As children of God, we're made in His Image and Likeness. Genesis 1:27 tells us we were made in spirit, just like He is Spirit. In Genesis 2:7, God formed a physical body for His spirit man to abide in and to be able to contact the things in the natural world He had created for him. The part of us that was created in God's Image is the spirit that lives within this flesh and blood body.
Paul made mention of our true body and our flesh and blood body, referring to our natural body as the house we (our spirit) lives in, in 2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified) saying, "For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)-not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we should be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
We've walked so long in the natural body (the clothing of the spirit), that we have begun thinking that's who we really are. The real you is the one who lives in this "house" of flesh. We say in the natural world, "Let's go to Jim's house." The house isn't me, but it's the place I reside. In order to see me, you must enter into my house. God has chosen to "enter into our house" and abide in our spirit. 1Corinthians 6:19 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a gift) from God? You are not your own."
We sometimes forget that it is our new born again spirit that has been born again into God's very Image and Likeness. This isn't some religious ritual we attend, but a complete rebirth back into His Image. Through our faith and grace through Jesus, we've been restored back into what our Father had in His heart when He first decided to make His children in "His Image and Likeness."
We still see ourselves as "forgiven sinners" and not as what the Father has caused us to be, which is sons and daughters of the Most High God. And, because we've not fully realized what the new birth was all about, we still are waiting to become what He has already made us to be. The only thing left to be done, is to receive our new body, our eternal body in heaven. This natural body will die one day (unless the rapture comes first), but you will not die. You've already received eternal life in your spirit and are already in His Image.
Jesus said as much in John 4:24 (Amplified) saying, "God is a Spirit (a spiritual being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth (reality)." In John 6:63 (Amplified) Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the life giver) the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truth) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life." Jesus also spoke about the Spirit in John 10:30 (Amplified) saying, "I and the Father are One." Jesus said that "God is a Spirit" and then He said that "He and the Father are One." Jesus was saying that it was not the Man they saw Who performed the miracles.
Jesus said that, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the work." We just read in 1Corinthians 6:19 that it is the Holy Spirit (God) Who lives in us and has made our body a sanctuary and dwelling place. So, it's not us who has to do the "works," but He Who lives in us. As born again believers, we are now made again in His Image and Likeness. We possess spiritual abilities that we've never learned to walk or live in. Mostly, though, we still live for and in the flesh more than the spirit.
Our spirit has now been made one with God like He desired in the beginning. 1John 4:17 (Amplified) says, "In this (union and communion with Him) love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment (with assurance and boldness to face Him) because as He is so are we in this world." How is He?
He is a Spirit Who has put off His house of flesh and has put on His new house made of the heavenlies, according to 2Corinthians 5:4 which tells us that "Jesus' Body was swallowed up by life after the resurrection." Jesus is a Spirit Being living in a glorified body that is Lord over death, hell and the grave. Jesus cannot and will not ever die again. Although we don't have our new body that is made in the heavenlies, we do have a spirit body made by God in His Image and Likeness. The body you now have will either die and be glorified in time to come, or won't die, but be changed in the "Twinkling of an eye" at the gathering up of the Church.
1Thessalonians 4:15-18 (Amplified) tells us, "For this we declare to you by the Lord's (Own) Word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede (into His presence) or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep (in Him in death)." Verses 16&17 go on, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God, and those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first, Then we, the living ones who remain (on the earth) shall simultaneously be caught up along with (the resurrected dead) in the clouds to meat the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord." Verse 18 says, "Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words."
All of God's children, through faith in Christ Jesus, will have a glorified body like our Jesus has now. Jesus received His glorified body in the resurrection and we (the Church, the Body of Christ) receive ours at the resurrection of the body when the last trumpet of God sounds and the Church is raptured. Even now, before we receive our new glorified body, we are made (in the spirit) into His Image and Likeness again.
We have again, in this new being, the attributes and character of the One Who begot us with His Own seed according to 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) which says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is immortal by the everliving and lasting Word of God." These attributes don't live in your body, but in your spirit which is in His Image and Likeness. The "super" has overtaken our "natural" and we now have the supernatural ability of our Father.
We've never really been taught to rely on our spirit, but only to try controlling the flesh by willpower and law. If we would only learn to rely on the ability of our born again spirit and the Holy Spirit Who lives in us, then we would find that our walk with God would be so much easier and much more exciting.
Through our new spirit, we have the ability to speak words of "Life" to spiritually dead men. We can lay hands of life and healing upon those who need it and restore life and health to them. We have access to the Father anywhere and anytime through Jesus. We can stand in our Father's presence, just like Jesus does, because it's His righteousness that we stand in. We can now have the boldness that we are born again "As He is, so are we, in this world."
Do we dare believe that God's Word is true and we are actually in His Image and Likeness? Or, do we remain unsure of what His Word says and remain just "Forgiven sinners?" Are we sons or still servants? lost or found? dead in trespass and sin or alive again unto God through Christ Jesus?
No comments:
Post a Comment