22:15). Why was there such an intense desire within His breast to eat this simple meal with His friends? The answer no doubt lies in the thought that it was reminding Him of a future feast - a wedding feast which was coming. Jesus was looking forward to His wedding day, and there was a burning desire, a yearning within Him for His bride. This is why He had such an intense longing to sup there with His twelve disciples in preparation for all that was lying ahead.
THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM
We read in another place that it was "for the joy that was set before Him" that He endured the cross (Heb 12:2). What was this joy set before Him? Was it simply the joy of entering into the glory of His Father? This does not seem to be an adequate explanation since He had already shared the glory of the Father before the world was created (Jn 17:5). No, it was something even greater, something even deeper, something even closer to His heart. The joy set before Him was the joy of a man who is waiting to receive His bride. It is the joy of a man on his wedding day when he is getting married to the woman whom he loves. Jesus was looking into the future and beholding the one with whom He was to be joined in intimate union. It was this view, this joyful thought which spurred Him on to sacrifice Himself for us. In Isaiah 62:5 we read: "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."
What a wonderful day that will be when all of God's redeemed people are built into one holy "woman" and prepared for that glorious wedding day. This is the joy which was set before Him and dear brothers and sisters it is also the joy which is set before us. Oh that God would give us a vision and revelation of that wonderful wedding day and all that it entails - God and man joining in most holy union - so that we may run the race with joy! Hallelujah! Such a view will surely cause us to lay aside everything - all the weight and the sin which so easily besets us (Heb 12:1) - and pursue Him and His purposes with all our hearts. Oh, that God would enlighten us to see His will from His perspective! Then we would be impelled onward towards His goal which is also our highest satisfaction.
The Apostle Paul speaks concerning this future intimacy with our Creator when he says: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Cor 2:9). Then he goes on to qualify this by stating that God does indeed reveal these "deep things" (vs 10) to those who are intimate with Him. Our Lord is calling us into a love relationship with Himself. This is a relationship which will culminate in a union with the Most High which can only be described in terms of marriage. These are not my terms but are the language of the Bible - words which God Himself chose to describe these things to us in a way we could understand.
Human marriage, with all the intimacy it entails, is something which has been created and sanctified by God. Within the covenant bonds of matrimony, almost nothing is proscribed by our Maker. We have only to read the Song of Solomon to realize how God views this kind of relationship. This book is so personal and contains such graphic allusions to marital intimacy that many people - even believers - cannot read it without becoming uncomfortable. Evidently their flesh is too strong and therefore they are stimulated wrongly. However, here in the Bible, God illustrates for us our future spiritual joys. He is using physical, human terms and describing the intense enjoyment of two married people but there is no doubt in my mind that He is actually speaking about Himself and His bride. Of course this book does have its application to our earthly marriages of this age, but many great saints of God who have gone before us including Hudson Taylor and Watchman Nee have seen here a prophetic word. Psalms 16:11 states: "In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Another passage reads: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be" (I Jn 3:2). This verse used to trouble me because I could not envision a higher relationship with God than that of being one of His sons. But the scriptures do speak of such a position. Today we are God's sons and so we relate to Him on that basis, but someday, oh what a glorious day, we will enter into another kind of relationship with Him. Someday we will be His wife. Although a child may have a good deal of intimacy with his father, the wife enjoys a much deeper relationship.
A HOLY UNION WITH GOD
These words "bride" and "wife" convey thoughts of enjoyment and intimacy which might be misunderstood by the carnal mind. But I pray that as you read these words and meditate upon the scriptures concerning these things, God will unveil your eyes to this glorious truth. According to the unmistakably clear words of the Bible, God is calling His people into a holy union with Himself which can only be described as a marriage. Surely, this will not be a physical relationship as we have on earth, but rather the physical intimacy which we have here is simply a picture of future spiritual joys.
Perhaps some readers will find it difficult to think of God as a future marriage partner. Instead, it is often easier to know Him as our Savior or Father. While these are indeed roles which God has in our lives, the position of being our future husband is certainly the most intimate. Our God is a God of passionate love and this love is focused on us, mere human beings. The scriptures reveal to us the heart of God, and in His heart is a kind of divine romance, a fervent love for His future bride. Don't limit yourself merely to the way in which you have known Him in the past. Don't be afraid to open up to a greater revelation of His person and character. The God whom the Bible reveals is our own Lord and King. You can confidently believe that what His word reveals about Himself is true.
Not only does God have a passionate love toward us, but He is searching for those who will love Him in the same way. Do you remember the first commandment? "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Mt 22:37). Does this sound like something impersonal and distant? Certainly not! Usually when someone loves another with such fervor we say that they are "in love." Do you have this kind of relationship with God? Is He your first love? Or are you keeping Him at arm's length, trying to be satisfied with a kind of impersonal, "safe" sort of God who has very little to do with your inner, secret life?
Let us read together from the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 16-19. Here Paul is praying for the brethren that they (and we also) would "be rooted and grounded in love." And from this position "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height &endash; to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." You see, knowing the love of God is important. In fact, it is essential for us if we are going to enter into a deep, full, satisfying relationship with Him. When you know that someone loves you completely and thoroughly, then it is easy to open your heart to them, trusting that they will deal with what they find there in love. So it is with our relationship with God. All believers need an intimate, open-hearted, nothing-secret relationship with Jesus. We must allow Him access to the innermost recesses of our being. There can be nothing hidden. Nothing from the past, nothing which has happened to us, nothing must be kept from His loving inspection and touch.
TOTAL TRUST
This kind of relationship is only possible when we have absolute confidence in the love of the Person to whom we are yielding ourselves. It is essential that we come to know the depths of God's love. If not, we will only have a superficial, unsatisfying relationship with Him. He will never be able to penetrate to the core of our being and transform these parts to His image. When we have fears, inner walls and resistances, this serves to show that we have not yet truly known the love of God. "He that fears has not been made perfect in love" (I Jn 4:18).
You may notice while reading in the book of Revelation that the bride of Christ is "clear as crystal" (Rev 21:11). This bride has nothing hidden, dark or reserved. There are no secrets from her beloved. Her trust in Him enables her to be completely transparent, allowing Him access to all of her. This is the kind of relationship which we must find with our Lord. It is a relationship of deepest love. It is an intimacy of the highest, purest kind which leads us into "all the fulness of God." The greatest need in our Christian lives is this: a passionate love relationship with God, leading to an intimacy with Him and resulting in transformation into the image of God.
I would like to repeat that the interrelationship between the first part of the Bible and the last is not a coincidence. This is not just a nice story. Instead, in these pages God is revealing tremendous things about Himself and His desires which He wants us to understand. What a wonderful picture the book of Revelation gives us. All the seeds, all the hints which are portrayed for us in the book of Genesis have now reached fruition and fulfillment. The raw materials have been built up. The entire structure has been completed. All that God the Father set out to do in the beginning has been accomplished. There the man Christ Jesus is seen receiving His bride, that holy city New Jerusalem. She is coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
God's holy book begins and ends with a wedding. What an incredible love story this is! Have you ever heard one to equal it? How tremendous the love of God for mankind must be to cause Him to begin to do all these things and then to overcome such tremendous obstacles to accomplish them. How we need to see and sense within ourselves the yearning desire within the heart of God for mankind - the desire He expresses so clearly in Jeremiah where He says to His people, "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jer 31:3). I believe that this kind of revelation will plant within our breast a similar yearning for our future husband that will cause us to make ourselves ready (Is 54:5). May we by His mercy be preparing ourselves until He comes.
CHAPTER 2. THE OFFER OF LIFE
At the dawning of this present world, our God fashioned a being similar to Himself for His own holy purposes. Chief among these purposes, as we discussed in chapter one, is that He is seeking a bride. God is in the process of creating for Himself an eternal, intimate companion. Man, the object of God's attention and affection is the one who was fashioned to fulfill this wonderful design. Let us remember here however, that in God's universe, only creatures who are similar can marry. Such intimacy is only permitted between beings who are the same. Therefore, in order for God's desires to be realized, man must qualify to participate in this union.
As we look closely at our first forefather with these thoughts in mind, some serious deficiencies become apparent. Adam, even before the fall, did not qualify to fulfill God's intentions. Although he resembled God in many ways, it is also clear that he was not exactly the same kind of being as God. As we meditate upon this, one problem which becomes apparent is that God and man did not have the same kind of life. Therefore, they could not be considered the same kind of being. Although the life which Adam and Eve possessed was initially good and never ending, it still was only a created, human variety. In contrast to this, their Maker's life was the supernatural, uncreated kind. God and man were obviously different species. Their "lives" were on a completely different plane. One was merely human and the Other was divine. One was a lower life form, bound to the earth by a physical body, while the Other is Spirit and fills the universe. Not only did man's life not attain to being equal with God's, he wasn't even second in line. The scriptures teach us that man was made even lower than the angels (Heb 2:9). These considerations present us with sufficient evidence to realize that marriage between them was not possible.
From this analysis, we are brought to the conclusion that man as he was created was not fit to occupy the position intended for him. Therefore, it is logical to suppose that since our Maker had this glorious plan in mind, He also had some way of fulfilling it. He must have made some provision for man to change. Somewhere in God's design, there must have been a way prepared for man to become something other than what he was in order to fulfill these holy intentions. And of course there was. God in His infinite wisdom had provided all that was necessary. Not surprisingly, the first suggestion of the existence of such a plan is also manifested in the Garden of Eden.
When we read the Genesis account, among the many features of the garden, two particular trees are mentioned - the "tree of life" and the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen 2:9). We do not have to read very far to discover that these two are much more than mere trees. The devastating effect which eating of the wrong tree had upon mankind seems to be more than sufficient evidence of this fact. Every other tree of the garden had been offered freely to them as food, but this one tree had been strictly forbidden. Its fruit was so deadly, so devastating, that one taste of it altered forever the course of human history. Now in view of all this, it seems reasonable to suppose that the other tree, the tree of life, also contained fruit of great consequence. If the "death tree" had such a powerful effect, what would have happened if Adam and Eve had tasted of the tree of life? Could it be that one taste of this other fruit would have changed these two in another, equally dramatic fashion? I believe that you will see as we proceed that this is the case.
What then is the significance of this life tree? What is it that Adam and Eve missed by disobeying their Maker. Perhaps the best way to discover this is to look into the rest of the scripture and see if we can find any clues there. As we read Genesis chapter 3 we learn that this tree would have imparted to them a variety of life which they did not yet possess. This truth is shown clearly by the statement God made when they were put out of the Garden. "Lest," He says, they should "take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Gen 3:22). Here we also realize that Adam and Eve had never yet eaten of this tree. Even though it was available to them, they had never taken the opportunity to taste it. If they had done so, they would have already possessed this new kind of life. In fact, it is possible that if they had first sampled this fruit, they would have had the strength and wisdom to forever avoid the other one.
