In 1 Corinthians
2:1-2, the apostle Paul explains that he had not come to them with superior speech or
wisdom; that is, with great philosophical platitudes, theological treatises, or religious
jargon. He determined to know nothing more when he was among them except Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. For in that person, Jesus, and His death upon a Roman cross was not only
contained all the purposes of God but the fulfillment of those purposes. What more was
there to know?
Many Sons to Glory
Not only were God's eternal purposes fulfilled in Jesus Christ
crucified, but Jesus set in motion an adoption program whereby God as Father would birth
for Himself many sons to glory just as He, Jesus, was the Son of glory. Whatever was
fulfilled in Jesus was predetermined to be fulfilled in the many sons as well.
Jesus was Himself justified by the very life He lived and, thereby,
became the justifier of all who believe in Him. Through faith in Him who justified, the
believer becomes as He was--justified.
In this same vein, He was the righteousness of God. In Him we are made
the righteousness of God. "For He [God] has made Him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). "Who
His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed [saved, made whole]"
(1 Peter 2:24).
Whatever He was and is, He is that for us. He is our redeemer and our
redemption. He is our justifier and our justification. He is our savior and our salvation.
He is our sanctifier and our sanctification. He is our glorifier and our glorification.
The revelation of who Jesus is comes to us in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power (1 Cor. 2:4ff). For "God has revealed them unto us by His
Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God" (v.
10). This is why we've been given the Spirit--why we have to go on to Pentecost, into the
Holy Place--so that we might know by the Spirit the things freely given to us by God (v.
12).
What has God freely given to us? His justification, His sanctification,
His glorification; that is, His salvation. How did He do that? By giving us Himself in the
form of human flesh, made like a man yet without sin. He gave us Jesus Christ crucified.
And when we received Him through faith, we became what He is.
Now this is powerful stuff--the kind of stuff that can only be revealed
in the power of the Spirit. It is not a wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age;
that is, of natural, temporal sources. It is that wisdom that comes from God by having the
mind of Christ. "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct
Him? But we have the mind of Christ" (v. 16).
What are you going to instruct God? What could you possibly instruct
God, you who are mere creatures of God? If we have the mind of Christ, we have that wisdom
that is not of this world. We have godly wisdom. We know who God is and what God wants. We
instruct Him according to His word and His will.
What is the model prayer Jesus taught His disciples? He told them to
pray "Our Father..." From this beginning they were instructed to approach the
throne of God boldly and make their request. Their every request was in keeping with God's
word, will, and eternal purposes. Yet, they were to instruct Him through prayer to answer
their prayer--the very thing God wants to do.
I am finding that we get our best and most out of God when we make a
demand upon Him to impart Himself to us. God desperately wants to impart all that was
given by Jesus at the cross. But He will never impose Himself upon us. He always positions
Himself so we might seek after Him. He is always approachable, always accessible, always
present, never allowing us to suffer the lack of Him beyond our ability (1 Cor. 10:13),
but He is not cheap.
He cannot be purchased, but He is not cheap. It cost Jesus everything
which He freely laid down for our sakes. "Let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8).
The Abandonment of Self
For His believers to attain Him, though He is freely given, they must,
as He did, abandon themselves in pursuit of God. We have preached a cheap believism gospel
that has deceived multitudes. Only by the grace and mercy of God will they enter into His
glory.
But "this gospel of the kingdom" which calls for our
participation into His death (Rom. 6:3-11) and a sharing in His suffering (Phil. 3:10) is
being restored by the Spirit of God today to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see.
The irony of the gospel is this: that the only way one can come into
the things of God--that is, into God--is through the willful laying down of his own life,
to follow Jesus in His baptism. He was baptized in water which was the sign at the
beginning of His ministry that pointed to the spiritual baptism of His death and burial.
"Are you able...to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with...?"
He poignantly asked His disciples. They answered, "We
are able." Then he promised their baptism in His suffering by saying, "You
shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with" (Matt. 20:22-23).
