The fact that there is to be a great transformation take place in our lives through a relationship with Christ Jesus is a fact which is either many times completely ignored or so vaguely mentioned that no one hears it, believes it or wants to know about it. Some will say that this transformation takes place at the time of our physical death, but the scriptures declare that it comes about through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ being activated into the life of the believer.
This transformation is spoken of as 'putting off the old man of sin and putting on the new man' who is created into God-image through Christ. The apostle Paul declared that humanity has already been translated into the kingdom of the Son, that he has already died, and been raised and seated together with Christ in the heavenly places far above all principalities and powers ! One cannot read the epistles of the apostle Paul and not see that The Lord Jesus took humanity with him from Golgotha to glory, and that man has indeed been already risen and God sees him now through the accomplished work of Christ Jesus. The glorious redemption of mankind through Christ has been watered down to just a story told, something we talk about and never see, because we have not allowed the finished work of calvary to become alive in our lives! Until the fact that you have already died and been resurrected in Christ Jesus dawns upon your heart and mind, and becomes a living reality in your life then my friend, you have not yet known him! Paul emphatically, speaks in the past-tense form here ; that is he states clearly that 'you are dead, and hid away in Christ! ( Col. ch 3; ver. 3.)..................ver. 9-10 ' seeing that you have put off the old man , and have put-on the new-man, renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator! Man is not in the image of God until he is recreated in and through Christ Jesus. The wonderful, awesome fact that we have been carried away in Christ is a fact which is settled in heaven before the throne of the Father, but man in his ignorance and unbelief has not allowed this fact to become real in his life, so he stumbles and falls , becomes confused and discouraged, and ultimately he looses his way . We find in Philippians ch 3; ver. 10 ' that I may know him, and the power of His resurrection; 'being made conformable to his death! We want to notice particularly here the statement of the apostle; made conformable to His death, because this is exactly what has not happened in the lives of many ! We must become conformed to his death, before the old man of sin gives way to the new creation of the new man created after the image of God! The fact is clear that we have already died in him , and as far as God is concerned it is already an established fact! Yet it is meaningless and unreal to us until these powers are activated in our lives! The word 'hath' in scripture is the same word as 'has' which means it has already happened. It is already done! And so we find in Ephesians ch 1; ver. 3 that He has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ! That he has already chosen us before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and without blame............! This is rich teaching! Paul speaks here in the 9th ver. of a' redemption of the purchased possession! What is the 'purchased possession' and how was it purchased? Too many questions have gone unanswered!
In the 17th ver. here of Ephesians ch 1, the apostle prays that the church may receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him! We must in this last day come to understand the message of this hour, to know that while we were yet in sin he quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up together with him and made us to sit together with Him in heavenly places; ( see Ephesians ch 2; ver. 5-6.) Please read ver. 10 here: For we are his workmanship; Created in Christ Jesus! Praise God! Jesus Christ has already abolished death in the flesh! The reason man still has sin and death hanging on is that he has never allowed Christ Jesus to take over his life in the power of his death and resurrection! Jesus, at calvary said it is finished, what do you say? We hear many who say , well it wasn't hardly finished, I still have a little sin here and there!
Oh yes! If you have not allowed the life of Christ to become activated force and power in your life then your still full of sin! And brother no matter how hard you try its there to stay until you give up to the fact that you have been carried away in Christ from Golgotha to Glory! God ordained this many-membered Body of Christ before the foundation of the world and placed the powers of life in it but man tries every method he can think of to bypass the cross in his life! When he sins, he runs back to the altar and to another water baptism in stead of submitting to the sprinkling of blood!
( Romans ch 6; ver. 3-11.) Know you not that as many as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death, and if we be planted together in the likeness of His death , we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.............knowing this; that our old man is crucified 'with Him' that the body of sin might be destroyed! Now if we are dead in Christ , we shall live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, does not die any more for death has no more dominion over him! (ver. 11.) And so reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord!
And so we find here in the scriptures that according to the plan and working of God in Christ humanity was placed in Christ and died there with him, was resurrected with him, ascended with him and is even seated this minute with him in the heavenly places. High above all principalities and powers ! And like the apostle Paul; we pray that God will give unto you the spirit of knowledge and wisdom in the mystery of Him that you may come to understand this
Therefore, this great transformation could not have come about in the former ages because it was to be manifested in the endtime. This transformation is spoken of as the mysteries of Christ within. Christ within' is therefore a mystery which shall be revealed to us in this age of the end. It could not have come about in another age. We in this endtime age of consummation are entering into the mysteries of The Christ within.