As we have seen, the tree containing this life was "in the midst of the garden" (Gen 2:9). Notice that this was not the jungle of Eden but a garden signifying it was designed by Someone. And this Designer placed the tree of life in the middle as the very centerpiece of His design. Surely this indicates to us that it is the impartation of this life which is at the very center of all that God's intentions concerning man. It is in fact the very vehicle through which He intends to transform man from what he was when he was created into what God desires him to become. Since this life is so important both to us and to God, enabling us to fulfill His original design, it seems crucial that we learn as much as we can about it. Each and every Christian should understand thoroughly both the goal toward which God is working and also the means which He is using to get there. Let us therefore spend a little time to investigate just exactly what this "life" signifies.
FROM ETERNITY TO ETERNITY
The scripture reads in Psalm 90 verse 2, "From eternity to eternity thou art God" (JDV). If we would take a moment and think back in time as far as our imagination will carry us, back before anything was created - God was there. And again, if we project our thoughts into the future as far as we can imagine, to a time when this world has been dissolved and new things have been created - God will still be there. Therefore, God is ever-existing. He is a being Who never had a beginning and will never end. The kind of life which God possesses is uncreated. It did not begin at some particular point in time. God's life therefore is described as being "eternal." It is "AIONION" in the original Greek language, which means "spanning the ages." His life is so full of vitality, so ever-living, that even the passage of time does not diminish it. It is a life without origin or declension, without time of birth or season of death, unchangeable, incorruptible and immortal. This little meditation brings us then to the true biblical meaning of the word "eternal." It simply means without beginning and without end and describes the very life of God.
In the scriptures we read: "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal (AIONION) life" (Jn 3:16). Praise the Lord that those who have believed into Jesus are no longer "alienated from the life of God" (Eph 4:18) but have been brought into a relationship - a sonship relationship with the Father. This relationship was begun through God's begetting. We are not merely "adopted" sons of God, but we human beings have actually been born of God's very own life. We have been "begotten . . . again unto a living hope" (I Pet 1:3)! We have been "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible" (I Pet 1:23)! (See also: Jn 1:13; 3:3-8, I Jn 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18).
What an unspeakable thing He has done for us small, insignificant human beings! As parents, fathers and mothers, we beget sons and daughters by passing along our life to them. When we conceive and bear children we transmit the human life which God has given us to others. In the same way God has chosen in His glorious, immeasurable mercy and goodness to give finite men His own incorruptible, never-beginning, never-ending, eternal life. This is truly a great love which God has for this world. No gift could be greater. Nothing in the universe is more precious, more worth having, more unsearchably great, than the life of God. We have the opportunity to become partakers of all that God is. He has imparted His life into men and is calling them by this life to rise above what they are born to be as human beings and to grow into all that He is. What a glorious calling indeed!
Unfortunately, this great truth that God is now imparting His very own life to men, has been somewhat obscured to us by the translation of the original Greek words into our own language. The Greeks were evidently very expressive concerning the idea of "life" and had several different words for it, while in English we have only one word. This then often confuses the true meaning of the New Testament words. For our purposes here, we will be focusing on three words in the New Testament which are translated as one English word "life." Even though these three words are rendered as one English word they have separate and distinct meanings. Unless we clearly distinguish between them we may be ignorant of an indescribably essential revelation.
The first word which is translated "life" in our versions is "BIOS" which refers to our life in this physical world. This is the word from from which we get our word "biology" and includes such concepts as our livelihood, the duration of our physical life and our moral conduct. The second word which is translated "life" in English is "PSUCHE." This word has been translated as both "soul" and "life" and perhaps could have been in some places rendered "soul-life" to give a more precise meaning. Throughout the New Testament this word represents the psychological make-up or the soul-life which man possesses. It is this "life" which comprises our thinking, our feeling and our decision making processes. And it is by this life that unregenerated men live in this present world.
AIONIAN ZOE
However there is a third Greek word, a most important word, which is translated "life." This word is "ZOE." It means, according to W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, "life as God has it." When it comes to "life," God really has it! In the New Testament this word "ZOE" is used predominantly to refer to God's very own life. This special, unique word has been used by the writers of the New Testament as they were inspired by God, to refer to His own incorruptible, unoriginated, ageless, unending life. Therefore, when the Bible speaks about the new life which God gives us through Jesus, it is this word "ZOE" rather than "BIOS" or 'PSUCHE" which is used. The phrase "eternal life" then is expressed in the Greek language as "AIONION ZOE" and means "a life which spans the eons." This AIONION ZOE, the age spanning, never-beginning, never-interrupting, never-ceasing life of God - this is what Jesus came to bring.
Brothers and sisters, we have received an indescribable gift. God has given to us more than we could ask or ever imagine. We frail human beings, existing in a body which is decaying, living in a world which is breaking down and falling apart in many different ways, have come into a most wonderful thing. The God of the universe has taken us into His heart and decided to impart to us a new life - an incorruptible, immutable life substance which it is impossible to kill. Jesus Christ rose from the dead because it was not possible that the life which He possessed could be held by death (Acts 2:24). So we also, having become children of God through the new birth, have become partakers of a life over which death has no power. Jesus said that anyone who believes into Him will never perish but has "passed from death unto (ZOE) life" (Jn 5:24).
This is an essential truth. The difficulty which many believers have leading a truly spiritual life can be traced to precisely this point. We all know that Jesus Christ came to bring us life. But what kind? If the distinction between these three Greek words is not made, it is possible for some to think that "abundant life" (Jn 10:10) means having lots of money, many luxuries, or filling their life with material and physical pleasures (BIOS). Others may imagine that "abundant life" means to be happy or satisfied with our earthly existence (PSUCHE). Many of those who are misled in this way end up falling into serious error or sin. By misunderstanding the purposes of God and failing to discern the variety of life which Jesus came to give, they have been turned aside to pursue another "life" - a soulish life or a worldly life - a life which we will soon discover Jesus came to condemn.
EVERLASTING OR ETERNAL?
Another common misconception in the church today is that "eternal" life is simply an extension of or prolonging of the life with which we were born. This erroneous understanding has perhaps been fostered in part by the use of the word "everlasting" in the text. "Everlasting" is an incorrect translation of the word "AIONION." In many English translations, the words "everlasting" and "eternal" are used interchangeably. This has been the cause of great confusion since there is an important difference in their meaning in the English language." Biblically speaking, the word means "eternal" signifies, "without beginning" as well as "without end," while the word "everlasting" only indicates "without end." Thus it could be applied to a creature which was born at some point in time and then lasted forever and ever. Consequently, it is easy for someone reading about "everlasting" life to suppose that it refers to his own life continuing unendingly. As we have been seeing, this is definitely not the case. To nullify this mistake, let us simply remember that in the Bible, when we read about "everlasting life" what is really meant is "eternal life," that is the uncreated life of God.
Everyone who believes into Jesus has received God's own life. And it is this life which is God's agency for changing us from what we are into all that He planned for us to be. It is this life which will change our nature to be like His. Just as in the beginning, when our heavenly Father placed before man the source of His own life, so today He has made it available to all through His own Son. The scriptures clearly teach us that "he who has the Son has (ZOE) Life" (I Jn 5:12). Those who are wise will avail themselves of this life, fill themselves with it and thus obtain all the benefits of it. Those who are foolish will neglect it as did our forefathers and eventually suffer the consequences. The life of God which He has given to us is absolutely crucial to our spiritual walk. It is this life which is the source of all that God is doing within us.
I hope that it is perfectly clear here that what Jesus died to make available to us was not a new place to live out the rest of our lives, such as heaven. Neither did He bring us an extension of the life with which we were born. He came to give us a Life which was entirely different from any that we had previously known. Jesus Christ came to impart to men God's very own eternal, uncreated life. He came with the intention of giving to us the very life, essence and nature of all that God the Father is. What Jesus Christ has brought to earth for men is the most precious substance! There is nothing else in the universe like it. The Life that He came to give us never began and by definition it can never end. We have become partakers of the life of God. Hallelujah! Now that is really good news.
After Adam and Eve sinned, they were put out of the garden and the way into the Garden of Eden - the avenue to the tree of life - was blocked by a cherubim holding a flaming sword. The original way, the way God first intended man to take, was now impassable. Anyone who sought to enter therein would be slain. God's judgment, symbolized by the Cherubim with the flaming sword, now stood between man and supernatural life. What was once freely offered was now carefully guarded and sinful man was thereby forbidden to partake. Now man, instead of having God's favor, was under His judgment. The bliss that this first couple once enjoyed and the communion with God which was so familiar to them, suddenly disappeared. The choices these two had made were not without consequences. Seemingly the devil had won a victory and God's eternal purposes had been thwarted. The man whom the Lord created in His own image and likeness, intending for them to become His holy bride had instead become polluted by sin and disqualified from partaking of His own life.
But perhaps the devil did not understand the depths of God's love for His bride. Maybe he failed to fathom the lengths to which He would go to achieve His purposes. God's original intention remained unchanged. His heart-felt desire to share His life with human beings continued unabated. These unique creatures, the only ones in all the universe to bear the image and likeness of the eternal God, had fallen. Still God yearned for them to be brought back into communion with Himself and for them to be again in a position to partake of all that He had planned for them. His unsearchable love for mankind was undiminished. His initial plan for creating men and offering them His own life still burned within His heart. God, in His infinite wisdom and according to His eternal purpose, had prepared another way, a "new and living way," back to Himself (Heb 10:20).
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION
Since the rebellion of man demanded the death penalty and barred the way to life, God, in order to fulfill His plan, had to find a substitute. Through His imponderable foreknowledge, He found an innocent Person who was willing to taste death on our behalf - His own son. In His flesh Jesus Christ made atonement for man's rebellion and sin. In His own self He bore our sins on the cross, taking them out of the way. Jesus has reconciled us to God. Through Christ we have been brought back into a relationship with the Father. By the work of the Son, the shedding of His blood, we now have access to God. Once again, the way to Life Himself has been opened. What an infinitely precious thing Jesus has done for us undeserving sinners, bringing us back to God and making the way for us to partake of His eternal, uncreated life!
You see God could not give His life to unrighteous men. He would not put His holy, sinless life into polluted containers. Sin had hindered God's purposes. It was impossible for Him to allow His life to be mingled with the unrighteousness in man. So, before the impartation of such a pure substance, the receptacle had to be purified. Christ's blood shed on Calvary has provided just such a cleansing. The innocence and purity of the life which was taken there, has in the sight of God, atoned for our filthiness. There, in a supernatural way which is difficult for us to understand, God passed over our sin and removed the obstacles which stood in the way.