Jesus returned to glory through the path of death, resurrection, and
ascension. He had to go to and through the cross. Those who wish to go to glory with Him,
to share in His glory, must themselves take up their cross daily and follow Him (Luke
9:23). This is the abandonment of self.
To Become like Jesus
"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of
this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory"
(1 Cor. 2:7-8).
There is a predestined glory awaiting the sons of God that is likened
unto the glory of the Son of God. Had the rulers of this age been able to understand this
mystery, this irony of the cross, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
Now generally the rulers of this age are thought of in Scripture as
being demonic forces (Eph 6:12). Satan himself is described as the prince of the power of
the air (Eph. 2:2). Jesus destroyed all the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
So it stands to reason that what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 2:8 is
that Satan would never have carried out the death of Jesus had he known that His death
would mean His glorification. Satan moved upon covetous and power-hungry men to crucify
the Lord of glory and in the process destroyed his own works--another irony of the gospel.
"But as it is written,"
Paul quotes from Isaiah
64:4, things were happening that "Eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him"
(1 Cor. 2:9).
This verse has been tossed about like pearls cast to the swine by those
who want to use it to claim material possessions for themselves. "For what shall
it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark
8:36).
Let me ask you--and beware! Your answer will give you away. If you
could make this verse to mean for you that you could either gain the world or attain to
all of who Christ is, which would you choose? Would you still choose Him at all cost to
self, to life, to material gain? What, after all, was the problem with the young ruler who
wanted eternal life (Luke 18:18ff)? The scripture says he went away sorrowful because he
had much riches.
Can a rich man get to heaven? Certainly! As long as his riches aren't
his god; as long as he does not put his trust in them to the extent they rule him; as long
as he could give them up for the sake of the gospel.
Ah! There is so much more here than anything in this old world could
ever offer in a million lifetimes: to become like Jesus! To be revealed before the whole
world as a glorified son of God. Not that we seek the glory for self, but for the glory of
God that we might truly be to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:6, 12).
Now here's what we're coming to: what has God prepared for those who
love Him? Healthy bodies? Cadillacs? Come on. Look at Him closer. What does God want? Read
1 Corinthians 2:7 again, "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory."
What God wants in us is the very same as He had in Jesus. Jesus was the
pattern, the blueprint, the temple, the head of the body. Follow Him through His life,
death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
We are being manifested (brought forth, made visible, revealed) as sons
just as He was the Son. Now we are not gods. Don't run off with this. Don't get arrogant.
Remember, the only way that anyone can get into the Kingdom of God is on bent knees.
The devil's counterfeit to this end-time manifestation of sonship is in
the New Age movement whereby arrogant men think that they are gods and that they can
perfect themselves and their world by getting in harmony with one another and creation by
means of meditation and all other demonic occult practices.
How can the created ones ever expect to be in harmony with anything
apart from their Creator? It is foolishness that is leading straight to the pits of hell.
But where there is a counterfeit, there must be a reality. There is a
glory that awaits the true sons of God.
To Become What Jesus Was
The glory of the sons is that they take on the nature of the Son. This
is radical and hard to say, but it translates thus:
As He was the righteousness of God, in Him we become the righteousness
of God. As He was perfect without sin, we become perfect without sin in this life. "Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt.
5:48). Would God ask of us something impossible? With men it is impossible, in the flesh
it is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke
18:27).
Jesus was justified before God, thereby became our justification,
thereby our justifier, thereby we are justified just as He was.
Jesus was sanctified before God, thereby became our sanctification,
thereby our sanctifier, thereby we are sanctified just as He was. (We are sanctified by
the blood [Heb. 13:12], the word [John 17:17], and the Spirit [1 Cor. 6:11]).
Jesus was glorified (John 13:31; Acts 3:13) before God, thereby became
our glorification, thereby our glorifier (Rom. 8:30), thereby, we are glorified (Rom.
8:17) just as He was.
The strength of what I'm trying to say is in the phrase "just as
He was." Scripture bears me out. John, writing about Him in the context of love,
said, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we
shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
Jesus is manifesting Himself--that is, revealing Himself--more and more
even before He comes in all of His glory. Those to whom He reveals Himself are themselves
being changed into His nature.
