In 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) the Apostle Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, said this, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
By the standards of what we have come to believe by today's religious standards, the above scripture is a startling thing. Paul went on to say in Verse 17, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away, Behold, the fresh and new has come."
Paul was saying to today's Church, that we've been given the opportunity to know Jesus in the ingrafting of the Spirit, better than those who walked with Him as a Man (in the flesh), during His earthly reign. The new creation people we've become (or have been created to be), not only know Jesus is a greater way than those who walked with Him, but we're ingrafted into the very same kind of being that He is today. Jesus took upon Himself, flesh, in order to die in our place and to restore life back into our spirit.
We are called God's children and we've been distinguished as Jesus' being the Firstborn of many brethren. Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Spirit Himself (thus) testifies together with our own spirit (assuring us) that we are children of God. And if we are (His) children, then we are (His) heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (sharing His inheritance with Him)."
Paul said above that, "The Holy Spirit Himself, testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children." With this, we can better understand Paul's saying in 2Corinthians 5:16 about our "Knowing Christ better and sharing in a knowledge of Him in then Spirit, better than those who knew Him as a Man." Paul writes in 2Corinthians 13:4-6 (Amplified), "For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He goes on living by the power of God, and though we too are weak in Him (as He was humanly weak), yet in dealing with you (we shall show ourselves) alive and strong in (fellowship with) Him by the power of God. Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves (not Christ) Do you not yourselves realize and know (thoroughly by an ever increasing experience) that Jesus Christ is in you- unless you are (counterfeits) disapproved on trial and rejected? But I hope you will recognize and know that we are not disapprove on trial and rejected."
Once we understand who we really are in Christ, we must stop trying to make God prove Himself. Paul said, "But for us to prove ourselves to see if we are holding to the faith." We've been taught and heard that "Certain things and powers are not for everyone" and "Certain Gifts of the Spirit have passed away." We seem to be constantly praying and seeking "proof" of god in our lvies. Paul instructed us to "Stop proving Jesus and prove ourselves."
According to the revelation Paul was given by the Holy Spirit, "We have such knowledge of Jesus that we no longer know Him in terms of the flesh, but by the Spirit." No one understood Jesus or knew Him the way new creation people can know Him, when He was on earth. Most of what we're taught about Jesus, is derived from the Gospels about the Man from Galilee. We identify with this Man, but we've failed to identify with the Risen Christ in us. Many of us believe that only Jesus can do the works of God, but when we begin seeing who we are in Him as a new creation, we can understand what our earthly mission is.
When Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it it in heaven," He intended for us to do God's will through this new creation and to bring things back into God's plan for mankind. We see Jesus work the healings and miracles throughout the Gospels and He repeatedly said, "It was not Him, but the Father in Him, that was doing the works." Jesus also said that, "He came to do the Father's will." We are supposed to be doing the things Jesus did during His earthly mission on earth.
The things we see as miracles, are God intervening in men's lives in order to bring things back into order with Heaven's will. Because God's will wasn't being done on earth as it is in Heaven, so God sent Jesus to restore what He had intended for His creation. If God's will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven, then God needs His children to do His will.
We've been taught that everything that occurs must be God's will. If this was true, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to do God's will, because it would simply just be done all the time. As God's representatives, we are to represent God's will in heaven, here on earth and we are to be feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the helpless and preaching the Gospel. But, Jesus sent His disciples to do more than than, in Luke 10:8-12 (Amplified) saying, "Whenever you go into a town and they receive and welcome and accept you, eat what is set before you; and heal the sick in it and say to them, the Kingdom of God has come close to you But whenever you go into a town and they do not receive and accept and welcome you, go out into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we are wiping off against you; yet know and understand this, the Kingdom of God has come near you."
If we, the Church, would take upon ourselves the ability to heal the sick and do the miracles that accompany the new creation, we would allow the Kingdom of God to be seen to all the world. The ability to heal and do the things Jesus did, came with the new birth. We are a super-natural people.
Jesus said in John 17:15-18 (Amplified) that, "I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world) (Just) as I am not of the world. Sanctify them (purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy) by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world."
We know Jesus didn't send us into the world to die on the cross for the salvation of mankind, therefore, what was it He was sending us into the world to do? To bring God's will in heaven to pass on the earth. We can be confident that the sickness and suffering we see on today's earth, isn't how Heaven functions. Jesus said in John 14:12 (Amplified), "I assure you; most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to My Father."
We've mostly skipped over the above scripture and have said, "He did these works because He was Jesus," but that's not what Jesus said. Jesus said that, "These signs will follow those who believe in His Name," in Mark 16:17-18 (Amplified). Thus, He said, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new languages, They will pick up serpents, and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them, they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well."
Let's return to 2Corinthians 13:5 (Amplified) where Paul says, "Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing proper fruit of it. Test and prove yourselves (not Christ)." We don't especially like to read such scriptures, because they make us aware of our lack of faith. But, Paul also said that, "I hope you will recognize and know that we are not disapproved, on trial and rejected."
We haven't been raised on the full Truth of God's Word. We are of a Kingly Seed and Bloodline, One of the Super-natural Seed of Almighty God. You are royalty. We've been commissioned to bring Heaven's way of "doing and being right" into the earth. Everything Jesus did was to demonstrate how things are in Heaven. When Jesus saw a man who was blind (there are no blind men in Heaven), He simply brought God's will in Heaven into the earth, and God brought sight to the blind eyes. When Jesus saw a man with a withered hand, He simply brought God's will "as it is in heaven" to bear on earth and the withered hand was restored. These were things that Jesus told us to do when when He prayed in Matthew 6:10 (Amplified) saying, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
It was obviously God's will in Heaven for mankind to be well and whole, otherwise, Jesus couldn't heal and restore nor would He tell us to pray that way. It wasn't enough for Jesus to simply ask that God's will be done, but to also do God's will on earth, as it is in Heaven.
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