When the time was right God sent His own Son to rescue us. He sacrificed Him, allowing Him to be tortured, ridiculed and slain. The judgment which was reserved for us fell upon the Lamb. With His death on the cross, the righteous requirement of God was satisfied and the Cherubim of judgment with the flaming sword was taken out of the way. Once again the way to the tree of life was opened and the invitation given.
Not only did Jesus make a way to life for us, but He was also the manifestation of this life. When Jesus Christ came to this earth He came as a vessel containing God's life. We read in the scriptures "In Him was (ZOE) life; and the life was the light of men" (Jn 1:4). Again we read, "For the (ZOE) life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (I Jn 1:2). Part of Jesus' mission was to make known to mankind all that the Father was offering. He was the full declaration of the thoughts and intentions of God. The life of God which was somewhat obscurely manifested in the Garden in the form of a tree, has now been fully exhibited.
Jesus himself proclaimed this. He invited the people to come to Him and eat, to come to Him and drink (Jn 6:54). He explained that He was the "bread of life" (Jn 6:48), and "the way, the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6). At one point He even instructed His followers to eat His flesh to obtain this life, causing many of them to be offended (Jn 6:53). But this should not trouble us. Here He was simply proclaiming that whatever had been available in the garden in the form of a tree was now being offered through Him. Through His Son, God was making this offer of life again. Today, just as in the days of our first ancestors there is a choice for every human being to make. How are we responding to it?
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS ESSENTIAL
Once we are born from above this is just the beginning of a Christian life. As wonderful as it is to receive new life from God, this is only the first step of a life-long process of growing in the Lord. It is only the introduction to "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (I Cor 7:1). Not only do we need to receive this new life but we also need this life to grow up in us into full maturity. The Bible teaches that, after being born in a manger, "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:52). In the same way we too must grow spiritually until the expression of God through us is complete.
We as Christians must disabuse ourselves of the notion that once we receive Jesus that this is the consummation of spiritual experience. Receiving God's life through the Spirit is just the beginning. Just as the birth of a baby is only the first event of its whole lifetime, so also when we are born of the Spirit this is just the initial step of a life full of growing in the knowledge of God. The Father's intention is that we would be daily eating, drinking and thereby growing into all that Christ came to bring - all of which is freely poured out to us in the Holy Spirit. The life of God, the most precious, valuable element in the whole universe is abundantly available to every believer right now today. Through His Spirit we can continually partake of IONIAN ZONE.
Everywhere the scriptures speak of such growth. Ephesians 4:14,15 urges us to "grow up into Him in all things" recommending that we be no longer babies who are easily tossed around. I John chapter two speaks of different stages of spiritual growth, Ce. children, young men and fathers. Surely it is easy to see then that maturity is not instantaneous but takes time and attention. This too is an essential part of our Christian experience. Remaining a baby is not good enough. Spiritual growth is only optional for those who are foolish. We must continually seek the Lord and nurture this life which has been given to us so that it can grow to maturity. Everywhere in nature we notice that all kinds of life must grow. Even though, for example, an entire oak tree is contained within an acorn, it takes time and nurturing for that tree to attain its full stature. In the same way, even though the life which we receive from God is complete, it takes time and attention for it to arrive at full maturity.
If we are to be useable sons of God, manifesting His life and nature to the world in a powerful way, we too must grow into His fulness (Eh 4:15). Babies are wonderful, but they are not very useful. Instead of being able to help out and contribute to the well-being of the household they themselves require our time and attention. I am confident that God greatly loves all His babies, but I am also firmly convinced that He is seeking sons who have grown into maturity to fulfill His purposes on the earth. Too many Christians suppose that being born again is the end, the ultimate. They imagine that after regeneration the only thing left is to accumulate "rewards" in heaven. How far from the truth this is. Growing into a full spiritual maturity is the only way in which we can be really useful in God's kingdom.
It is important to note that this growth does not happen automatically. God is not forcing His way upon us. He graciously allows us all to choose. Just as we had to make a choice to receive His life to be born again, so we must make a daily choice to be filled with His life. No one else can make you grow. Unless we set our hearts to seek the presence of the Lord every day and spend time in intimate communion with Him, we will grow very little. If our choice is to spend our time pursuing our own interests, spiritual dormancy is a certainty. Growth in God's life is available to all, but is realized only by those who make a conscious choice to pursue it. Those who make this choice will benefit greatly not only in this world but also in that which is to come.
Once again, as it was with our forefather Adam, the choice is up to us. It is ours to make every day. Will we choose according to God's desire and partake of that which He is freely offering? Or will we as the first men, pay little attention to what has been so generously provided and go our own way? This is not a small or insignificant consideration. It is all too easy to become preoccupied with the things which surround us and the outward blessings which God has given and so neglect the most important thing of all. These daily choices have eternal consequences. God's unmerited favor and mercy should not be lightly disregarded. May God grant us mercy that we would partake of His life continually.
In the coming chapters of this writing we are going to be looking at many different aspects of what God is doing in and through His people. However, in order to do so properly, we must first be firmly rooted in this most basic understanding: Eternal life is not our own life lasting forever, nor is it simply a kind of fire insurance that guarantees we will not spend eternity in the lake of fire. Receiving eternal life is nothing less than receiving God's very own life - the uncreated life of God!
It is through this life that God is bringing many sons into glory. Without a doubt, God has very serious intentions concerning the impartation of His life. He has not done His work indiscriminately. So if we are to fulfill His requirements and carefully guard the "good deposit that was entrusted" to us (I Tim 1:14).
CHAPTER 3. THE TWO TREES
For reasons which we have been discussing in the previous chapters of this book, God desired to share His own life with man from the very beginning. This is evidenced by the tree of life planted in the midst of the Garden of Eden. But there was also another tree growing there, a very sinister tree - the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen 2:9). We have surmised that the first tree was symbolic of God's life but what about this other one? What does it represent? Why did God allow a tree with such devastating capabilities to grow there, freely available to His new race? Of course, He did give them warning concerning it. His solemn word was spoken clearly so that there could be no chance of a mistake. However, it is equally plain that God was allowing them to make their own decisions concerning their ultimate destiny. In His infinite wisdom He allowed them to have free will. If they were ever going to enter into the marvelous plan for which He had made them, it would be because they willingly chose to do so, not because they were forced into it.
So from the beginning Adam and Eve were presented with a choice. They found themselves between two opposing possibilities. On one hand was the tree of which they could freely eat and on the other the one of which they were commanded not to partake. While it certainly must have been permissible for them not to choose either, these two trees with all that they represented were always before them. Their location, "in the midst of the garden," must have made them the focal point of attention. Consequently, the decision to eat or to refrain from eating was probably never very far from their thoughts. Interestingly enough, these same two alternatives are available to men today. Christians and non-Christians alike are daily exposed to these two options and all that they entail. Even though there are not two physical trees in front of us, what they represent is abundantly available. Therefore it seems important for us to take some time here and discuss together exactly what these two trees signify.
Since we, just like this first couple are actually confronted daily with this choice, it is essential that we understand what it is. Although Adam and Eve may have been innocent and not fully aware of all that their decision involved, we cannot claim the same excuse. Their own example, combined with all God's revelation since that time provide us with ample evidence of what God's way is and also of what these trees produce. Unfortunately, many of God's children are ignorant of these things. Far too many believers are completely unaware of the significance of these spiritual realities. Thus they easily fall prey to the wiles of the enemy in the same way that Eve was seduced (II Cor 11:3). Truly the scripture says: "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint" (Pr 29:18). I am afraid that the way into all that God has for us is strewn with the hurt, wounded and "slain" believers who stumbled into the ditch in the darkness. Somehow they failed to see in the light of God how to stay on His narrow way and were taken captive by the foe.
We already have discussed what was represented by the tree of life but for many readers some of its consequences may not be immediately clear. As we have been seeing, it is possible to receive into our being the life of Another. Since this Other is supremely superior to ourselves in every way, what does this imply? How will such a thing effect us? To start with it seems logical to suppose that this other Life, being so much greater than our own, will tend to predominate. In fact, it will want to take over. This of course is exactly what God wishes to do. Once His life is within us, He intends to become the boss ("Lord" is the scriptural term). His will is that we increasingly submit every aspect of our living to His authority. We read in the scriptures that in everything He is to have the preeminence (Col 1:18). All of a sudden we find that independence and "doing our own thing" are no longer acceptable. By opening our heart to Him, we have also gotten ourselves into a situation where we are no longer our own.
Unfortunately many people are "brought to Christ" without this most basic understanding. They are told about a Savior but not about a Lord who is to have dominion over them. They are encouraged to accept the benefits which God gives without any warnings about the commitment it involves. Far too many men and women are urged to "come to Jesus" without even a hint that it means such a radical change in the rulership of their lives. However, as we shall be seeing in the remainder of this book, this change is not only available but essential. This Life into which we have been called is not just a Sunday School story. We have become involved with the God of the Universe and implications of this fact are truly great.
If then full submission to this new Life is the central premise of God's tree, what are the consequences of the other? In order to properly understand the answer to this, we first must look at another being who was created before the fall of man. Lucifer, once perhaps the highest, holiest angel is the one of whom we must speak. All that is symbolized in the tree that brings death can be traced to this one being. Consequently, to fully comprehend this tree and its disastrous effects, we must also have a good grasp on who the devil is and how he got to be where he is today.
In the book of Isaiah we discover that this now-fallen angel is referred to as the "son of the morning' (Is 14:12). Such a title probably indicates that he was formed during the earliest stages of God's creative work. Quite possibly, he was the first being ever created. Still another passage teaches that he was "perfect" and beautiful when he was made (Ezek 28:12). It is probable that this angel was the most powerful, supremely attractive creature fashioned by God and that as such he was also second only to God in the chain of command of the universe. Now most of us would probably think that this would be a pretty good position to hold but for him there was one slight irritation. This lofty place, in the very presence of the Almighty, brought with it one requirement. He had to be in every detail completely submitted to God.
THE SIN OF LUCIFER
One day Lucifer began to notice his own beauty. No doubt the other angels really admired him too. He fully realized that his power and intelligence were unparalleled among them. Concerning his many abilities he knew no one greater, outside of God Himself. His desire to really magnify himself and fully exhibit his grandeur slowly began to grow. As time went by, the constraint of being completely obedient to the Father and using his energy to serve only Him began to wear on his nerves. Here there was just no room for self expression. All his many talents and tremendous creativity were being wasted by just being a servant. How could he really gain the full appreciation of the others which he so rightly deserved under such terrible bondage?
