Living in the Glory

LIVING IN THE GLORY

God has called us to be part of Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder if we understand the scope of this calling. It seems to me the Divine calling goes far beyond our customary concept of salvation. God has said it; so let us reach up past our level of what we believe is possible and lay hold on the fullness of God.

LIVING IN THE GLORY

That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:21-23)

Religion makes proselytes. The Divine Glory creates the Kingdom in people.

The Lord prayed that all those who believe in Him would be one, just as the Father and He are One. Also that they would be one in the Father and the Son so the world will believe that it is God who has sent Christ.

Christ has given us the glory that the Father gave Him, that the believers would be one as the Father and the Son are One.

Christ is in us, and the Father is in Christ.

When the believers are brought to complete unity, then the world will know it is God who has sent Christ. The world will understand also that the Father loves the believers as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ.

There is no question in my mind but that the above are the most challenging words in the entire Bible.

The Lord prayed that all those who believe in Him would be one, just as the Father and He are One. In what manner are the Father and the Son One?

They are One to such an extent theologians have had a struggle trying to figure out from the Scriptures whether The Father and the Son are or are not the same Person.

If they are not the same Person, are They equal in authority and power? Is the Father greater than the Son?

Do they go back to the same point in eternity (not that there are “points” in eternity!) or did the Son come into existence after the Father? Probably a nonsensical question in that we are attempting to apply time to a timeless situation.

Scholars do not agree on these and similar issues.

Apparently the Father and the Son are one in Substance, Nature, and Spirit—so much so we have a difficult time understanding Their relationship.

Now, is it possible that the believers in Jesus Christ will ever be one as the Father and Christ are One? Our ordinary thinking says no: the Godhead is a set of relationships that cannot be applied to human beings.

Yet Christ prayed for such unity among the believers.

What we see today is a considerable amount of conflict among believers. Why are we so divided? I think this is a question worth considering.

I believe we are divided because of the sin in us, particularly our self-will. We have some growing to do before we can be in a state of union like the union that exists in the Godhead.

Personally I believe the Word of God. I was taught when I first was saved that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. I believe it implicitly. Therefore I spend no time wondering whether or not we who believe can be one as God is One. My question is, how, when, and where is such unity going to take place.

Since many of us believe the return of Christ to the earth is not far in the future (although it well may be!), and since it must be true that at least a part of the Church will be experiencing perfect unity if Christ is to appear, then it seems to me that a stupendous work of God must be at hand.

The reason we are split into many denominations, and that there are serious doctrinal differences among us, is that we are immature. Doctrinal differences occur because of what we have in our head, not what we have in our heart. If we have Christ in our heart, then the basis exists for total unity. But our pride of knowledge insists we are correct in our doctrine and others are incorrect. So we have division.

The truth is, correctness of doctrine is not the basis for unity. The basis for unity is Christ. When Christ grows in us to the point He surpasses knowledge, He surpasses our ability to define God, then we automatically will be in the required unity.

So the Lord’s prayer will be answered when we come to maturity.

This being the case, why are we not mature spiritually? The answer to this question is that our Christian procedures do not produce maturity. What we do in the churches does not produce maturity.

There are at least four reasons why our procedures do not produce maturity: first, we do not believe there are acts of redemption past what we already have experienced; second, there is much error in our doctrine; third, the gifts and ministries are not operating to the extent they should; fourth, we seem to be obsessed with the need to keep on acquiring more and more proselytes to our religious beliefs to the neglect of feeding God’s sheep on His Word.

We do not believe there are acts of redemption past what we have experienced.
There is much error in our doctrine.
The gifts and ministries of the Spirit are not operating to the extent they should.
We are emphasizing the acquiring of converts to the neglect of feeding the believers on the Word of God.

We do not believe there are acts of redemption past what we have experienced. There are numerous believers who believe in Christ and have been born again. We might say they are at the “basic salvation” level. However, they do not press forward into the gifts of the Spirit. Many of them do not believe speaking in tongues or Divine healing is for today.

In fact, some of them try to apply the words of the Scriptures without asking for the help of the Holy Spirit. As such they are doctrinaire, harsh, and divisive, like the Pharisees. On occasion they have a hard spirit, not being receptive to what God may be saying at the moment.

Then there are the Pentecostal-Charismatics. They have been forgiven through the blood atonement, they have been born again, and in some instances are operating the gifts of the Spirit—particularly speaking in tongues.

Their belief is there are no significant acts of redemption past being saved and receiving the gifts of the Spirit.

The truth is, being forgiven through the blood atonement, being born again, and the gifts of the Spirit, are not the fullness of redemption. They are the beginning tools with which we pursue the fullness of redemption–which we might designate as maturity.

