John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share, and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Hebrews 1:1-2 (Amplified) says, "In many separate Revelations, each of which set forth a portion of the Truth, and in many different ways God spoke of old to our forefathers in and by the prophets. But in the last of these days He has spoken to us in the Person of a Son."
God's way of speaking to us and revealing Himself to us, is by and through the Person of Jesus, His Son. The only way we can come to the Truth of Who He really is, is by knowing and watching Jesus, in His earthly ministry. Under the prophets, we could only see and come to know a portion of the Truth. We've come to many different ways of our understanding of God by the prophets, but our understanding of our Heavenly Father must come by and through Jesus Christ.
God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in these Last days, in a way that the prophets under the old covenant, could only receive a small glimpse of. None would dare speak of God as their "Father" or even hint at being "His Son." The outcry and indignation of the Jews that Jesus spoke to in His earthly ministry, was a result of their not understanding the Truth (not only a portion of the Truth, but the Truth in Bodily Form).
We continue struggling today with the "Old Testament God" and the "New Testament God." Much of our doctrine has been slanted by the Law, instead of Grace. We still expect God to deal with us, like He did with the Old Testament people. The only Example we have of our Heavenly Father, comes by knowing and watching Jesus, as He went about revealing "Father," to those who only knew God and the Law.
Today, many see salvation as a means for going to Heaven and be with the Lord, after leaving the earth in death. Although this is Truth and is Glorious, we've missed the greater Truth. Jesus didn't just come, so that we could go to Heaven and be with Him when we die, but the Greater Truth is that He still operates on this earth through the Church.
Ephesians 4:12-13 (Amplified) says, "His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's Body (the Church) That it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God, that we might arrive at really mature manhood, the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's Own Perfection, the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him."
The Body of Christ's job is to allow Him to actually live again in this flesh and blood world, through us. Our job isn't just to go to Heaven, but we're to allow Jesus to walk on earth and continue like He did in His Own earthly Body, through us. Through the Father living in the Church, like He did through Jesus, we're to do the work of the Father. Much of our Christian walk has been "trying to be perfect," but the only thing perfect about us, is the One Who lives in us.
Jesus doesn't want to only live in us, but to strive in us and do the same work and will that the Father sent Him to do in His earthly Body. This is our greatest work. We're to allow Him to live again here on earth, in us. We are His Body and He is the Head. The Head directs the Body and we're to receive our orders from the Head and respond to His orders. It must seem to Jesus sometimes, like His Body is paralyzed and cannot or will not respond to His commands any longer.
Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus told His followers in John 14:15-16,26 (Amplified), "If you really love Me, you will keep (obey) My commandments, And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Stand-By, that He may be with you forever." Jesus continues in Verse 26, "But the Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Stand-By, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will sent in My Name (in My Place, to represent Me and to act on My behalf), He will teach you all things; And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance of everything I have told you."
According to Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified), the early Church went forth everywhere preaching the Gospel and instructing them to lay hands on the sick and cast out devils. Verse 20 tells us, "And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the Message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it, Amen, so be it."
The Body was obeying the commands of the Head, in the above scripture. It wasn't like the Body had a stroke, but it obeyed the commands of the Head, Jesus. Jesus wants to lives in this earth through His Body (the Body of Christ, the Church). The Plan and will of Jesus and the Father, have not changed. We, the Body of Christ, has stopped hearing the commands from the Head and have established our own way of doing things. Paul writes in Galatians 2:20 (Amplified), "I have been crucified with Christ, in Him I have shared His crucifixion: it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me: and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in, by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in, the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
We've never truly gotten hold of the Truth that Jesus wants to live in this earth, through His Body (the Body of Christ, the Church), just like He did in the earthly Body He knew before His death on the cross. We must allow ourselves to be His Body. His ministry has never changed from then until now. He only has a different Body to live in and through now. Jesus still wants to do the same things He did then, in this earth through us.
Salvation is not simply about our going to Heaven when we die, but it's about having Jesus live again on the earth, through us (His Body). His life and mission has never changed and we're supposed to be continuing them. Jesus changed us to be like Him, so He could continue His walk here on the earth. Jesus never intended us to be another religion, but to be His Body. It's His hands that we lay on the sick. It's His feet that take this Body, to where He says to go. It's His voice that speaks to devils. It's His Spirit that enables us to do His Work and it's His Life that we're supposed to be living here on earth, like He did in His former Body.
Hebrews 13:8 (Amplified) says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." The same things Jesus did in His earthly Body before Calvary, He still does in the Body we've become on this earth. We're the Body of Christ.
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