When Moses came down from the mountain after being in the presence of
God for forty days, He not only shone forth the glory on his face but had the word of God
within him. He had that Law within Him. He knew the heart of God and felt what God felt.
That's why he threw the tablets of stone down when he saw harlot Israel dancing orgies
around their golden calf.
The more you are in the presence of God, the more you will become as He
is.
You are becoming whatever you fellowship in--whether in sin and the
world or in righteousness and heavenly things. "Bad company corrupts good
morals" (1 Cor. 15:33 NAS).
To Become the Word
In the past we've tried to attain to the things of God by appropriating
the word of God. We've tried to get healed, delivered, and blessed by confessing the word.
We talked about getting the word down into our spirits.
The reality of it all is that nothing can be attained by trying to
appropriate the word. We are going to have to become the word. Jesus was the Word made
flesh. As we are in Him and He in us, we too become as He is, the Word of God. As He was
the Word made flesh, we who are flesh are being made the word.
As He is love, we are love; as He is peace, we are peace; as He is joy,
we are joy; as He is patience, goodness, kindness, et al., so are we.
As He is the Spirit, so are we of the Spirit. The gifts of the Holy
Spirit are simply the impartation of the Spirit Himself. When we operate in the word of
knowledge, this is not a thing we have, but the person of the Spirit which comes from
being in relationship with Him.
We don't just have a gift from the Spirit, we are given the Spirit and
thereby become one with Him. We are either one with Him or not. The Bible says we're one.
It's like mixing water with water. When His Spirit causes our human spirits to be reborn
after His very nature, we have Spirit mixed with Spirit; not our spirit, but His.
On Becoming God's Instrument of Himself
Jesus said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). If you
ask for anything for self, you only show that you're not really abiding in the word. If
you abide in Him and His word abides in you, you not only want what He wants, but you
become the means through which He gets it.
God wanted people healed. So He sent Jesus to heal. Jesus never prayed
for anyone to be healed. He healed them. He then commissioned us to go and do
likewise--lay hands on the sick and heal them.
God did not want people possessed and oppressed with demons, so He sent
Jesus, the deliverer, to set the captives free. Jesus didn't pray for them to be set free.
He cast the devils out. He then gave His disciples authority to tread upon serpents and
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy with the assurance that nothing by any means
should harm them (Luke 10:19).
God did not want any man to perish, so He sent His only begotten Son
that whoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Jesus doesn't pray for people's salvation. He shed His blood and thereby forgave them of
their sins and saved them.
He then commissioned His disciples to go, teach, baptize (Matt.
28:18-20). We are to certainly pray for people's salvation. But too often that's as far as
we go. We have even been given authority to forgive sins: "Whose soever sins you
remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins you retain, they are
retained" (John 20:23).
This authority to forgive sins offends our minds, but consider further
the strength of a preceding statement in verse 21: "As My Father has sent Me, so
send I you." The Father sent Jesus bearing the same life of which He, the
Father, was. In the power and authority of that life, Jesus not only acted on behalf of
God, but was God. It was God's life. Throughout his gospel, John pounds in the idea that
whoever believes in Jesus has this life within them also. Now think about that!
We are not nor ever could be the Savior. Jesus alone is Savior. We had
best give up trying to save people in our own strength. No one can ever be saved by the
shedding of our blood any more than by the blood of goats and sheep and bulls (Heb. 10:4).
Jesus alone is the Savior. We are atoned only by His precious, righteous, holy, undefiled
blood. Praise His holy name.
Nevertheless, we are His witnesses. The message of evangelism today is
that the winning of souls cannot and will not be achieved through programs, printed
tracts, campaigns, etc., but at the hands of those who dare to become as He is: living
epistles--His life let loose in the world.
As He lives and moves in and through us, molding us after His nature,
filling us with His Spirit, pouring us out with His life, then and only then will the
world see, come to know, and be won over to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
"...As He is, so are we in this world"
(1 John
4:17).
What things has eye not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered the heart
of man? The revelation of the glorified Jesus and the revealing of His crucified
ones--bearing His image to glory.