So as we all know, with some such thoughts flowing through his mind, the creature we today refer to as Satan fell into sin. I believe that it should be quite enlightening for us to understand how this happened. Lucifer did not begin by committing adultery with his secretary. He did not initially kill someone or rob an old lady down the street. No, none of these things which seem "so bad" to us initiated his demise. Instead his first sinful act was something which to many people seems quite natural. He made a decision - a decision to become independent. He said: "I will ascend" . . . "I will exalt my throne" . . . "I will be like the Most High" (Is 14: 13,14). Here he cast off all restraint and began to assert his own will, rebelling against God Almighty. This was his premier sin. He left his position of total dependence upon and submission to God and began to exercise his own will in pursuit of his own pleasure. Of course pride was very much a part of this. Lying, spiritual adultery, theft and murder all followed close behind. In fact, all that is contrary to the righteousness of God became his in this single act - rebellion against the one true authority.
With all this in mind, we can now begin to examine the second tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Evidently when Adam and Eve were created, they were lacking something. They did not posses the ability to discern between good and evil. This then placed them in a position where they had to depend upon God. As we have previously discussed, in many respects they were made like their Creator, but in this one area of making moral decisions they were forced to rely upon His guidance and direction. However, there was a knowledge-imparting tree not too far away. There was another "source," another "way" operating in the universe and it was available to them. Although it had been forbidden, it had its representation in the Garden of Eden. By tasting of this tree, the first men could gain something which they did not have - independence. One bite of this fruit and they no longer needed to be in a subservient, dependent position. They could be as God.
THREE SIMPLE LURES
This then is exactly the temptation which deceived Eve and then corrupted Adam. When the serpent came to lure them into his web, he did so with great subtlety. There can be no question that he fully understood the consequences of eating the wrong tree. Evidently he had already been in the business of inducing other beings to follow him in his rebellion and so had plenty of experience. As he spoke to Eve he appealed to three elements of weakness which are still prevalent in the human race today. Somehow, he revealed to her three things: number one, this tree is delicious (the lust of the flesh); number two, it is extremely attractive to look at (the lust of the eyes); and the clincher - number three, just one taste of it will make you wise enough so that you can be independent from God (the pride of life) (I Jn 2:16). Just one little bite would end all this uncomfortable submission to Another and provide her with what she needed to run her own life.
Interestingly, it is these same three attractions that he used to tempt our Lord in the wilderness. No new tactics were used here. First, since Jesus was hungry, the devil tried to get Him to satisfy His own needs by turning stones into bread. (Please remember that it was the Holy Spirit who had driven Him here and therefore it was the Father who was responsible for His welfare.) Next, he works on His eyes by showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in a moment of time. Riches, honor and earthly power are freely available to anyone who will really assert themselves and go after it. Many people in the world today and even in the Church are discovering the power of self assertion. Of course if this is your inclination falling down to worship God's enemy is also helpful. However, I'm confident that he will allow any Christians who are interested to skip this formality (at least outwardly). If they will only use their energies to promote themselves and thereby build up the devil's dark, self-centered kingdom that will certainly suffice.
Lastly, Satan appealed to ego. He said something like: "If you are really someone great as you claim to be, prove it by making a big scene requiring angelic intervention. Show everyone who you really are. Display yourself fully so that we can all admire you. Never mind this dependence on God business, if you are really the Son of God (a King's kid?) you must have some of your own authority. Do something really extraordinary to assert your independence and establish your own personhood" (Lk 4:9-12). How thankful we should be that Jesus had the strength to withstand this temptation. He was one who was truly submitted to the Father. Every aspect of His life was lived in subjection the Father's will. The life that He lived, the works which He accomplished and even the words which He spoke were all in perfect harmony with the directions from Above (Jn 14:10). He came to this earth not to do His own will but the will of the One who sent Him (Jn 6:38).
Unfortunately Adam and Eve did not possess the same strength of character. Their innocence was not equal to Christ's holiness and so proved to be no match for the enemy. When confronted with the prospect of becoming their own masters they jumped at the opportunity. Apparently it did not take long years of wooing by the serpent to convince Eve. One short session on self-expression was all that was necessary to persuade her to violate God's clear commandment and turn her back on Him. She saw before her, easily within her grasp, the possibility of becoming "complete," independent and self-reliant. Little did she realize what other "benefits" also came in the same package. God, with good reason, had warned them not to partake.
At the moment in which Lucifer decided to assert himself, darkness plunged in upon him. By setting himself in opposition to God, his nature was changed to be everything the Almighty was not. God's gracious character, His truth, justice, mercy, righteousness, love, beauty, majesty, etc. had to be withstood in a being who was in rebellion against Him. So Satan's character became the antithesis of all these things. Cruelty, hatred, violence, lying, deception, vanity and far more became the hallmarks of his kingdom. This one decision to disobey changed forever his nature from the glory and beauty with which he was created to one full of darkness and sin.
Sadly, our first forefathers entered into a similar experience. Their one decision to rebel also cost them dearly. Many people do not realize the extent to which these first two fell. Some, while admitting that people today do sin once in a while feel that man is basically good. Actually the problem is far deeper than that. At the bottom of it lies not what we do but what we are. When Adam and Eve partook of this fruit their very natures were changed. They were no longer innocent. The devil's prediction had come true. They no longer needed to depend upon God for instruction concerning moral issues. They had become independent - their own masters. Consequently, they too plunged into darkness and corruption.
THE KNOWLEDGE TREE
I believe it is important for us here to take some time and analyze the tree from which this tremendous deception came. First we might notice that it is a tree of both good and evil. Most people probably imagine that it is a tree of evil only and the other tree, the tree of life, must be the tree of good. However, such is not the case. Here we see that the knowledge of good is also on the tree of which God commanded the first men not to eat. To partake of it is sin. How can we understand such a thing?
To begin we must understand that the tree which causes death is principally a tree of knowledge. This is not simply a tree of "good and evil" but also a tree which imparts knowledge to those who taste it. Its fruit has the effect of conferring the ability to distinguish between what was right and what was wrong. Those who partake of it can know for themselves the difference between good and evil. This "knowledge" enables the possessors thereof to be their own masters. They can then determine their own course in life. It is precisely here that Adam and Eve gained their independence. With this wisdom and discernment, they could analyze their situations and predicaments, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the available options and make a decision. Well, you might ask, what is wrong with that? The problem is just what we saw in the beginning of this chapter. All this can be accomplished in complete independence from God. Such decisions can be taken without submission to and reliance upon the Most High.
When we act in this way, we are being our own gods. We are taking the course of our lives in our own hands. We are acting according to our own wisdom and understanding. This of course is only natural. Everyone does it. In fact, since the fall of Adam and Eve, this is way in which all mere worldlings conduct their lives. But God is looking for those who will return to His original intention. He is searching for those who will not "lean on their own understanding" (Pr 3:5). His desire is for those who will be guided, not through their own intelligence and wisdom, not through their own ability to decide for themselves, but through their communion with Himself.
Adam and Eve were intended to become, as Jesus was, a living expression of the Father. This goal was to be accomplished through communion with and submission to the Father. Eating of the tree of life would have brought His life right inside of them. Thusly the manifestation of God in their lives would be the result of their intimate relationship with Him. By living in fellowship with the Father, all His thoughts, attitudes and character could be infused into them. This relationship of dependence would cause them to then express His godliness to the universe. It would be a kind of "imputed" righteousness which was exhibited through them but did not initiate in them. Instead of this glorious possibility however, they acquired a kind of knowledge which enabled them to exist without God, simultaneously receiving all that this entailed.
Although the independent way is open still to any who choose it, believers in Jesus are called to partake of another tree. They are called to enter into a relationship with their king who will guide them. In fact, He will enter into them and lead them from the inside. He will provide them with a wisdom which does not originate on this earth. He may lead them to do things which from a human point of view are foolish. He will cause them to live in a way which makes tremendous sense from an eternal point of view but may seem ridiculous to those who guide their own paths according to this world's views. You see, the wisdom of this world, provided by the death tree, is foolishness to God (I Cor 3:19). It may seem perfectly logical, but it does not take into account the Divine point of view. Peter, using his own intellect and wisdom urged Jesus not to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross (Mt 16:21-23). How natural, and right from a human perspective this seems! Yet from an heavenly view it was the work and wisdom of Satan.
Can you see how dangerous human wisdom is? Can you grasp how rebellious our own use of the knowledge which we gain can be? Eve and Adam did not. To them it seemed good and desirable. It appeared liberating. It provided them with a means to be independent and self-sufficient. How does it appear to you today? Are you drawn by the thought of being something and somebody? Or are you attracted to the thought of complete dependence upon Another.
HOW WE USE GOD'S WORD
While we are discussing the knowledge of good and evil, the ability to know right and wrong, we must also touch upon the use of the scriptures. The Bible was given to us by God. Every word was breathed from His mouth (II Tim 3:16). It is profitable for correction, reproof and training in righteousness. We cannot, and in fact we would never wish to dispute this fact. However, it is also true that the scriptures can be used wrongly. For example, Satan in his temptation of Jesus quoted the word of God. Many, many people down through the centuries, including some people of God, have used and twisted the scriptures to their own destruction (II Pet 3:16). The Pharisees are a good example of this fallacy. They knew from God's text exactly where the Messiah was to be born, yet they did not go to worship Him. They understood that the price of blood could not be accepted for an offering when Judas returned his money (Mt 27:6). Yet they were the ones who paid it! They daily searched the scriptures (Jn 5:39) to know what was right and what was wrong, yet they would not come and submit themselves to Jesus.
How easy it is to eat of the wrong tree. It is all too possible to use even the Bible to discover what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is evil and then use this knowledge to run our own lives. The hypocrites of Jesus' day are not unique. Today also we encounter many who use the scriptures frequently, yet they are not really submitted to God. Once we discover for ourselves the correct and the incorrect way, we are then empowered by this knowledge to act in an independent manner. We can run our own life according to "scriptural" principles. We can know good and evil for ourselves and make our own decisions accordingly. This kind of activity is not only possible, it is common. Many Christians imagine that they can pattern their life according to biblical laws or New Testament principles and thus be pleasing to God. They dutifully study the scriptures, discover what is right and wrong, good and evil and try to live by this knowledge. In this way we fulfill the scripture "going about to establish their (our) own righteousness, they (we) did not submit to the righteousness of God" (Rm 10:3).
Hopefully, from the foregoing discussion you can begin to see the error of this strategy. The question here is not "right and wrong." They are both on the same tree &endash; the one that causes death. Instead the question is to learn to live in communion with and dependence upon God. He is the one who is to lead us. He is the one to solve our moral dilemmas. He is the one who will give us understanding of how and what we should do. A true intimate walk with God entails a great degree of childlike innocence, not knowing so much how to deal with life and all its problems but trusting moment by moment in the Father. Certainly the Bible is one of the chief vehicles through which God will communicate His will to us. Our concern is that we should be daily becoming more dependent upon Him and less self-sufficient.
Did you know that the Bible can cause spiritual death? In its pages it says exactly that! Paul teaches us that the "letter" of the Bible kills (II Cor 3:6). This means that it is possible to use the scriptures in a wrong way which ministers spiritual death. If we take Bible knowledge into our own hands and act with it independently from God, we become ministers of death and bondage. Like Eve we can eat from the death tree and share its fruit with others. We can become people full of knowledge, knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, knowledge of what we should and shouldn't do, knowledge of what is "scriptural" and what is in error. Then armed with this knowledge we may go about to lay this information on others, expecting them to begin to act as we do. This is the ministry of death.
DEAD CHRISTIANITY
I believe that you can confirm this from your own experience. Have you ever met Christians who thought they knew it all? They were more right than anyone else about almost everything. From the pages of God's book they had synthesized a whole scheme of doctrine to govern their (and others') behavior. While there may be little of their teaching which seems in error there is a "flavor" about the whole experience which does not seem right. The sweetness of Christ is missing. The attitudes and character of Jesus is not dominating. Instead what is conveyed is a sense of demand, conformity and self-effort to try to reach some standard. This is the ministry of death. It is eating from the tree of right and wrong; good and evil. It is using the word of God, yet not being truly submitted to Him. Obedience to the demands of the law is not the same thing as intimate communion with our Lord. Under the New Covenant, lack of intimacy with God is really rebellion against Him.
The Apostle Paul explains that it is the Spirit that gives life. The same biblical words which could cause death ministered by the natural man, when used while operating under the authority and control of the Holy Spirit, give life. Paul said he was a minister of life (II Cor 3:6). His use of the Holy Scriptures was not something derived from his own intelligence. It did not come from study and memorization. Although I am confident that he meditated daily in the scripture, he knew how to submit himself to God. He understood that he was not qualified to act independently, interpreting and expounding the things of Christ by himself. He knew how to be a vessel under the control of Jesus. He knew how to eat of the tree of life. Those who understand this secret convey a different impression. This fruit also has a distinctive flavor. Underlying the personality of those walking in life is the unmistakable sense of the divine. There is something about them which conveys the sweetness of the One whom we love.
THE LAST MINUTE
Perhaps the foregoing understanding of God's will will help us understand why so many times we must wait until the last minute for Supernatural deliverance. How many times have we cried out to God, waited and waited and then taken matters into our own hands just like King Saul in the Old Testament? We must learn to be dependent completely upon God. Time and again He will test us to help us see how we still rely upon our own strength. As we have seen, this subject is very close to His heart. It is at the center of His will concerning man. True Christianity is a life lived in complete dependence upon the Father. This requires a daily, close relationship with Him. Without this, the only choice is to eat of the forbidden tree and with the help of its fruit steer our own course.
How we need to cultivate an intimate relationship with Jesus. Only in this way will we be partaking daily of His life. It is this life which will fill us and guide us throughout the day. And it is this life which will pour out of us to others in a truly spiritual ministry. Jesus is the fountain of life. He explains that if we come to Him, He will be in us a fountain of life (Jn 7:38. 39), bubbling up, spilling over and transmitting this life to others all around. In relationship to spiritual things there are two kinds of "knowledge." One could be called a knowledge about God. The other is the knowledge of God. The first comes from mental study of available information, the second from intimacy with Him. These, dear friends, are the two trees. They are both available today. Which of them are you choosing?
CHAPTER 4. THE TWO NATURES
What we have been seeing in the previous chapters of this book is that from the beginning, God had a marvelous plan for man. His deepest desire was to create a being similar to Himself who could become His bride. Our God was not content to be alone forever but fashioned mankind with the capacity to receive His own eternal life. Being full of His life, men could then become qualified to enter into this unspeakably holy union with Himself. This then is the central issue in the universe today. The impartation of Divine life and the changing of mankind into what he needs to be in order to fulfill the Supernatural design is at the heart of all that is taking place in the spiritual and physical worlds. Failure to comprehend this most basic revelation will severely hinder us in our walk with Jesus and our working together with Him to accomplish His will on the earth.
Many people suppose that when God's work in us is finished, we will have "returned to Eden." In other words, they believe that God is trying to get us back to the original state in which Adam and Eve were found in the Garden. This, they presume, would be the ultimate in sanctity. However, this is not the truth. As we examine these original creatures which God made, we discover some serious deficiencies. In their original state, they could never fulfill God's design. In the first place, as we have seen in the previous chapters, they did not contain God's life. This then disqualified them from entering into a marriage union with Him. Then secondly, we see that they did not have a holy nature like His.
Yes, Adam and Eve were sinless. Many Bible scholars describe their first state as "innocent." But as we see, innocence and sinlessness are not the same thing as holiness. God is supremely holy. This is the essence of His nature. And because He is holy, we read that He "cannot be tempted with evil" (Js 1:13). Sin does not interest Him. There is nothing, I repeat, nothing in His holy being which is the least bit interested in sin. In fact He hates it! On the other hand, when Adam and Eve were tempted, what happened? They fell, and they fell quickly. You see, their sinless, innocent state was no match for the devil. It was not the same thing as God's holiness.
So then if mankind is to enter into a marriage union with the Most High some changes need to be effected in his being. First he must receive the Divine life, and secondly he must have a holy nature. Our God says: "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (I Pet 1:16). Further we read about "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb 12:14).
Some in Christian circles today would like to skip over the matter of holiness altogether. They would assert that being born again is enough and that true righteousness is something which we will only get later on, after we die. A little improvement is O.K. with them but serious deliverance from all sin is a little too hard and impractical. "After all," they say, "who do you know who is really holy?" Others would like to relegate holiness to something which only exists in the mind of God. They would assume that we are already holy because God looks upon us as being holy. We don't actually need to be righteous because God's requirements are already satisfied by Jesus and therefore holiness is not really a requirement. These ideas raise many issues which I do not have space to deal with here but will treat in a subsequent chapter entitled "The Blood of the Covenant."
Suffice it to say here that as we honestly read the New Testament we encounter real holiness. The apostles were holy people. The New Testament believers were constantly urged to purify themselves, to abstain from sin, to avoid temptation and sensual pleasures. Here in the Bible we read about a righteousness which was "down to earth." It was visible. People could see it exhibited in the disciples! It was not some airy fairy, "pie in the sky some day when you die" kind of holiness but was something which emanated from the lives of the followers of Jesus. I am not saying that they were all perfect, but most of them certainly were not wallowing in fleshly indulgences and sins and excusing themselves by saying that God considered them righteous. These disciples were loving, longsuffering, giving, forgiving, sin hating people. They did not habitually practice sin. And their example is for us. The way they lived is the same way we should live in this present evil world.
This then brings us to the crux of the matter. How is this possible? How can we sinful human beings ever be holy? How can we possibly approach the standard of being as holy as God?
To begin we must understand a very important principle. Every life has its own nature. For example, a dog barks because it has the dog's life within it. It is the nature of the dog's life to bark. An apple tree produces apples because it is the nature of the apple tree life to produce this kind of fruit. This is an inalterable principle in the universe which God has made. You will never see dogs singing like birds or apple trees bearing bananas because it is not the nature of their lives to do such things.
In the same way human beings sin. It is the nature of the fallen life which we inherited from Adam to sin. You never have to teach children to sin. It comes very naturally. It is a spontaneous product of the life which is in them. I know a woman whose mother believed otherwise. She thought that sin was something which was learned from others. So, when her daughter was young, she sheltered her from all outside, evil influences. She protected this child and nurtured her like a tender plant, free from all stimuli which might corrupt her. Then finally the day arrived for this "perfect" child to be introduced to the world. The mother took her precious daughter to visit another young girl in the neighborhood. Well, it wasn't too long before an argument arose between these two children and behold, the "perfect" child was seen beating the other girl over the head with a doll! Sin is a product of the fallen life which we inherited from our father, Adam.
Now let me be very clear about this. People do not always sin every minute of every day. Apple trees do not always bear apples. Dogs do not always bark. But they will eventually. It is inevitable. Given time, the sinful life within the human race will always produce fruit. It is impossible that it could not fulfill its nature and do so.
In exactly the same way, holiness is a spontaneous product of God's life. God exhibits righteousness because the Life within Him is completely righteous. He is perfectly and purely holy. There is no sin lurking deep within His being. He has no darkness within Him. God is not trying to be holy. He just IS. Furthermore, our God is the only being in the universe who is like this. Therefore, there is only one way to exhibit this same holiness. We must be filled with His holy, sinless life. That's right. The only way to be truly righteous is to have the Righteous Life inside of you. As you live by this life, you express its nature. As this perfect life manifests itself through your being, you will exhibit a wonderful holiness. This righteousness is "not your own" (Philip 3:9). Although it is being seen in you it is really the righteousness of Another. I believe that this important fact bears repeating. The only way to be holy is to live by God's life. When we receive Jesus, we receive an uncreated, holy life. And when we live by this other life which we have received, we manifest the nature of that new life.
LIVING BY THE FATHER
Jesus is an example of this. He no doubt received a human life from His mother, Mary. But He also received the Divine life from God. Our wonderful Savior consistently chose to live His life by the higher source. He said, "as the living Father has sent Me and I live by the Father. . . "(Jn 6:57). Jesus had the living Father within Him. Furthermore, He "lived by the Father." This means that every aspect of His living was dominated by the Father's life. His thoughts, His feelings, His actions, His reactions, even the expressions on His face were the product of the Supernatural life by which He was living. Therefore He was a complete expression of the Father. In all that He said and did, the Father was manifested. In another place Jesus asserted, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father who lives in Me, He does the works" (Jn 14:10). You see, Jesus was not "expressing Himself." He was not speaking His own words or even doing His own works. He was in every detail of His being subjected to His Father. The life of the Father was flowing through Him and the nature of the Father was pouring out of Him. Jesus was a perfect, complete manifestation of God Almighty.
In the very same way, we can live by Jesus. (Please don't miss this. This must be one of the most important revelations of the Bible.) We can be motivated in every aspect of our being by a supernatural life. Jesus explains: "As the living Father has sent Me and I live by the Father, even so he who eats Me, even he shall live by Me" (Jn 6:57). This is really exciting. We can live by another Life. We can actually have a substitute Life animating every aspect of our being. And this life is holy. This life is pure. This life cannot be tempted by sin. It is in every aspect righteous. Hallelujah! This is a great and wonderful truth. We mere human beings, born into a sinful race, can be reborn into another. We can become one of the sons of God. We can receive the very life of God and then, living by that life, express His holy nature to the world. This is true holiness. This is not something which exists only in the mind of God. It is not a righteousness which is invisible. This kind of righteousness is real, practical and down to earth. It is something which the church of our day desperately needs.
This is a wonderful idea, you might say, but how is it possible? There are several aspects to this question which we will be exploring in the remaining chapters of this book, but the most important one is revealed right here in the above verse. Jesus instructs us to eat Him. He asserts that if we eat Him, we will be able to live by Him. In another place He states that, "unless we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood" we will have no Life in ourselves (Jn 6:53). This word "life" here in the Greek is ZOE, referring to the Life of God, which we have discussed in previous chapters. So we see that eating and drinking Jesus is the key to living by His life. When we fill ourselves with Him, He is manifested through us.
THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNION
This then brings us to the question of communion. To have "communion" with someone means to have intimate fellowship with them. When we commune with another, we get together, open up our hearts and have an intimate exchange of ideas, words and feelings. This meaning of the word "communion" is very biblical. Also in the church today we "take" or have communion. This refers to our "reenactment" of the Lord's supper where we participate together in eating bread and drinking wine. What we can understand from this is that having intimate fellowship with Jesus is the act of eating and drinking of Him. When we come into His presence, open up our heart to Him and have an intimate exchange, we are partaking of the body and blood of Jesus. It is having communion.
Such intimate communion in the spirit is an essential part of the Christian life. Without it we will "have no life" in ourselves (Jn 6:53). (If you consider yourself to be a Christian and have no idea of what communion with God means, please, seek out someone who walks in intimacy with God to help you. Don't go another day without intimacy with God.) Fellowship with God is at the heart of a genuine Christian experience. It is the root of all of our spiritual walk. Without becoming legalistic, I must insist that this be our daily experience.
How can we enter into such communion with God? To begin we must experience a deep and thorough repentance. We must put out of our lives everything which we know is displeasing to God. It is impossible to enjoy intimate fellowship with God while being involved in something which we know He doesn't like. Think about it. If you are wanting to have a good time visiting with a friend or relative but you are doing something of which they disapprove, doesn't this affect your time together? Certainly it does. In the same way, when we are involved in activities or attitudes which grieve the Lord's heart, this will limit our intimacy with Him. You cannot have sweet communion with Jesus and have known sin in your life. And without this communion, you will never be full of His life and express His nature. The only alternative then is to hope that He thinks that you are righteous when you know that you are not. Personally, I believe that we should adjust our lives to conform to God's word rather than seeking out a doctrine which will excuse us for remaining the way we are.
Next, all of us need a thorough and complete consecration. We must offer our beings as a living sacrifice to God (Rm 12:1). Our body, our soul and our spirit must be God's. Our mind, our emotions and our will must be yielded to His control. Our possessions, our hopes for the future, our plans, our families, our finances: all these things must be completely and without reserve offered upon His altar. Unless we are completely willing to obey Jesus in every aspect of our lives, this will hinder our communion with Him. Believing on Jesus is one thing, following Him wherever He is going is another. To have sweet fellowship with God, we must be obedient to His voice. We must be willing to go with Him where He is going. Truly Jesus has said: "where I am, there will My servant be also" (Jn 12:26).
All Christians need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This too must be our experience, not just a doctrine. I have no interest in debating when or how we can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. I only know that it is essential and biblical. Furthermore I do not see how it is possible to be filled with the God of the universe and not know it. To be filled with God's Spirit, we need to open up our lives completely to Him. Our hearts must be ready and willing to receive what He wants to give. After our repentance and consecration, we are then in a position to yield our hearts and open ourselves completely. He will fill us with Himself. The giving of the Holy Spirit is a promise from God. Seek Him and you will find Him. If there is any hindrance, He will reveal it to you if your heart is sincere. Remember, God will never force Himself on anyone. You must be completely ready and willing if you are to receive all that He has to give.
EATING GOD'S WORD
God is revealed in His word. This then is where we can go to experience "eating" of Him. We can feed upon Him in His word. The prophet says: "Thy words were found and I did eat them, and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jer 15:16). When we open our Bibles, we must at the same time open our heart to Him. We must seek Him in His word. When you read the Bible, don't concern yourself so much with trying to understand everything. Instead, I would like to recommend that you seek to have fellowship with God in its pages. Allow Him to speak to you. Pray about what He is revealing. Reread the verses or passages which He illuminates. Meditate upon what God is revealing to you about Himself. Commune with Him. In this way you will be eating spiritually. This will cause you to grow and to be full of Divine Life. When such spiritual eating is your daily habit, you will begin to actually "live by Him" (Jn 6:57). Then you will spontaneously begin to express God's nature to the world.
As a new Christian I read the Bible quite a bit. It was a new and living book to me. But as time went on I wanted to understand everything, especially about prophecy and the book of Revelation. Soon I was reading the Bible with the thought of trying to figure things out. I wanted to understand the beasts, the horns, the three frogs and all the rest of this fascinating revelation. Continuing on in this way for some time I began to notice a problem. This holy book which had previously been so living and refreshing became kind of dry and my enthusiasm for reading waned. This caused me to cry out to God. What was the problem? Why was my time in His word so unsatisfying? In answer to my prayer, God led me to a verse. It read: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (Jn 1:4). From this I realized that it is the Divine life which produces illumination. Trying to understand the Bible did not produce life. But filling myself with God through communion with Him was not only satisfying but, through it, He was revealing things from His word to me.
DRINKING GOD'S SPIRIT
God is also poured out to us through His Spirit. Not only can we eat of His word, but we can also drink deeply of His Spirit. All we have to do is open our heart and let Him pour Himself into us. All that He is, is abundantly available to us through the Spirit. I love the fact that God has poured out His Spirit. He didn't dribble it out. It isn't given sparingly. "Pouring" implies the emptying out of everything. He is not giving it out grudgingly a little at a time. This means that we can have all we want. If there is a lack in our drinking, it is not on God's side. His will is for us to partake as much and as often as we wish.
We can drink of God's Spirit in prayer. When we come into His presence as we fellowship with Him, we can drink of all that He is. Praying in the Holy Spirit is a wonderful opportunity to partake of communion with God. At these times, try allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your prayers. Don't just pray about your troubles. How would you like to have a friend who only spoke about his or her problems all the time? Allow the Spirit of God to fill you and lead you in these times of intercession and fellowship. When you are in God's presence, don't do all the talking (Ecc 5:1). In fact, it is better to do more listening. Your loving Father has much to reveal to those who have a willing and receptive heart.
Also, our times of worship are an opportunity to open wide and drink. Not only publicly but in our private times with Jesus, we can drink of His Spirit through our worship. When we worship, it is important that we humble ourselves before God. "Worship" and "pride" are opposites. In our present world, we find very little of the attitude of prostrating ourselves before another and worshipping them. Yet God is worthy of such praise. When we come before Him with an open and humble heart, spiritual worship becomes a tremendous enjoyment. In fact, I know of no greater pleasure on earth than to enter deeply into a worship experience before the throne of God. This too is drinking of the Spirit of the Lord.
Eating and drinking of Jesus in the Spirit will fill us with His life. And being full of His life will cause us to manifest His nature. True holiness and righteousness are a product of God's supernatural life. This is truly a wonderful thing that we human beings can be animated by the life of Another. We can allow a Higher life to take control of our mind, our feelings and our decisions. We, who were born mere mortals, lower even than the angels, can receive an uncreated Life and actually have this Life live through us. Jesus can fill our being. We can become vessels which contain a great treasure. Instead of expressing ourselves and our fallen nature, we can allow Jesus to reveal Himself through us to the world. We can truly "live by" Him (Jn 6:57). Our responsibility therefore is to fill ourselves with this Life. True communion is an absolute necessity in the Christian life.
The Divine life manifests the Divine nature. It never can or will happen any other way. Only the life of God truly manifests His nature. Keeping the Old Testament law and the commandments can never arrive at this same goal. The reason for this is that these outward ordinances are "weak" (Rm 8:3) because they operate through the flesh. Obeying the law requires the operation of your own will and determination. It requires your own efforts. It involves living by your own life. While a very strong person may be able to arrive at some semblance of "law keeping" and therefore an external righteousness, this does not satisfy the true requirements of God. We read that "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight" (Rm 3:20). Why not? It is because law keeping does not penetrate into the heart of man. It cannot change his true nature. Only the substitution of, or the "exchange" of, our life for His can effect the changes which He truly desires.
IMITATING GOD?
The best we can do with our own efforts is arrive at sort of an imitation of God. Who wants an imitation? Certainly not God! He says that the righteousness which we can achieve with our own efforts appears as filthy rags to Him (Is 64:6). In this context I am reminded of a picture I once saw in a magazine of a chimpanzee dressed up like a man. He had on a hat, a suit coat and even a tie. He was smoking a big cigar. Now even though he was dressed like a man, everyone could see that it was only a chimpanzee. In the same way, many believers are trying very hard to act like God. They have a certain dress code. They wear their hair in a special way. They have a great variety of things which they do or don't do to try to appear holy, just like God. But anyone with spiritual eyes can see, this is just chimpanzee Christianity. It is an imitation of the real thing. It is just a human being trying to dress and act like God. How silly this is.
Not only does this truth apply to keeping the law but it also applies to living by "New Testament" principles. While many Christians understand that keeping the law can never satisfy God, instead they are trying to live their life by following a whole set of New Testament principles. They have studied the book from front to back and from it synthesized a whole set of do's and don't's, should's and shouldn't's. In fact, there are Bible teachers traversing the country, if not the world, propagating exactly this kind of Christianity. They believe they are not "keeping the law" but have found a new way to please God, i.e. following New Testament principles. Unfortunately, this method will never meet God's standard either. This too operates only through the efforts of the flesh. It too is chimpanzee Christianity. Our God is only satisfied with His son. He is the One with whom the Father is well pleased (Mt 17:5). It is only when He sees His son being manifested through us that He is content with what He sees. Only God's life manifests His nature.
In recent years there has been a campaign called "What would Jesus do?" Following this method, we are urged in every situation, before we act or speak, to stop and try to figure out what Jesus would do. Then we are instructed to try to act as He would. The fact that people want to express Jesus is commendable. I don't want to be too negative. But the truth is that this method can never approach God's holy requirement. In the first place, how can we possibly know what Jesus would say or do in any given situation? It is true that we have the New Testament where we can read about many things which Jesus said and did. However, one thing we discover there is that many times Jesus was unpredictable. What He said and did was very unexpected. It is impossible for us to anticipate or imitate His words and actions. The second thing we learn is that He said and did everything by living by the Father. What we so desperately need today is not an imitation of God but an expression of God. What the world requires is to see God, manifesting Himself through us. This can only be accomplished when we live by Another Life.
