Our Being

Acts 17:26-28 ESV 

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

He gives us life that we might find His life that we might join Him in our life with His. 

He brings our spirits to life, helps us as we move from our darkness into His light,

 until we are living as one in Him in life everlasting. 

He is not far from us because in Him we live. This applies even to the one who rejects the Lord. If a cup of clay rejects the idea of a potter, it has no meaning or impact on the reality of cup and potter. The same is true of the reality of man and God. 

He has crossed the impossible expanse between Himself and man and shows us the way to make that journey. He will make journey with each of us and lead the way. 

Testimony Of Conscience

2 Corinthians 1:12 ESV 

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.

Our conscience enables us us decide between right and wrong. We can do this because of our knowledge of good and evil. The forbidden fruit has opened our eyes that we might be able to see the grace of God. Our conscience is a witness of that knowledge made possible through the disobedience of one man. Grace is made possible through the obedience of another man. 

Through the knowledge of good and evil, we can now choose the fruit from the tree of life. Now we can make an informed decision in choosing Him. 

One Last Thing

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:31 - 2:2

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

The finished creation is the combining of heaven and earth in the image of man made into the image of God. 

This takes place in the body of Christ. 

He is the radiance of God wrapped in our flesh.  

The light of the word spoken into our darkness. 

Our Home

John 14:23

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Our home on earth is an amalgamation of time and place filtered through our experience and memory. It is an artifact of our mind and is thereby unique to us. 

Our heavenly home is the reality of God who makes His home in us. 

 

To Unite All Things

Ephesians 1:7-10

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Colossians 2:9

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

Jesus is the meeting point of heaven and earth, and in Him they are joined as one. The divine takes the shape of a son of man, as The Son of Man. He is the first and beginning of the new creation known as the body of Christ. We become the dwelling place of the Lord. A suitable companion will rise from here. 

Visible And Invisible

Colossians 1:16-17 ESV 

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Creation includes heaven and earth. God existed before His throne in heaven was established. 

God was invisible to man until He took the shape of a man. The light of the world made Him visible in the man named Jesus. 

His creation is composed of the visible and invisible. The waters below and the waters above. Of heaven and earth. Of spirit and flesh. Of light and darkness. The light makes all things visible. 

There is an expanse between them. 

The Firstborn Image

Colossians 1:15 ESV 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

The only begotten. 

Not born from below and reborn from above. 

The beginning of a new creation. 

Born in the latter days of creation, yet the firstborn of all creation. 

In the sixth day and final day before God rests. 

When we are made in the image of God, we become like Christ. 

We enter the body of Christ, just as He entered our flesh. 

That is where we become one with Him. He wraps His life in our flesh and we receive His life in our own. 

Jesus is living because God is living. He brings the life of God to us. 

The light of the world makes the Father visible in His face.  We can behold His face as we gaze into a mirror and witness our transformation into His image. 

We cannot be made in His image until He was born in our image.