Borne in a Manger

My savior was borne in a manger in the midst of manure and the pervasive smell of animals. There was no room for Him in the hostels, and there never is. It was in my derelict building amongst ugliness and foul smells His life again found a place to be manifested. Not many saw it and perhaps I was the one who saw it the least. Little did I know that the savior of the nations was born in me. It wasn’t until God revealed that Christ was formed in me that my inner eye was opened and I could see this miracle taking place in this most unlikely place. Christ come in the flesh again defying any religious ideas of God.

Christ has grown in wisdom and stature until one day He stepped forward as a mature full grown man. That is, my consciousness has in increasingly measure been enabled by the Spirit to behold this mystery. This evolvement hasn’t been something that has gone from worse to better, or from less to more, but from glory to glory. For Him to be fully formed it has been necessary to oppose and rebuke religiosity and legalism in this nation. However, compassion and love has flowed like a wild river when His companion has failed miserably or faced temptations and afflictions which have almost worn him completely out. All this have been of God so that this manger could be transformed into a glorious castle. When darkness has surrounded the building and it has been attacked from every perceivable angle God has turned on the lamp and I have recognized that He was there even in the fiercest of battles, and with a vehemence unbeknownst to man He has slain every enemy which has raised its head against the knowledge of God.

He is the all in all. Even when the pile of dirt has been so huge it has obstructed every view from my limited vantage point He has used it for His redemptive purposes. He is greater than everything and humble enough to identify with nothingness so that He can be recognized as the all in all. Who is like Him? His rest is so encompassing that it far transcends the notion of having died to the law. He is the rest. He is the all encompassing sufficiency. True rest can only be found when He is acknowledged as the one who fills everything and purposes everything after His counsel to the redemption of His creation. Every moment self-consciousness finds a crack in the mind He is diminished and oneness seems like a distant reality. Nevertheless, He is there working forth His magnificent will so that the abundance of life can flow unimpeded to His glory. To be in Christ means no condemnation, that is, it is I, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. I am found as I am in Him in every now, because that’s where He is.

The Holiest of Holies

Jesus said: ”I do only what I see my Father is doing”. This is the pinnacle of faith expressed by the One who was the first example of a succession of sons who would soon emerge born of the Spirit. But why and how could Jesus make such a statement? Did He have a second voice in His mind that determined every step He took, or did His observation refer to something else? Let’s start our investigation with some reflections on the Old Testament tabernacle.

The priest could only enter the holiest of holies in the tabernacle once a year to make atonement for the people’s sin. He did so trembling and with great fear. The rest of the year the innermost room of the tabernacle was separated from the holy place in the tabernacle by a veil, and no man could enter the holiest of holies without risking his life. There had to be an atonement for sin before anyone could enter that place. It was in the holy place and the outer courtyard that the priests ministered during the rest of the year.

If we are to be able to tie the aforementioned regarding the tabernacle with Jesus’ observation we have to leave the physical world with its appearances and move to a different level. The outer rooms in the tabernacle thus represent separation in man’s consciousnesses. Man living apart from God. That God is somewhere out there apart from us. When Jesus died at the cross the veil was torn apart and everyone borne by the Spirit in the same manner as Jesus was could now enter the holiest of holies where there is no separation in our consciousnesses. God and man one, no longer apart. The truth is that they had never been apart, but this was how man perceived his existence. To enter this sacred place also signifies that sin is done away with once and for all. If not no man could have entered the holiest of holies.

Jesus was the second Adam and borne by the Spirit. He had unlimited access to the holiest of holies in His consciousness. Jesus saw no separation, that is, that God was apart from Him. Union with God was an established fact in His consciousness. He hence boldly could walk in the Spirit knowing that He was a manifestation of His Father. Everything He did was thus the Father finding an expression through the Son. So whatever the Son did the Father did. Jesus could behold His life and see His Father operating spontaneously as Him, because there was no separation in His consciousness. It is on this backdrop that we understand why Jesus could say: “I do only what I see what my Father is doing.” “Only” doesn’t refer to that the Father put limitations on His life, but that He could see union only.

On the cross Jesus cried out: “’My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is the cry in every human heart which hasn’t been born by the Spirit and entered the holiest of holiest. Of course, God never forsook His son in this darkest hour, but Jesus had to leave the holiest of holies in His consciousness when He became sin for us and thus experienced the sensation of apartness that has been the prevailing mindset in every man so that He through His sacrifice could open a way into the holiest of holies for every man borne by the Spirit.

We cannot understand Spiritual realities without guidance and revelation from the Spirit. The physical tabernacle in the Old Testament was just a shadow of the things to come. In the new covenant the tabernacle pertains to our consciousness, that is, how we perceive our existence in relation to God. If you still believe that God is apart from you you still haven’t entered the holiest of holiest even though the way in is cleared for you. It is in the holiest of holies that the liberty of the Spirit finds an expression, that we become a law in ourselves apart from the Old Testament law, that we live without condemnation and are established in the union and can say as Jesus: ”I do only what I see my Father is doing”; the pinnacle of faith.

Complete in Him

The Holy Spirit has done a tremendous work in my life and has convincingly convicted me about my righteousness. There is not a doubt in my mind that God has taken possession of me. He fills me completely and in the same manner as Jesus came in the flesh I have come in the flesh to manifest my lovingly Father. The fact that Jesus came in flesh simply denotes that He was a visible expression of the invisible God through His soul and body faculties. Born by the Spirit His flesh was holy and perfect. My flesh isn’t found wanting either, because the same power that dwelled in Christ now dwells in me.

There was a season in my earthly life when my flesh was filled with sin and it followed the prince of the power of the air. The problem wasn’t my flesh, but who the occupant was. My soul and body are fearfully and wonderfully made designed by my Father to mirror Him, and when He had finished making me He observed that it was very good. When the false spirit was cast out I was restored to my original purposes and design. To accuse my flesh of being of inferior quality or that it has some deadly flaws is in reality saying that God did a poor job when He regenerated me and that I have to fill in what is lacking. That is not the gospel.

Sin is no longer an issue in my life. John says that I cannot sin, and I embrace this by faith. However, I almost daily face temptations. Not to sin, but to return to a mindset where I reject who I am in Him, to doubt that I am a beloved son and that God every second of the day with minutely concern works forth His will in my life. I am tempted to fix my gaze downwards instead of upwards. I am tempted to let worries and problems smother me in their intensity. I am thus tempted to be carnal minded as a substitute to the one I really am, and that is a partaker of divine nature with the mind of Christ. Jesus faced the same temptations as I do. In the wilderness the enemy repeatedly challenged Jesus with “If you are the son of God…..

Jesus was tempted to demean His divinity in all the three parts which constituted His being, that is, spirit, soul and body. In other words both His spirit and His flesh were under attack, but Jesus with great perseverance refused to let the enemy belittle who He was in God. If Jesus had given in to the pressure He would have been in Eve’s position and concluded like she did that there was something lacking in how He was created and hence had to become like God in His own powers. Through this encounter Jesus established forever who He was in God. Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Spirit. God had purposed His temptation. In the same manner He purposes our temptations so that we can be settled and fixed in who we are in Him.

The Sabbath Rest

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20)

Jesus was searching for a resting place, a specific day when He could rest from all His works, that is, a Sabbath rest for His divine being. We are that day, that Sabbath, where our savior can lay His head and rest. Simultaneously, He is our Sabbath rest, because we are in Him and He is in us. This is a profound mystery; how we are joined together in one spirit and how both the human and the divine find rest when they are amalgamated and become one in spirit. This is what the entire creation is eagerly anticipating; the Sabbath day when it will be liberated and enter its perfect rest when reconciliation is consummated.

Jesus IS Come in the Flesh

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:3-4)

Most other translations say that Jesus has come in the flesh. That gives us associations to a time two thousand years ago. Most can agree on that there lived a man in that period of time named Jesus. The dispute mainly revolves around whether He was the savior of the world or not. That’s not the issue in question in this article.

What John throws out here in his epistle as it is rendered in the King James version is dynamite. Jesus is come in flesh means here and now. The thought is so staggering that we have to pitch our arms in utter amazement. Jesus here and now? Where? There exists only one answer. Jesus is come in the flesh in every believer.

This is so overwhelming and have so huge implications for how we are to view ourselves that the enemy will go to great lengths to avoid that this is common knowledge in the Christian community. However, what John asserts squares perfectly up with some of Paul’s observations, notably Col 1:27 and Gal 2:20.

The spirit of antichrist is in opposition to the fact that Christ is come in the flesh, just as it opposed Jesus in His time. Notably, the Pharisees and the Scribes couldn’t fathom that God had found a dwelling place in common human flesh. In some of their rather fierce encounters with Jesus He said that the god of this world was their father. That puts things in their right perspective and we understand what the source of their antagonism was.

Jesus was just an ordinary man, a carpenter from Nazareth, but He was God’s son. The scriptures repeatedly call us sons of God in spite of our commonness. Despite the fact that Jesus was a common man He knew who He was and where He came from. And what an ego He had. “I am the way..” “I am here..” “I have come…” “I will…”. Simultaneously He said: “I can do nothing of my own!” Our false humility is effectively exposed by how He viewed Himself and how He interacted with the world.

Since Christ is come in the flesh and has joined Himself to common human beings like you and me it is about time we raise our heads and acknowledge who we are in God and assert our egos because in our union with God they are reflections of Him. As Jesus we can do nothing of our selves. Spontaneously we do what God does and we recognize this tremendous fact through faith. This is the secret, the mystery of the gospel which Jesus intimately knew and which lifted Him out of His commonness to live in accordance with His original design as a son of the Most High.

Your Servant Loves It

Your promise is well tried and your servant loves it (Psalm 119:139).

I readily admit that I do not know God particularly well. There are sides with His person that still are shrouded in a mysterious dimness. I know He is love, but what do I know about love? I have some human concepts on love, but He always escapes my attempts at defining Him within those boundaries. He is simply too great for me to fully know. Most likely I would be devoured if He manifested Himself to me in all His glory. Nevertheless, I like Him. I like Him a lot.

What I to a certain degree do know is His promises. My life is grounded on this promise in particular:

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. ”I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. ”For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jer 31:33-34)

This most astounding promise is well tried in my life, and it stands fast, unwavering in all trials and tribulations, and it keeps my feet on secure ground whatever circumstance I encounter. As the psalmist I love this promise. It has changed everything.

A River of Love

Jesus said that we are no more of this world than He is of the world. There is perhaps thus no wonder that we now and then receive severe beatings from a system that do not recognize us, and is inclined towards hating us in the same manner as it didn’t welcome Jesus’ light. We will seldom receive the glory and the honor that are due to us when we are sojourners in this temporal realm. There is only one who fully knows us and whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him (2 Chron 16:9).

It is thus imperative that we carry a correct image of God in our hearts. When we receive our blows we need a safe haven where we can find strength for our souls; a place of comfort and approval. Where can we turn to if we believe that even our Father is against us and disappointed in us? If we direct our gaze towards the world for consolation the likelihood of new disappointments are quite high. If we don’t dare to approach our loving Father because we carry a distorted image of Him in our hearts we have no place to turn.

Unfortunately, there is many a sincere believer who does not think that the verse cited above applies to him, because He hasn’t embraced or heard in a faith infusing way the tremendous good news about his new standing with God. Our hearts are blameless toward Him. He has chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Eph 1:4). That we are blameless is an uncontestable fact!

God’s love is like a river that always seeks the downtrodden, that what is little. Water has the unique quality that it with great certainty finds a way to the lowest parts, where the pain is excruciating and the cravings for love are most desperate. Its fresh and life giving water envelops completely its objects. Even though its torrents are rejected it continues to flow because it is the sustainer of life. That is its nature. It cannot cease from flowing.

My friend, if you have had a tough day there is One whose heart is fully with you, who utter those blissful soothing words that saturate your whole being and who picks you up so you can find rest in His bosom. His love is your destiny, your final destination. His love is your home.

Gain His Glory

It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 The 2:13)

I spent some time yesterday pondering on this verse. My initial conclusion was that I didn’t like the word “may” in the context particularly well. It was thus natural to make an attempt at finding out what this “may” was pertaining to. Would we gain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ after we had left this temporal world? I soon rejected this idea, because God is operating in the now. The now is His prime concern in His dealings with His precious children.

My second approach was to reflect on whether this “may” perhaps was pertaining to some condition we have to fulfill in order to see the manifestation of the promise. For instance if we walk in the Spirit and not the flesh then we will most certainly gain the glory, I reasoned. However, that seemed as a very shaky foundation for the fulfillment of a promise. With all these thoughts swirling in my mind I got into the car in order to pick up our daughter. I put on some music and relaxed to the enchanting rhythms and terrific guitar work of Paradise Lost.

When I turned the first curve a new thought hit me with a compelling force. What if this “may” was pertaining to God’s dreams and will from before the foundation of the earth? What if His desire always has been to see a succession of sons who share in the glory of His firstborn son here and now? However, in order that they “may” gain this glory He had to sanctify them first. And so He did through one offering for sins. I am without a shadow of doubt sanctified in Christ, and if I am sanctified I have also gained the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ. Since I am unable to see my glory I trust that what God says about me is the absolute truth. I find it quite futile to discuss matters that He of His own free counsel has decided, notably when those matters are to my benefit.

Those we encounter in this temporal realm can, however, detect our glory. I assume what Paul observed covers this remarkable thing: “In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.” (2. Cor 2:14-16)

What a Blissful Mystery

Today I am sitting here with this warm fuzzy feeling inside contemplating God’s love. His plan is so wonderfully majestic that I am rendered in utter awe. Who would have imagined that His plan of salvation would involve that the kingdom would be established in hearts of flesh? That heaven is inside every believer where Christ has found an eternal resting place? I am quieted by the fact that He in His mysterious humbleness has chosen to make Himself manifest in human flesh. Every single cell in my body is sustained by His life.

My entire being leaps with joy when He tells me that I am not of this world, that I am a partaker of divine nature and that I am destined to spend an eternity with Him. His love desired my existence into being, and I am now a part of that triune flow that has existed from before the foundation of the world. How could it be otherwise? He will always remain faithful, because He cannot disown Himself. He has sworn an oath regarding His relation to me. Since He could not find anyone greater than Himself, He made the oath with Himself. He will always remain faithful to His oath, because He is unchangeable and cannot lie!

I am thinking about the mystery of the cross where I went into Christ in His death and disappeared for suddenly being resurrected in Him as a new creation with an entire different genealogy from the one I had. I am new through and through. Who would have imagined? In His love He is fussing around making sure that I know who I am in Him. That is His greatest delight to establish His beloved son in who he is. His heart almost bursts with pride when He beholds me. He is boasting unconstrained of me wherever He goes in the Heavenly realms. Could it be otherwise? After all, I am His offspring!

Shouting From the House Tops

You have most certainly noticed how the Spirit spurs you on to take new steps of faith. He begins His mission by quietly whispering some new and profound truths in your ear. Either are those truths too good to be true or they are beyond your mental ability, because they involves accepting something which might seem as a complete paradox, or those things He whispers are so beyond our material realm that we do not have any points of reference. What we thought was our secure ground is now dissolving under our feet.

However, the Spirit is patient so He continues to unravel those places where the knots are so tight that they impede our ability to process any new ideas. In an odd way we can sense how He is working in us until suddenly the dam bursts and our faith becomes substance and the things He initially whispered to us now have become ours and in our mind it feels as though we now are shouting those magnificent truths from the house tops. What a wonderful release that is.

A reasonable question now is; why all this? The truth is that we have been deceived. When we accepted Christ a revolutionary thing happened. We became new creations. Jesus says about us: “…for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” The deceiver does not want us to know this magnificent truth. The enemy thus makes any effort to make us stay earthbound in our outlook and entices us to build our identity upon what we can see.

However, appearances fall far short of conveying who we really are in the spiritual realm which is our true home. The eternal truth about us far supersedes any identity we might have acquired during our years on this planet. The Spirit hence convicts us about our innocence and that we are righteous. Our true identity is not dependent on our efforts to become something we desire to be in this temporal realm. It is not based on works, occupation, education or social position. If we are to be safe sons of God our identity has to be based on something unshakeable, and that is Christ. Thus John in his first epistle observes that as He (Christ) is so are we in this world.

We embrace our true identity by faith, but faith is not faith before it has become substance, that is, we know that we know. The Holy Spirit is our helper in this very important process. When the light is fully lit in our understanding those beautiful truths He initially whispered to us are now palpable realities in our lives, and in our consciousnesses these amazing, from an earthly perspective almost preposterous truths, are shouted from the house tops.

Dressed in Fine Linen

His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (Rev 19:8)

How many righteous deeds are you able to perform during a day? I must admit I have lost count. They simply flow quite effortlessly and natural from me, so I do not give them much thought. There was a time, though, when I with great eagerness kept a track record of my sins, or to be more precise, my imaginary sins. Ignorantly, I wasn’t aware of the fact that I was dressed in fine linen.

I hope you don’t mind if I share a secret with you: I have relocated from Mount Sinai. I have some vivid memories from that place, though. It was in those days that my consciousness was filled with thunder and lightning. My thoughts were billowing with clouds and smoke so that I couldn’t see clearly. And it was when I was there that I had this crippling fear of God which rendered me in a state of mind where I seldom dared to approach Him. I preferred to keep a distance, because as long as the commandments and sin dominated my outlook I had this terrible feeling of always falling short before my Father. I thus thought He was terribly disappointed in me.

I now live on Mount Zion, a mountain renowned for its stunning scenery. It is a joyful and peaceful place. Another fascinating quality with this mountain is that it is always sunny here. Clouds and smoke are completely absent, so the view is never obstructed by a deprecating consciousness of sin. With this new clarity in sight I am empowered to distinguish the real me. Moreover, I am always close with God. Even though I do not always feel His presence I know we are connected in a unique and indissoluble way.

Mount Zion is my guarantee that I am as righteous as Jesus. I see that clearly now. God has not dressed me in fine linen to cover my filthy, dirty self. When God does something He does it thoroughly and not half heartedly. I am clothed in righteous deeds as a sign of my new status; clean through and through. I didn’t earn my righteousness. It was a gift which I received and fully embraced when I switched mountains.

Do you think I live differently now when I know that I am righteous? Of course I do! All of us live according to how we think. To linger on Mount Sinai as new creation is like being a former convict who voluntarily prefer incarceration and bondage to liberty and a life as a free citizen with all the rights that entails. The quality of life soars exponentially when you are a free citizen of Mount Zion.

Friends

But you, Israel, are my servant. You’re Jacob, my first choice, descendants of my good friend Abraham. (Isa 41:8 – The Message)

I am a descendant of Abraham. There is no doubt in my mind that this is true and an uncontestable fact. I am Abraham’s offspring, because I share the faith of Abraham. In other words I am God’s first choice. I am of perfect quality. God has fearfully and wonderfully made me, and when He had finished the task He said: “It is very good!” As a new creation there is nothing wrong with me. I am perfected through one offering.

God calls Abraham His good friend. Hold that thought for a second! The creator of the universe calls a created human being His good friend. Do you think that you are worse off than Abraham? Your Heavenly Papa calls you His good friend as well. What a majestic thought that is!

For many years I thought that few would like to be my friend. I perceived myself as boring, rather dull and not particularly exciting to be around. Those signals I received from the surroundings seemed to verify my suspicions. My negative self perception became increasingly entrenched in my mind and as I grew older, and my conduct reflected my poor self image.

It wasn’t until Jesus picked me up that I began to loosen up, notably when He began to show me how much He appreciated my unique being. He didn’t have any problems with me being an introvert. In fact He found my thought processes very intriguing. I aroused His curiosity. He plainly told me that He wanted to be my friend. I truly appreciate His friendship, because He is so supportive. He is never disappointed in me or angry with me. Even though I sometimes can be very quiet He respects my moods. He is never importunate. We have a lot in common. We read the same books and enjoy the same kind of music.

His loving friendship has untangled a lot of knots and I am thus flourishing like never before. He has even showed me some sides and talents that my Father has endowed me with that I wasn’t aware of and which discovery has enriched my life considerably. I am far from being boring. On the contrary, I am a very colorful and exciting person to be with.