In fact, there are not two major platforms of redemption, but three. These are revealed in the three great divisions of the feast of the Lord.

The first platform is that of basic salvation, as symbolized by the Passover.
The second platform is that of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, as symbolized by the feast of Pentecost.
The third platform is that of the fullness of God, as symbolized by the feast of Tabernacles.

We begin by turning away from the world and being baptized in water.

Then we place our faith in the blood atonement for the forgiveness of our sins.

At some point we are born of God through the Spirit.

Then we are to press forward in faith until we are able to speak in tongues. After this we may be able to operate other gifts of the Spirit.

Now we are equipped to begin the march toward the rest of God, toward the fullness of God. The New Testament contains many commandments, exhortations, directions, and much advice that are necessary if we are to make our way through the wilderness until we arrive at our land of promise.

Once we believe we have received all God has for us we will stop growing toward maturity.

Then I said there is much error in our doctrine:

We are viewing eternal residence in a mansion in Heaven as the goal of salvation. Heaven is not the goal. Our goal is twofold: to be conformed to the moral image of Jesus Christ; and to enter untroubled rest in the Father’s Person and will.

When we envision Heaven as our goal, all we can do is wait to die so we can go there. When we envision our change into a new, righteous creation, and entrance into untroubled rest in the Father, as our twofold goal, then there is something to do about this each day as the Spirit of God leads us. We now are on the road to maturity.

Another major error in our doctrine is that Divine grace serves as an alternative to righteous behavior. This destructive error is widespread. It is true that when we first come to Christ we are forgiven. The righteousness of Christ is ascribed to us. But to prolong this state such that we never experience moral change, believing God does not see our sinning, is to abort the purpose of the new covenant.

There is a negative and a positive aspect of maturity in Christ. The negative aspect is that of deliverance from worldliness, deliverance from the lusts and appetites of our flesh and soul, and the crucifixion of our self-will. The positive aspect is the forming of Christ in us; the filling of us with the Spirit, the Father, and the Son; and finally the filling of our mortal body with the Spirit of God, which will take place at the return of the Lord.

If we are deluded by the current “grace” teaching” we are not going to be following the Spirit each day as He leads us in the negative and positive aspects of redemption. We simply do not know what the Spirit is doing, and so we will suppose we are just being harassed by the devil while we are waiting to go to our mansion in Heaven.

A third error is the concept of dispensationalism. It is the thought that God has changed His goal for man. Instead of the goal of our salvation being that we practice righteousness, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, the goal has become that of professing belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We think it is our belief that is saving us. This is a kind of Gnosticism. It is not our belief that saves us, it is that our belief in Christ causes us to obey Him; and it is the obedience that saves us, not the belief itself! What good does it do to say we believe in Christ and then not obey His commands or those of His Apostles? This indeed is a mammoth delusion.

The hope for a pre-tribulation “rapture” is a minor blemish when compared with the idea of Divine grace being an alternative to righteous behavior. However the “rapture” error is leaving God’s people unprepared for the age of physical and spiritual horrors we are entering.

Another error is the interpretation of fruit-bearing as “winning souls for Christ.” The fruit Christ is looking for is our change into His image. When we focus on converting other people, thinking this is fruit-bearing, we tend to ignore the demands the Holy Spirit is making on our own spiritual condition.

There are other minor errors, such as the “faith” and “prosperity” aberrations, but I don’t think these are as destructive as the ones mentioned above.

We can see at a glance that if our doctrine is not sound, we are not going to grow to maturity.

Another factor that militates against our growing to maturity is the pastor-congregation model of the assembly. This pattern cannot be abandoned quickly because it is time-honored. But we who are pastors must realize that the ministries and gifts given to the members of the Body of Christ are for the purpose of bringing each believer to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ. I don’t see how the members of Christ’s Body can come to maturity apart from a much fuller operation of the gifts and ministries given by the ascended Christ.

An introduction, three points with anecdotes interspersed, and a conclusion from the pulpit are not sufficient to bring the believers to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

A fourth hindrance to the maturity of the believers is the stress on gaining new converts, to the neglect of feeding the believers on the Word of God. The New Testament does not emphasize evangelism to the extent we do. Our emphasis is not coming from the Spirit of God but from personal ambition and ignorance, I believe

According to the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit has given an assortment of ministries and gifts. Each member of the Body of Christ is given one or more of the ministries and gifts. He then is to present his body a living sacrifice in order to discover and operate what has been given him.