There is another reason why we have not seen this awesome revealing of Christ within. It is the unbelief in the church, the same unbelief which kept the children of Israel out; They were just as many are today; They did not believe. Unbelief is the greatest sin of all because it keeps one from entering into God's purpose in every age and especially in this endtime age of the transformation from death to life
In Ephesians ch 2; ver. 6, we find that ' the Lord has already raised us up together with Christ and made us to sit together with Him in 'heavenly places'. Now as far as God is concerned all these things are already accomplished; but was only to be revealed in this last age. ( Please read, 1st. Peter ch 1 ver. 4-5). It says here that we have been brought into an incorruptible inheritance which is reserved for us in heaven to be revealed in the endtime. By the fact that we are in the very end tells us that this is the age when God will bring us into the reality of our being , crucified, and risen with Christ to sit together with Him in heavenly places; to be conformed to His likeness by becoming bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh!
Up until this age, these things have only been to us words of promise but now we have come into a place where we see, and hear, feel and know that God is right now working in us to bring forth the great mysteries of The Christ within! What a wonderful time we are in that we can enter into the glories of the Lord, to know the realities of the powers of life working in us to bring forth a new man; a power which crucifies the old man and brings out the new into a man with a God-knowledge ; a man who walks in the very image of God, to replenish the earth and subdue it! This is far beyond man's teaching. It is a revealing of the spirit which was to come only in this last days!
Please do not think that your parents or grandparents were lost because they did not come to this endtime revelation which we are entering into . The former ages brought forth exactly what God purposed for them and for their age. But this end time age is an age of fullness, an age of consummation of all things! This is an age which will take us into the City of The Living God according to Hebrews ch 12; ver. 22-24. Please read it!
God has never failed in any age to accomplish his purpose, and He will not fail in this endtime age to bring mankind into the new-creature , the God-image man to replenish, and subdue the earth according to Genesis ch 1; ver. 27-28. This was the first and greatest commandment given to man and has not been activated as yet because it had to be activated in this endtime age and had to come the working of The Christ within. Thus, a great mystery of creation is unfolding to us in this age of revealing of the Son of God. What an awesome time we are in! It is a time of great activity in the spirit and in the natural worlds as God moves forward to bring a whole new creation into focus to rule this earth for a thousand years. Only one thing can keep mankind from moving out into this awesome move of God, and that is unbelief !
We find in the book of Hebrews that the Israelites could not enter into their rest because of unbelief. ( Hebrews 3; 19 )
In ch 4; ver. 3, we find that they who 'believed' did enter in. In ver. 6 we find that it says that some 'must' enter in. In ver. 10 here we find that he who enters into this rest ( which is the transformation-the translation- the conformation) has ceased from his own works and has come to rest! (ver. 11) 'Let us labor therefore to enter into His rest!
This entering into His rest is to enter into the secret place of the most high God. It is to enter into the spiritual place within the veil..., to sit together with Him in the heavenly places in the spiritual realm!
It is within this veil that we find the 'sprinkling of blood' and the power of his death and resurrection activated into reality, and is no longer a story told which man has mutilated and distorted.
We have come to a place here where Christ is no longer just a story told, or just a doctrine , or a teaching, a theory. Neither is He a Jesus who stands on the outside or a Jesus who 'holds my hand and walks along beside me; He is not a Jesus who stands in the shadows as the old traditional song says! No , this Jesus is the Christ within who has made me bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and has brought me to sit with him in heavenly places! This Jesus is not one up among the stars who supposedly looks down on us from the sky whom we have to constantly 'pray down' from his lofty perch of a million miles away!
The Christ we speak of here is the Christ within who has made me partaker of all the kingdom riches. He has brought me into the reality of Hebrews ch 12; ver. 22-24.........into the city of the living God, into the heavenly Jerusalem, into Mt. Zion. ( please read scripture).
'But you are come to Mt. Zion, unto the city of the living God, the scriptures say............This means that Christ brought us there but this fact must become a reality to us by the Christ within. It was for this endtime people , this harvest time people that this awesome reality was to manifest itself! A new creation is coming forth from the womb of the mother church! We are being translated from the feminine spirit of the mother church into the masculine spirit of the Sonship of Jesus Christ, and nothing in this world or any other world can stop this process of the Holy Ghost to bring forth Gods fruit of the earth for which He has so long waited for! This translation, this conformation, this transformation, is taking place in this very hour among those who have received the love of the truth more than a love for traditional doctrine. We are in a time when the Christ within must be allowed access to every phase of your life to take away and add to it as he chooses to mold and transform you into the new man of God's new creation.
If the Christ within is not allowed access to all of your life then He will surely depart because in this day He must appear in His true form as King of Kings and Lord of Lords , even in your heart and life!
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