The Holy Spirit which God has given to us is not just some kind of additive. Many Christians seem to believe that while the Jews could never keep the law, as evidenced by Jewish history, Christians can, because they have a new fuel in their tank &endash; the Holy Spirit. With this new additive, now they have the power to do what the Jews could never do without it. Please understand this clearly. The Holy Spirit was not given to energize the flesh or strengthen the natural life so that it could live like God. This is far from the truth. Instead, the "spirit of life (ZOE) in Christ Jesus"( Rm 8:2), was sent as a replacement. The old life, which we inherited from Adam is defective. It cannot be fixed. It can and will sin as long as it is active. No amount of correction or suppression can change its nature. The nature of the old life is to sin. It must be replaced. The good news is that we can receive and live by another Life. This Life always expresses the Divine nature.
Some may then ask, of what use is the law? Why do we have written for us so many Old and New Testament principles? God has given us His law for a very important reason. It is to show us how far short of His righteousness we are. It is to convict us of sin. When we are acting in a way which does not manifest God, it will expose us. The law has its application for "the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for killers of fathers and killers of mothers, for murderers, for fornicators, for male homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers" etc. (I Tim 1:9,10). God's standards have not been lowered. Just because we have "become dead to the law" (Rm 7:4), just because we have been forgiven, does not mean that we have been liberated to sin. NO! God's standard of life is even higher. What we are saying here is that the righteous requirement of God can never be met by the old life operating through the flesh. No matter how well-intentioned, self-controlled or determined we might be. Only God's life can meet His standards. Only He is truly holy.
The law is a picture of God's holiness. It shows us, in a limited way, how pure He really is. Suppose I could show you a picture of my wife. You could see her hair color, her eyes and her beautiful face. But let us further suppose that I could bring her to meet you. How much more than her picture she is. She would be insulted if you continued gazing at her picture and paid no attention to her. She is the fulfillment of her picture. In the same way, Christ is the fulfillment of the law. He is not less holy. He does not give us permission to sin. His intention is to fill us with Himself. He wants to live in us and through us in such a way that the law is a mere shadow of the righteousness which He will display through His people.
Dear friends, I pray that our Father will give you a complete understanding of these things. Truly it is a mystery. Mere words can never convey the magnitude of this revelation which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27). My hope is that in some way, through this writing, you can be stimulated to seek for more of God and that you will enter into such an intimate communion with Him, that with time, you will be able to declare as Paul did: "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20).
CHAPTER 5. THE SENTENCE OF DEATH
In the past several chapters, we have been speaking about the fact that as Christians, we have two lives and two natures. From our father Adam, we received a natural, human life (PSUCHE Greek) with a fallen, sinful nature. When we are "born again" we receive from God the Father an uncreated life with the divine nature (ZOE Greek). Every believer in Jesus has within his being two lives which manifest two different natures. Consequently, when we live by our natural life, we express our sinful nature and when we live by the new, divine life, we manifest the holy nature of God. It is here then that Christians encounter a dilemma. How is it possible to be full of and manifest the life of God? Furthermore, how is it possible to be free from the old life which is constantly producing sin?
In the last chapter we spoke of the necessity of communion with God in order to be full of His life. Here we will focus on God's wonderful plan to deliver us from sin.
To completely understand the plan, we need to fully comprehend the corruption of the human nature. When Adam and Eve partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, a profound change took place within them. The very nature of their lives was altered. They became sinful. The human life within them, which before was pure and sinless, became polluted with sin. The fruit of the fallen life is sin. It is the spontaneous product of the fallen life which is within them.
Men today sin, not because they slip up once in a while and do something wrong, but because it is their nature to do so. What comes out of them is simply an expression of what is within them. Although the full expression of this sinfulness is kept somewhat in check by governments, pressure from others and the human conscience, at various times in history this sin-principle has been unrestrained. Perhaps the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the more recent example of the Nazi "holocaust" will adequately illustrate this point.
Some may argue that man is not entirely sinful. Sometimes the natural man can produce some really laudable sentiments and actions. It is certainly true that men can and do exhibit good qualities, but sooner or later everyone does sin. It might be in some hidden, secret way, perhaps even only in their minds, but all men sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rm 3:23). If only we could see deeply into the heart of every man as God does, no doubt we would find in every "good" thought or deed an element of self-satisfaction, pride or selfish motive. This taint of "self" disqualifies the person from being truly righteous as God is. The truth is that man is irreparably sinful.
Perhaps a good way to understand the problem would be to think of a pitcher full of fruit juice. This juice is healthy and delicious in every way. But let us suppose that someone comes along and drops just a little bit of poison into the juice. The whole container of juice becomes contaminated. It becomes undrinkable. Theoretically there is plenty of "good" juice in the pitcher. But all of it has become undrinkable. There is no way to safely separate the poison from the juice. The only solution is to throw the whole thing out. Depending on the container, even it too must be discarded.
When God created man, He gave them instructions concerning the tree of knowledge together with a stern warning. He said: "in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen 2:17). God pronounced this sentence with good reason. To partake of this tree was to have their natures changed; their lives polluted. The only solution to this sin problem is to eradicate the sinner. The sinner, in order to sin no more, must surely die. In the universe which God created, this is the only way. The solution for sin is death. God's original pronouncement was and is true today. The Bible reads: "he who has died has been freed from sin" (Rom 6:7). This is the only possibility to rid humanity of sin. The race itself must be eliminated. The contaminating poison cannot be separated from the juice. All must be thrown out. Paul, the apostle, confirms this truth in his own life by stating: "but we had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (II Cor 1:9).
THE DIVINE PLAN
In the preceding chapters, we have been seeing that God created man with a marvelous plan in mind. His divine desire was to create a creature in His image and likeness who would eventually receive His life and become His bride. With the fall of mankind, it appeared that this desire of our Lord's was thwarted. What had originally been pure and good had been contaminated with evil. However, our God is extremely wise. Even before the foundation of the world, He foresaw that all of this would happen. With this foreknowledge, He planned and prepared a way to eventually accomplish all that was in His heart.
The first part of His plan which we have been understanding is that God has offered to human beings a substitute life. This Life of God (Eph 4:18) which we can receive through Jesus Christ is truly the answer. It is this Life which pleases God and it is this Life which does not and in fact cannot sin. This is the ZOE Life about which we spoke in chapter 2.
The second part of the plan which we will be investigating here is how the old soul-life, with its old nature can be eliminated. (Let us be very clear here that we are not speaking about losing our physical life, but about our soul-life or PSUCHE.) There is only so much "room" in every human being. We cannot be filled to the brim with two "lives" at once. In order to be filled with God's life (ZOE), we must be delivered from our own (PSUCHE). As we have been understanding here, the solution to the problem is death. We must surely die.
Here is an aspect of the gospel which all too few Christians understand. Many people receive Jesus with the hope of some great improvement in their lives. Perhaps they are led to believe that they will feel better, they will find the solution to all their problems or even that they will be come rich and prosperous. But the truth of God looms over them. Jesus stated clearly, "If any man will come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24). To receive God's gift of Life and follow Him means that you must die. You, yes you &endash; sinner &endash; you must be eliminated from the universe. This is the only solution for you. It is an integral part of God's plan. Although we perhaps prefer to focus upon the love of God, our death is also part of the gospel and to really understand the gospel, we must understand the aspect of death very clearly.
Have you really been convicted of sin? Do you really understand in the light of God how evil you are in your inward parts? Are you really repentant, not only for what you have done but also for what you are? When you received Jesus, did you do so with the understanding that it was the end of your own life? If you cannot honestly answer "yes" to these questions, then you are not right in your relationship with Jesus Christ. You have not really understood the gospel and you are in danger of missing most, if not all of what God has in mind for you.
Let us take a little time here to speak of baptism. Clearly baptism is an integral part of the message which Jesus preached. We read: "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mr 16:16). Paul and the other apostles also practiced baptism. But what does baptism mean? It means that we are ready to die. To be immersed under water is not a bath. It symbolizes drowning, dying. We are baptized into Jesus' death (Rm 6:3). Our baptism signifies that we are confessing that we are worthy to die and that we are in fact ready and willing to experience the death which Christ has for us. It means that we have understood our sin and God's judgment upon it. Our baptism testifies to the end of all that we were, are or ever would want to be. We are agreeing with God's sentence of death and are ready for Him to apply it to us. If you have been baptized without this clear understanding and conviction, then you have truly missed the message of Jesus Christ.
DEATH AND RESURRECTION
Jesus said: "He who believes in me, even though he dies, he shall live"(Jn 11:26). Here is a great and important mystery. In Jesus Christ, we can actually experience death, yet still live. God's unalterable judgment that we must die can be executed upon us without eliminating us completely. Our Father, in His great wisdom, has made a way for us to pass through death, yet not be destroyed. In Christ, what we are as a natural human being can be crucified and be replaced with all that He is. We can pass through death into Life (I Jn 3:14).
Those who are in Christ Jesus do not bypass death. They pass through it. The necessity for God to eliminate sinners has not and cannot be changed. If He were to allow sinners to enter into His eternal kingdom, they would pollute the new world, just as they have polluted the old one. No amount of restraining or retraining the old nature will qualify it to enter into God's kingdom. It must be and will be eliminated. Glory to God that He has made a way for us. In Him, we can both experience death and resurrection. Just as Noah in his ark passed through the judgment of God, yet was not killed, so in Christ, we too can pass through death into Life.
The cross of Christ is at the center of the gospel message. This Roman instrument of torture and death is at the core of Christianity. But what does it mean? It is not just a Christian symbol or piece of jewelry. It speaks of the termination of life. It means the end of you. It means you are finished. Your hopes, your dreams, your opinions, desires, cares, plans and future are all gone. You yourself in fact have been judged and crucified. There is no longer any room for your "self" in the universe of God. And in your place is the Life of Another. Someone greater and more worthy than you is ready and willing to fill your being with all that He is. No longer will it be you who is seen and heard. No longer will it be your will that is done. No longer will what you care about predominate. Instead, the God of the universe will use your mind, emotions, will and even your body to do His will upon the earth.
When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, in some spiritual way, which is hard to understand, we also died with Him (Rm 6:4-6). When He was raised from the dead, we also were raised up with Him. The cross of Christ is a place of death and resurrection. It is there that an important exchange is made. On the cross, we exchange all that we are for all that He is. Our soul-life with its sinful nature dies and His life with its holy nature lives in its place. We decrease and He increases (Jn 3:30). Our death with Him is a wonderful deliverance from what we are which makes room for the in-filling of all that He is.
