Just The Right Time

Christ appeared on earth at just the right time, witnessed to God the Father, then ascended into heaven. 

We are now the body of Christ, we give witness to the Father, and will ascend into heaven at just the right time. 

In Bodily Form

Luke 3:21-22 ESV 

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

When we are baptized and seek the Lord, the Holy Spirit descends and inhabits our bodies, taking shape in you and me. We become a bodily form as a dwelling place of the Spirit. 

The Lord welcomes us as the beloved sons and daughters that we are. 

With you He is well pleased. 

A Letter From Home

Scripture speaks of Christ and in the word we can hear Christ speaking. It’s a letter from home, for our home is now a different place. We are just passing through. Earth is still home for those who have not been moved into the kingdom of heaven. 

Organic Transformation

Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

There is a difference between knowing and comprehension. The first is abstract and the second is organic.  Knowing can include a thought or belief that is held in the head. Grasping or comprehending is when that thought or belief seeps down into the heart and soul. It is no longer something that is contemplated from a distance, but becomes one with the body of the contemplator, the organic transformation in body of Christ. 

Transformation of the mind leads to transformation of the body which is what happens when we are created in the image of Christ. 

If we have the mind of Christ, we will soon have the body of Christ. Flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. 

We are the body of Christ here on earth. We are like He was on earth before He ascended into heaven. We are given the mind of Christ He had during His time in the wilderness. We have the Holy Spirit. 

We are in the collective body of Christ for now. We can have our individual body of Christ in the time to come. 

Do You See That?

The knowledge of good and evil allows us to understand the darkness inside of man. It gives us the lens to open our eyes to the existence and difference between the two. Knowledge does not automatically translate to wisdom. That comes from God. 

What Should We Believe?

Titus 1:15-16

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

What we profess should find agreement with the way we live. If they don’t agree, believe the works. 

Covering Both Ends

The image of God is the Son of God. He was with God in the beginning. In the end, we will be made in the image of Christ. He is the beginning and the end. 

After The Image

Colossians 3:9-10 ESV 

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Renewal of the self depends on our ever increasing knowledge of the Lord. This knowledge is found in the word which acts as a mirror. There we see more clearly who we are and who we want to be. “Being renewed” implies an ongoing and continuous process. It only ends on earth when we have completed our journey. 

Life Is For Learning

Matthew 25:19-21 ESV 

Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Life is for the learning. There is a test at the end. God will ask the questions. He is the witness of record and the ultimate judge. 

Understanding The Word

Psalms 49:20 ESV 

Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

A man full of himself without the understanding that comes from God is like a beast of the field. Here today and gone tomorrow. 

Understanding comes from the word of God. The one who does not have the word has nothing to say of eternal value. 

A Hearer Of The Word

James 1:22-23 ESV 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

Hearing the word of Christ goes past the ears and deep into the soul. To those who have ears, listen to what the Spirit says. 

You Renew The Face

Psalms 104:30 ESV 

When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

We are reborn and made anew when we receive the Holy Spirit. The light of creation shines on the seed of the word and is planted in the earth of man. The face of the deep has parted and the face of the earth has emerged. It that ground our spirits rise to join with His. The new creation is closer than we might think. 

The new earth and the new heaven speaks to the union of God and man. 

An Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-4 ESV 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Where is our inheritance from our Lord Jesus Christ? Where is the promised land for those in the body of Christ?

It is the kingdom of heaven within us that will be revealed at the return of the Lord. We have received a down payment that is part of our inheritance. We have begun to walk in the kingdom of heaven when we receive the Holy Spirit. He brings the assurance and reality of this transaction to our hearts. It is a peace beyond understanding. 

The Spirit of God was with Adam in the Garden of Eden. With us, the Garden is not on the outside, but within us. 

Adam was the son of God (Luk 3:38)because the Spirit was with him in the Garden. God placed him there. 

We are the sons and daughters of God because He is with us, and more intimately than He was with Adam. (Rom 8:14) God has come to where we are. The forbidden fruit can still be tempting in the Garden of our hearts, but He is here to help. 

In Heaven For You

1 Peter 1:3-4 ESV 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Where is our inheritance from our Lord Jesus Christ? Where is the promised land for those in the body of Christ?

It is the kingdom of heaven within us that will be revealed at the return of the Lord. We have begun to walk in the kingdom of heaven when we receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was with Adam in the Garden of Eden. With us, the Garden is not on the outside, but within us. 

Adam was the son of God because the Spirit was with Him. We are the sons and daughters of God because He is with us, and more intimately than He was with Adam. 

Luke 3:38

the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Wonderful Are Your Works

Psalms 139:13-16 ESV 

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

God is forming us in His image. This is happening within the creature of the earth known as man. His light has entered our empty and formless darkness. We are becoming reborn in the womb of the earth and will be revealed at the last day. He has prepared in advance a path and life of good works for all those who would receive it by His hand. 

What is done in secret will be shouted from the rooftops. Praise be to God!

The Bride of Christ

Genesis 2:21-23

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

The Church is the body of Christ. The Bride of Christ will be taken from the body of Christ. She will come from a small part of His body. These will be His disciples. The Bride of Christ is built up in a partnership between mankind and God. Christ makes it possible to follow Him and will help us on the way. Being a disciple of Christ is the way, but it is a way we must go. The one who goes and perseveres to the end and thereby conquers and overcomes the flesh will be rewarded by His blessings. 

A New Thing

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 ESV 

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has been already

in the ages before us.

 Isaiah 43:19

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

Jeremiah 31:22

How long will you waver,

O faithless daughter?

For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:

a woman encircles a man.”

There is nothing new under the sun, except for what the Lord has done. He has taken a people for Himself from mankind, from the body of the man Jesus Christ. They are known as the Bride of Christ. They encircle Christ, even as He is with them. They have become one. 

There is nothing new under the sun, but there is something new under the Son who is the light of heaven. It is a new creature and a new creation. The sons and daughters of God. 

Human Being

Being human describes a man of the earth. 

Human being describes a man of the earth who has joined with the life of God.

This is the new creation that is given form as heaven and earth become one. 

The Key

The key to long life is Jesus Christ. He holds the key to eternal life. 

Everything In Front Of Us

Philippians 3:13-14 ESV 

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

As we walk with Jesus, let us always look ahead to where where we are going. While watching our steps to keep from stumbling during the day, let us not lose sight of our destination and the reason for it. Ahead of us lies the promise of our Savior. The blessings of heaven await as we complete our transformation into the image of God. 

There is nothing behind us and everything in front of us. 

Press On

Philippians 3:13-14 ESV 

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

As we walk with Jesus, let us always look ahead to where where we are going. While watching our steps to keep from stumbling during the day, let us not lose sight of our destination and the reason for it. Ahead of us lies the promise of our Savior. The blessings of heaven await as we complete our transformation into the image of God. 

There is nothing behind us and everything in front of us.