Wednesday, May 19, 2010

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.

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