Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Part 10 of 10

 

The Eternal Oneness of God, In Christ, As the Spirit of Life…

 Indwells All Believers

Paul here below writes of the great blessed hope for every Christian – the rapture of “the body of Christ” to heaven for eternity. It is the believer’s hope for the consummation of the ages, as the age moves toward “the fulness of times” we will ascend to “meet the Lord in the air” and enjoy Christ’s manifested presence forever.

“For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile (physical) body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body (spirit-body), according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Philippians 3:20-21

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together (Latin Vulgate, rapteur, raptured) with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Here below Paul writes regarding “the mystery of His will” as it relates to “the fulness of times” – the consummation of the ages, in which He will gather together “all things in Christ” – both “in heaven” and “on earth.”

Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in Him, 10 [He planned] for the (fullness) maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10 (AMP)

This above will be the glorious consummation of the ages in accord with “the mystery of His will,” which encompasses both the believing Gentiles and the believing of Israel . It is in the dispensation of the fulness of times” that “the body of Christ” will fill the “heavens” with the glory or expression of the Lord, while Israel will fill the “earth” with His glorious expression.

Hebrews 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one (Abraham), and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

In the verse above we need to note the conjunction “AND” between these two phrases; “stars of the sky in multitude, AND as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.” The “stars” and “sand” then speak of two items, not the same item. God had promised Abraham that his seed would ultimately be seen in a duality – as sand which is by the sea shore innumerable and also as stars of the sky in multitude.” Sand is on the earth and the nation Israel is the earthly people of God, seen as sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. Stars are seen in the heavens and the members of “the body of Christ” are God’s heaven-bound people (Philip 3:20), seen as stars of the sky in multitude.

In eternity Christ will be seen in “the body of Christ” in heaven, and also at the very same time Christ will be seen in and through believing Israel on earth; both will be the glory or expression of Christ that will fill both of those spheres.

In Colossians 1:27, Paul reveals what he calls “the mystery,” God’s secret plan, “which is Christ in you the hope of glory.Here Paul says Christ would specifically indwell the Gentile members of “the body of Christ” and Christ would be “the glory of the Lord” within them. The one source of glory for man is the indwelling life and work of “the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (AMP) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). 18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

Today, we of “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:2) are intended to see… the fellowship of the mystery and enjoy the riches of our life in union with Christ. This was God’s eternal purpose.

Ephesians 3:8-11 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

In Part 6 we discussed the “one baptism” that is for today. It is the “one baptism” by the “one Spirit” that places the believer into Christ’s “one body”“the body of Christ.”

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13a).

The world knows nothing of this perfect spirit-oneness, and no church member can experience this spirit-oneness except by having been immersed or placed into Christ’s “one body.” Church organization membership, water baptism and agreement on every point of doctrine are not the basis of our oneness. There is no true oneness anywhere, in the world or in the Church, except by believers being baptized into His “one body.” This oneness is an invisible oneness because it is… in and by the “one spirit” of Christ. We might illustrate this spirit-oneness by two members of our physical body: our two arms. They hang from opposite sides of the body yet work together as one. Then how are they one? The answer is in “the head.”

Colossians 2:19 the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

It is the head that makes my arms and hands operate as one, and so our oneness as members of Christ's body, is by the “one Spirit,” which is Christ’s Spirit, “the Head.” It is our recognition of Christ as our “Head” that makes the varied members of “the body of Christ” one. Regardless of our disagreements on Biblical interpretation, doctrines, or other issues, all believers are in fact one by His indwelling “one Spirit.”

Soon enough the Lord will remove the genuine members of “the body of Christ” out of this world. All of the events that will transpire in these “last days” will finally bring us to “the fulness of (the) times.” Ultimately, the occupants of heaven (“the body of Christ”), and His people Israel on earth, will spiritually be “gathered together in one... in Christ.” What a day of rejoicing that will be. It is “in the dispensation of the fulness of times” and for eternity that Christ will indwell both “the church, which is His body” (Eph 1:22b-23a), who’s home is “in heaven” (Philip 3:20), while at the same time indwelling the believers who are of the Nation Israel “on earth” (Matt 6:10).

It is “in the dispensation of the fulness of times” that Christ’s glory will be seen by its duality.

  1. Christ’s life and expression, seen in and through the body of Christwill fill heaven. The destiny of every believer today is heaven, as their eternal abode.

Philippians 3:20 (NIV) But our (the body of Christ’s) citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

  1. Christ’s life and expression, seen in and through Israel , is to fill and bless the earth in the eternal kingdom that comes down to earth from heaven.

Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of thee (Abraham) a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 17:7-8 And I (God) will establish my covenant between me and thee (Abraham) and thy seed ( Israel ) after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan , for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.  Revelation 21:1-3 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Revelation 21:12 And (The eternal city New Jerusalem) had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel :