God’s initiative God always takes the initiative. Religion perceives it the opposite way. It will tell you what steps to follow and what you have to do to please God and to avoid His wrath. 2Co 5:21 “For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” When He “made” us, none of us had any choice in that glorious event. This is the good news of the incarnation of Christ: God became man, so that man could become god. Or better stated; now man can discover his Divine origin. God who knew no sin, became sin, so that we could become like Him. This is the Law of Identification . There is no point for us to even identify ourselves with Christ. The Son of man has already identified Himself with us. We are His offspring, being born from above. Thus, man’s response to this reality is not a “born again” experience but an awakening, being enlightened by the truth. When Jesus rose from the dead and we were co-raised into this new life, humanity were immediately born into this new life. We all became a new creation when we were co- raised from His death. When One died, all died and this excludes no one. Not the Dalai Lama, nor Hitler, your mother in law or any other person that comes to your mind. The new creation is synonym to the New Testament or New Covenant, while the old creation refers to the Old Covenant. And this is the mandate of the Gospel what Paul has preached that we can proclaim to everyone. No wonder Paul never spoke about the life of the historical Jesus in any of his letters. He was only interested to know the indwelling Christ. That is why he emphasized that he only wants to know Him in His death and resurrection. In John 3 the historical Jesus addressed Nicodemus, a representative of the law. Hence, it was important for Israel to experience a rebirth from the law into the dispensation of grace. They had to accept Him according to John 1:12. They were still under the law, having the devil as their father. However, the rulers of the synagogue stubbornly resisted Him. The judgment of the law, manifested in the devil, only came to steal, kill and destroy. That was the strange voice which the flock would not recognize. Just like water and oil that cannot mix, likewise the law is incompatible with grace. Today, we can joyfully know that we have been born from above and that we already became a new creation when Jesus proclaimed, IT IS FINISHED. The Gospel is therefore not “ You have to accept Jesus and you have to accept Him, it is your choice, or else you will be lost forever in a burning hell.” The Gospel is simply that we have died with Christ, and that we were all placed as sons of God based on and verified by the perfect work of the cross. The Gospel that we have heard from Paul is different to the Gospel that the Jews heard from Jesus. Jesus’ issue with them was Israel’s need to accept the Messiah. Today’s challenge for people is to become aware of their Divine status. Jesus’ message to the Jews came before the cross. Today, in retrospect of the cross, we see the realization of the Good News in the light of the indwelling Christ.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 16:17:58 +0000
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