If you are willing and ready for this, it is a great blessing and deliverance. If you have not settled in your mind that this is what you need and want with all of your being, then you will have great difficulty experiencing any spiritual progress. Without the experience of the cross, there is no true Christianity. Without the death of Christ operating within us, there can be no genuine walk with the risen Lord. Only through the cross of Christ can we be free from what we are and be filled with what He is. It is the cross which brings us into God and God into us in a powerful, supernatural way. Without death, there can be no resurrection. (See Pilip. 3:10,11).
In order to walk in "newness of life" (ZOE) (Rm 6:4) we must first pass through death. This is not something that happens all at once. It is a gradual process. If we are willing to walk with Jesus, we will experience death every day. Paul writes: "I die daily" (I Cor 15:31). As the life of God grows up within us, the experience of the cross deepens. We are "always carrying about (while) in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the Life of Jesus also might be manifested" (II Cor 4:10).
The application of or the experience of the cross of Jesus Christ &endash; the execution of God's sentence &endash; is made real to us through the Holy Spirit. It is not something which we can do to ourselves. No amount of effort will serve to alter the inner nature of our soul-life. Even striving to "deny ourselves" will not arrive at the goal. As we simply learn to walk in the Spirit day by day, all that is in Christ is made real to us. The death of Jesus on the cross becomes our daily experience as we are continually filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that applies the death of Jesus to our natural life and nature. His word says: "if by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (have ZOE Life, Greek)" (Rm 8:13).
This truth will help us understand the great need to be filled with God every day. Our natural abilities and strength are of no use as long as they are under the control of our old PSUCHE life. Unless we are walking daily in the Holy Spirit and the light of God, we will never be free from what we are as natural men. We will never have a life of victory over sin. Only through the action of the Holy Spirit making the death of Christ real to us will we have the daily experience of resurrection.
Here is the secret of true Christianity: the experience of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This secret was demonstrated by the three wise men who came to see the Lord at His incarnation. These wise men brought three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Myrrh is a spice which the men of that era used for embalming dead bodies. Therefore, this gift speaks of the death of Christ. Frankincense is an incense which, when burned, gives off a sweet smoke which ascends upward, referring to the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Gold is the only metal which does not oxidize or rust. It represents for us here the incorruptible nature of God. Joining all these things together gives us a marvelous picture. The experience of the death and resurrection of Jesus brings us into the possession of the divine nature, the pure gold of all that He is.
THE OFFENSE OF THE CROSS
If you are reading this message and are in no way offended, perhaps you are not understanding what is being said. The preaching of the cross is truly an offense. It is a point of stumbling for many. When Jesus explained to the great crowd of His followers that He would be crucified, most of them left. They were offended with the idea of death. Jesus plainly tells us that He is a "stone of stumbling and rock of offense" (Rm 9:33). The very idea that what we are can never be acceptable to God is a bitter pill to swallow. To admit that we are sinners and that we need to be replaced with Another is humbling to the greatest extent. Therefore, only those who humble themselves can ever enter into God's kingdom. Truly Jesus said: "blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" (Mt 11:6).
The cross of Jesus Christ often causes offense. To yield unto death areas of our lives which we love and appreciate may be difficult in the extreme. What we are by nature, which may on the surface seem so good, is in reality a hindrance to God's best. However, in the heat of our situations this truth may be difficult to see. While there may be obvious problems in all of our lives which we are only too happy to be rid of, it is not uncommon to find that God wishes to slay something in us which we count precious. We must be ready for this. Our faith must rest in God, believing that He is able to raise up from the dead something much better than we have given to Him.
Unfortunately many people walk only so far with Jesus. Although they may continue to be "good church members" and lead outwardly moral lives, inwardly they are resisting the Holy Spirit. They have gotten to some point which they refuse to yield to God and there they stay. In reality such people have stopped following the Lord. These believers are in a very dangerous spiritual position. The hardening of a man's heart toward God can be so slow it is almost imperceptible. But in the end the result is destruction. Nothing of the old life will be able to endure in the presence of God. Our old, Adamic nature cannot inherit eternity.
The work which Jesus Christ did on the cross was complete. It is utterly sufficient to change us into His image from one degree of glory to another (II Cor 3:18). No part of our life has been labeled "too difficult." God has opened the way for us to be made new completely. However this experience does require some of our own cooperation. God is not going to force us into anything. We must be willing to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross and to follow Him. No doubt the old nature will resist this crucifixion. Many times everything within us will cry out that this is too much, this is too hard, this can't be God's way, this can't be "real Christianity." The love of of self is the enemy of the cross and therefore the enemy of Christ. To recognize it for what it is and to condemn it with the same judgment which God has passed upon it is the only way we will be able to walk in newness of life and resurrection power.
When Jesus was explaining to the disciples that He must die, Peter, one of His most ardent followers, argued with Him saying: "Lord, this shall not happen to you" (Mt 16:23). In other words, he was saying: "Don't be so hard on yourself. Surely you don't need such a drastic solution." This too is often our response today, we think that to experience the cross is too hard, too difficult. Surely in the love of God He must have an easier way. But what was Jesus' response to this plea for self pity? He said, "Get behind me Satan. . . for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (Mt 16:23). God's solution for sin is death. Jesus died in our place, so that through Him we could pass through death and into Life.
Some Christians mistakenly think that Jesus was the "second Adam," thus indicating that He came to start over and do a better job where Adam failed. However, this is not the case. Jesus Christ was the "last Adam" (I Cor 15:45). When Jesus came to this earth, in God's eyes the race of Adam ended. Fallen, sinful humankind was finished. The Most High's judgment upon them was being carried out. When we enter into Jesus, we become part of a new race of beings. We become a new kind of creatures (II Cor 5:17). Now we are of the divine race. We have become the "sons of God" (Gal 4:6). The old "Adam" race is past and a newly generated type of being is coming into its own. Although this work is happening in secret, someday when the sons of God are manifested (Rm 8:19), all that has been done through Christ will become evident.
A COMMON MISUNDERSTANDING
Now I would like to take a little space here to address a common misunderstanding. Sometimes in the New Testament these truths concerning the cross and our becoming new creatures are stated as if they had already happened. Galatians 2:20 reads, "I have been crucified with Christ," seemingly indicating a work which is already done. Colossians 3:3 states, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." There certainly is a sense in which this is true because when Christ died His work was completed. He said: "It is finished" (Jn 19:30). However, this can cause confusion in believers' minds. Many do not realize that this crucifixion must be made real to them. They do not understand that biblical truths are of no value to them unless they enter into the experience of them through the Holy Spirit. Some mistakenly think if they simply "believe" that they are already changed completely, they then are. Others imagine that since they have been forgiven, everything is now O.K., not realizing that this was just the beginning and that God still has important work to do in them.
The truth is that unless we enter into the experience of these things they will do us absolutely no good. Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world but only those who through faith enter into Him are benefited by it. In the same way the fact that we have died with Christ and have been raised with Him will do us no good whatsoever unless we through faith and obedience enter into the reality of it. It is not enough spiritually speaking to simply claim our "position in Christ." That "position" must become our experience. If we do not enter into this good land which God has given us and possess it, then even though it is ours in theory, we will not obtain it. We must by faith in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, yield ourselves daily unto His death so that He can raise us up to walk in newness of life.
WHY DO WE SUFFER?
It is obvious from a careful reading of the New Testament that suffering is a large part of the Christian experience. Although some would like to try and eliminate suffering from the gospel, it is written clearly in each book of the New Testament. Since Christ already suffered and died for us, why is it necessary for us to suffer? Once again, this has to do with our entering into the experience of Christ. The Bible reads: "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin" (I Pet 4:1). Peter teaches us that we are "partakers of Christ's sufferings" (I Pet 4:13). Paul states that we "are partakers of the sufferings" (II Cor 1:7) and that he was entering into the "fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil 3:10). These and many other verses clearly show that followers of Jesus Christ will experience sufferings, not only from the devil but also from the hand of God. Why is this necessary and how does it work?
One important reason God allows suffering is to bring about change in our lives. Everyone in the world suffers in some way or another. Yet they are not changed into the image of Christ. But the suffering which God allows serves a very important purpose for those who are entering into Life. The difficulties and pain through which we pass in this life work in us to expose sin. When we suffer, our reaction to it is very often sinful. We complain, we become impatient and lose our temper, we become whining, self-centered individuals. We become angry, bitter, unloving and hateful. Our severest difficulties bring up from deep within us all kinds of ungodliness. Suddenly our own righteousness, our own goodness, does not work any more.
For example, when someone else has caused you extreme emotional or physical pain for many years, sooner or later, your own strength to endure runs out. Your heart changes toward them. You would like to see them dead. You have become a murderer! No wait, you have not become a murderer, you always were one, it was just hidden within you from yourself and others. This and many other similar reactions are exposed within us by the operation of suffering.
Unless and until we have really suffered, we do not really know what we are like within. God, however, knows what lies within our hearts. Therefore, He allows us to suffer to expose to us what He already sees. Suffering is God's backhoe. Through it, He digs in our hearts to reveal the depths of evil which reside there. Often we are tempted to think that we are not really that type of person, it is just the sufferings of our situation which have caused us to become like that. My friend, let me tell you a secret. Nothing can come out of your heart that is not already in there. It is "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Lk 6:45). We sin, because sin lives in our hearts. It is our nature to sin. In every human being lies secretly hidden the most repulsive of reactions and desires. All it needs is the proper opportunity to express itself. Murder, lust, hate, unclean passion, gossip, lying, greed, pride, jealousy and many more detestable things live in every natural man. If you do not know this about yourself, then you have not yet really suffered and have not had the opportunity to really repent before God for what you are.
Suffering then brings us the opportunity to die. When sin is exposed within us, we then have the wonderful opportunity to deny ourselves. We can deny our self-life the right to express its natural reaction to our situation. We can, through the Holy Spirit, die to self and live to God. This is how suffering can work for our good. When we suffer and we find within ourselves ungodly reactions, we can cry out to God that He would substitute what He is for what we are seeing that we are. We can fervently pray that we would not be allowed to live, expressing such vileness, but that He would live in and through us. We grow spiritually, not merely by suffering, but by turning to God in the middle of our suffering. Through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the death of Christ can be applied to our old life (PSUCHE) and a new eternal Life (ZOE) can live in its place. Jesus has already passed through death for us. When we enter into Him, that is we enter into His presence by the Spirit in the middle of our sufferings, there we will find His resurrection glory.
There is often a great temptation when we suffer to arrange for our own deliverance, to find a way of escape from the "situation" which is causing us pain. And, as Peter with the Lord, there will always be some well-meaning person nearby to encourage us to do just that. How easy it would be to just climb down off the cross and to spare our natural life suffering and death. How easy it is to "get that divorce" or move away from an uncomfortable situation. However, if we take this way, we will never enter into all the fulness of Christ and His resurrection glory. The choice is ours to make everyday.
No comments:
Post a Comment