To then neglect this teaching, insisting that it is the responsibility of each believer to go out and win more believers, is destructive. Most believers are not personal workers, nor does the Spirit intend them to be personal workers. They will sit in church Sunday after Sunday, perhaps feeling guilty because they are not going out and saving souls.

They have not been taught to find out what the Spirit wants them to do. They do not have the grace necessary for personal evangelism (a few do), and they have not been taught that there is something wonderful God has for them personally. So they do not benefit from their own gifts; neither do the other members of the Body.

This denominational striving for more and more members, while neglecting the work of building the members to maturity, is nothing more than the spirit of Babylon the Great—man-directed religion.

We believers are divided into many camps. We are divided because we are living in the flesh, for the most part. We are not spiritually mature. We are not spiritually mature for the reasons I have just set forth.

It is up to the leadership of each local assembly to remove these hindrances to maturity. If we wait for the removal to come from those above us in the hierarchy, we may wait until it is too late.

The Lord prayed that we would be one in the Father and the Son so the world will believe that is it God who has sent Christ. We have placed the cart in front of the horse, haven’t we. We are trying to get the world to believe in Christ. But the world is not going to believe that God has sent Christ until the believers are one in the Father and the Son.

All of us want the world to believe in Christ. We read the newspaper and we see how people are being destroyed by self-seeking villains. We learn of the prostituting of children for money. We are become aware of the aborting of millions of children. Older people are robbed of their life savings. Husbands and wives murder each other.

The leaders seek their own betterment, deceiving and lying in order to gain advantage. The rich grow richer at the expense of the poorer people. Some are starving while others are going to the doctor to have their excess fat removed.

There are people who try to bring help, and some succeed to a limited extent. But it is not too long before self-seeking people ruin whatever good has been accomplished.

There is no solution to these distressing conditions through politics, philosophy of government, education, psychology, or any utopian plan. The only Prince of Peace is the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the world cannot see Christ. Why not? Because Christ can be seen by the world only through His people. This is God’s plan. So until the Christians become one in the Father and the Son, our efforts to persuade the world of Christ may not have the effect we could wish. We are shooting ourselves in the foot with our divisions.

I am not advocating ecumenism. Ecumenism is another word for Babylon. The unity Christ is praying for will not come as major religious organizations combine their resources, no matter how well intentioned their efforts may be. Ecumenism is a matter of self-seeking people joining forces to further their own interests.

The unity for which the Lord prayed has to do with our being one in the Father and the Son. In other words, it is an individual matter as the believer, through the multifaceted work of the Spirit of God, presses him into the fullness of God.

Two believers, each of whom is filled with the fullness of God, automatically are one in the Father and the Son. When the Glory of God is seen in them, the Kingdom of God will be created in those with whom they come in contact.

But the efforts of denominational leaders to create an ever larger organization will create nothing more than a haunt of unclean spirits. It is not that they are bad people. It is because the unity is adamic and not of the new righteous creation; therefore Satan will be able to gain entrance.

Another huge denomination will serve only as another source of division. When all the huge denominations get together and create the mega-denomination, then we will have Babylon the Great of the Book of Revelation. It is as simple and straightforward as that.

Christ has given us the glory that the Father gave Him, that the believers would be one as the Father and the Son are One.

Religion makes proselytes. The Divine Glory creates the Kingdom in people.

The Glory of God is everything. All things of the Kingdom come into being through the Glory of God. It is the Glory that will make us one.

What each of us needs is more of the Glory, more of the Divine Presence. Christ stated in His prayer that He has given us the Glory that the Father gave Him, so we would be one. And we indeed shall be one when we all are filled with the Glory of God.

But where is it? Why don’t we see more of it? I think we have to see our need of it and then pray for it. I know I am praying for the Glory for myself and for those for whom I am responsible.

We need more of the Glory of God. When people who are watching us see and feel the Glory of God, the Kingdom of God will be born in them.

The Father has given Christ the fullness of His Glory. Christ says He has passed this on to us.

I read in the sixtieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah that when the spiritual environment reaches its darkest, the Glory of God will fall upon the people of God. Then, as we read in this chapter, the people of all the nations will come to experience the Presence of God in God’s people.

There is no doubt we are approaching an hour of judgment in America. This is a good thing. It would be horrible if God permitted Hollywood to continue to spew out the moral filth that it does. Our nation needs a good shaking so we will turn back to the Lord.

The darker the spiritual climate becomes, the more eligible we are to receive the Glory. But we must pray for it. The fullness of Glory has been promised to us, now we must ask and keep on asking for it. We must pray for rain in the time of the harvest rain. That time is now.

I can remember the glory that was on William Branham when his ministry of miracles was at its peak. I tell you, to be in the Presence of God like that left such a hunger, all one wanted to do was to fast and pray.

