Part 3 – Mankind Brought to Union with God
| This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called Union with God. |
In God’s changeless love and mercy He continued His eternal plan to remedy His foreknown fall of man. Man had become an upside-down creature, with his spirit fallen. To use a Biblical description, man’s spirit “died” to the life of “the Spirit,” and had come alive to the “Sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3b). The order, therefore, must be reversed. But man can’t do this in and of himself. He is guilty before His Holy Judge, blind to his true condition, and helpless to remedy it. So God comes and does it for man, voluntarily, in the person of His incarnated Son. Man is “reconciled” to God by Christ’s substitutionary death; dying for us and as us. Part 3 – Man Brought to Union with God 2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing (counting) their trespasses (sins) unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13A (KJV) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (of Christ), whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free… 1 Corinthians 12:13B (KJV) … and (we) have been all made to drink into one Spirit. Colossians 2:10 (KJV) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: Colossians 1:27 (KJV) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory: |
Thus Jesus became a human being… gave Himself to death for us… rose again and ascended to the throne of the universe - all for our sakes. Then He Himself is given TO US as believers, to live His “Spirit of life” IN US as the new us.
Galatians 2:20 (KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Philippians 4:13 (KJV) (Now) I can do (and endure) all things (that come into my life) through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Now, it is as if He says to us;
‘I tell you the truth about yourselves; but I also give you the complete remedy.
You need forgiveness for your horrific guilt and rebellion; I give you this through my atoning blood.
You need a re-orientation of your personality, a death to the dominance of the old lusting, fearing, scheming Ego of the flesh - I give you that death in My death.
You need a new spirit within you; I give you My risen Self, the Lord Jesus Christ… to be your new innermost life-core and nature.
I give you that spiritual union for which you were created, I in you, and you in Me.’
The Way of Realization – is ‘Faith in Christ.’
John 1:12 (KJV) But as many as received him (by faith), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 1 Corinthians 12:13A (KJV) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (of Christ)… |
The only way that our illusion that we’ve held all our lives while under the darkness of our souls can be pierced — is the commonest and most used of all our natural faculties – by faith. Didn’t we originally have faith in ourselves as the God of our own lives? Everything we do is motivated by faith. To breathe the air, to eat a meal, to sit on a chair are all acts of faith. We only do them because we believe that each in its different way meets our need and can be relied upon. Now, to establish a life-giving relationship with our Creator-Father God, He asks of us nothing more nor less than the exercise of this same simple faculty of faith-in-action. He gives us Christ, His Cross, His risen life, His ascended triumph, seating us in heavenly places “in Christ”
Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV) For by grace are ye saved through faith (In Christ); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Then let us take the simple and decisive act of faith. Let us believe His word. Let us confess that He is here and now to us all that He says He is. Let us reckon (count ourselves) by faith that He is spiritually ours and in us every bit as much as we believe that the material bread we eat goes down into our stomachs and becomes part of us. And in doing this, the reverse side of that same act of faith is our confession of our guilt and our desire to be rid of the old way of life… to walk in the new. And as we do this, we find the miracle of spiritual union takes place, God manifests Himself to us within the inner chambers of our being, in light and love and power.