In “Undeniable Incarnate Inclusion” I tried to capture just a glimpse of what the incarnation means to us. That is actually a funny way of putting since the incarnation means everything to us. There is a definitive before and after. We are in the definitive “after.” We are one with Jesus. We are included in His life. His life is the source of our life. We are in the perichoresis circle dance of the triune Godhead. God joined Himself to mankind in the incarnation and included mankind in the resurrection. He killed our old nature on the cross and bound Himself to us in our new nature. We are sitting in Christ in His realm that is our realm which is called the heavenly places. We are in the Kingdom of God and have the Kingdom of God within us. We are placed in the perfect Holy family and that family is placed in us. We have all the fullness of the Godhead in Christ in us.
Every single one of those statements are explicitly called out in the Bible. Jesus came to reveal His true identity as God and the trinity while giving us a new identity in God and the trinity. We are His bride, one flesh, one spirit all bound in a new creation. We are not only like Jesus in type, we are like Jesus in nature. We are not just like Jesus in authority, we are like Jesus in essence. We are not just like Jesus in relationship, we share the relationship of Jesus. We not only have faith IN Jesus but we share in the faith OF Jesus.
All of those statements are also in the Bible. The evidence as presented by Jesus is overwhelming. We are in Him and He is in us. That was God’s plan all along. This was His plan from the foundations of the Earth:
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (ESV)
1 Tim 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began (ESV)
And this was done for ALL of us:
1 Tim 4:10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (ESV)
The number one argument against this truth is our experience. Even great theologians like Augustine admit that they could not reconcile what they found to be true in the “word of God” compared to what they experienced in life. Augustine, as an example, had a number of teachings that were not taught by the early fathers (like Paul) but he asserted must be true based on his own disappointments. I his writings he acknowledged that his assertions were his own but could find no other understanding. We don’t need an argument based on experience or circumstance but a truth that we can stand on.
In these last few posts I’ve tried to stretch our brains to see that we are missing nothing but instead have failed to take hold of the completeness of what Jesus has already done. The devil and religion and our own limited understanding (based on our limited experience) often leads us to believing lies instead of standing on the solid truth of Jesus. We have historically demonstrated the ability to worship a distorted and mythical image of an angry god that Jesus absolutely revealed as false. Instead He introduced us to true holiness of kenosis humility in a triune family of Love and acceptance. We fall on our own swords of unbelief and try to conjure more belief when we actually should be sharing in Jesus’ belief. It is the faith OF Jesus that opens our eyes to see the beauty of His finished work and our cosmic inclusion. We are in Him and have access to what He sees. We are joined to Him and have His mind to understand. He is in us and we live from His joy in His family.
Probably the biggest lie we face often is our “I am not” statements. These are the very painful ones that sound like “I am not worthy or pretty or smart or trustworthy or holy or precious or accepted or wanted or…” The list goes on and on. Each of those statements is the enemies attempt to have us partner with the creation of evil…. What?
When we ate from the wrong tree WE HUMANS now had the ability to determine good from evil. We made lists and put stuff in categories. We had separated ourselves from God and hid from the only source of goodness and were left in our broken independent judgment paradigm declaring what was good and evil. In our “brilliance” (note the sarcasm) we labeled something as “evil.” Let me challenge your thinking and ask you “where is God not?” This was part of the deception and our fall. We created places where God was not. We labeled stuff as “not from God.” We created the “no God” place. What do you suppose “evil” really is? Listen I understand that there are good and bad things. There are horrific things that happen. But the lie that was absolutely eliminated in the incarnation was the absence of God. He is in our worst places. He came all the way into mankind to the bottom of the slime bucket of letting us kill Him in our rage and anger and rejection. Mankind put the final nail in our own coffin when we killed goodness Himself. He joined us, merged with us, ran ahead of us, in our worst moment so we would always know He is there to catch us in our worst moment.
Our “I am not” false identities are destroyed in the truth of the Jesus “I am” declaration. When the “Word became flesh” the absence of identity of the “I am not” was utterly obliterated by the union of mankind with the Great I Am! Check out the Mirror Translation:
John 1:1 To go back to the very beginning is to find the Word already present there; face to face with God. The Word is I am; God’s eternal eloquence echoes and concludes in him. The Word equals God. 1:2 The beginning mirrors the Word face to face with God. (Nothing that is witnessed in the Word distracts from who God is. ”If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” [John 14: 9]) 1:3 The Logos is the source; everything commences in him. He remains the exclusive Parent reference to their genesis. There is nothing original, except the Word! The Logic of God defines the only possible place where humankind can trace their genesis. 1:4 His life is the light that defines our lives. (In his life man discovers the light of life.) 1:5 The darkness was pierced and could not comprehend or diminish this light.
The darkness is our misperception of God. The darkness is our acceptance of the lies against God. The darkness is our inability to “see” God as He truly is. Our darkness is our agreement with the “I am not.” Jesus is our light to see through and out of and within the darkness. The deepest darkest hole we think we can imagine has no power over one tiny candle. Jesus is the blinding light of truth. The darkness flees. The light breaks through.
OK, philosophy sounding I know, but this truth is something that you can see in His faith. He knows He has done it all. He knows He has created you and included you to see. The Holy Spirit is relentless in His illumination. We only need to stop agreeing with the trash and instead find our Jesus catching us in the trash can. We need to stop hiding in the bushes but instead look inside and see Him there with us. We don’t have to tolerate the lies of the “I am not” and instead agree with the I AM! His I AM is our identity. Practically speaking…look into His perfect mirror and see yourself. He will reveal Himself in all His glory. No more “I am not.” Embrace the Great I Am instead.
Yay God!
Lance
P.S. We think Identity Theft is a new thing? It has been around since the Garden of Eden.
alancetotheheart 