I know we have to work hard to feed God’s people and do what we can to build the Kingdom of God. We have to be instant in season and out of season. We just have to keep plowing; keep plowing; keep plowing. We have to be patient

But at the same time we must not begin to think we are going to save the world by our own devices. It is the Divine Glory that will bring people to Christ. When they see the Glory that has brought God’s people to a Divine oneness, then they are going to come to Christ by the millions. Actually, they will come to Christ whom they see in us, and God whom they see in Christ.

See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. (Isaiah 60:2-4)

All healthy people want to experience the Presence of God. But numerous individuals are repulsed by what they see and experience in the churches. We may employ every device we can think of, from weightlifters to magicians, to bring people into our church. Our devices may attract a crowd of people, but they will not deliver them from sin; neither will they form Christ in them.

What we need is the Glory of God falling on us.

Of late there have been “refreshings” in various parts of the United States. These movements seem to have God in them to a certain extent; but then there are questionable activities that don’t seem like the Lord. I believe some good has come from these; but I don’t think “this is that.”

Brother Frodsham warned us several decades ago that there were coming spiritual awakenings that would be about seventy percent scriptural and thirty percent not of God. This is the way the recent phenomena appear to me. I can see some parts that seem to be of the Lord. But then there are questionable areas.

Several years ago a Pentecostal pastor reported that Michael and Gabriel appeared to him. I was excited at first, but then came to believe that these two beings were not the Michael and Gabriel of the Bible. We are going to have to be careful while we are praying for the glory—but not so careful we miss God!

We need the Glory. We need the Glory so we may be one as the Father and the Son are One. Such Oneness does not come through ecumenism but through Divine Glory.

I myself want to live in the Glory, in the fire of God’s Holy Presence. I am praying for this, and watching the Lord. In the meanwhile I am occupying until He comes. I covet the Glory that Elijah and Elisha lived in. How about you?

Christ is in us and the Father is in Christ. This is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is God, in Christ, in the members of the Body of Christ, governing the works of God’s hands.

As far as I can tell, the fact that the Father is in Christ, and Christ is in us, is the climax of the whole Bible. The ramifications of this relationship are enormous.

For one thing, this means the saints are becoming part of the Incarnation. Jesus Christ is the Incarnation of God. This is to say, the Lord Jesus is the embodiment of the invisible God. This does not signify that Christ is the Father, for if the Father and Christ were the same Person, many Bible passages would not have a straightforward meaning.

The Father is a Person in His own right. The Lord Jesus Christ is a Person in His own right. He is not the Father. He is the Son. You and I are people in our own right. We are not the Father. We are not the Son. We are ourselves.

The Father dwells in Jesus Christ. I am using the term “Father” instead of “God,” because God is a title, not a name. The Father is God. Jesus Christ is God. They both are to be worshiped and prayed to. It is the Father who has chosen to make Jesus Christ God–a Person to be worshiped and obeyed. “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” “God has made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ.”

The Father has chosen to dwell in the Son for eternity. This choice was made in love. As a result, the Son no longer can be separate from the Father. The Father and the Son have become one Person in that the Father dwells in the Son. They are totally One in this respect.

The Son was born of a woman and became flesh. This means the Father gained a fleshly form in that He and the Son are One and appear in flesh and bone. This is the Incarnation–the making Flesh of the invisible God.

Now we saints enter the picture. Christ has chosen to dwell in us. The Holy Spirit of God enables the Seed of God to be born in us and grow in us. As the Seed comes to maturity in us (if it is nourished properly,) the Father and the Son come and make Their eternal dwelling place in us.

When this happens, what then is true of us? We have become an integral part of the Incarnation, the making visible of the invisible God.

There are some choices we can make when we learn of the Divine intention.

We can regard it as impossible if not blasphemous. We can draw back and say, “God is Divine and we are only human.” On this basis the reasoning we have presented is fallacious.

We can acknowledge that it may be true because it is scriptural; and then continue to live as an adamic human being, a member of a church, a believer in the Christian religion.

Or we can view the prospect of becoming an integral part of the living God as being of supreme importance. We can make the perfecting of this state of being the focus of our existence.

To my way of thinking, the hope of becoming an eternal part of the expression of God is so far beyond anything else that is possible in this world, the wise individual will make the Divine invitation the meaning of his or her life.

Of course, this requires that we are willing to surrender our independence in order to become part of another Person. Many believers may draw the line at this, preferring to just be saved and go to Heaven without becoming so involved in God.

In the Life of the Spirit of God there are four levels.

There is water to the ankles. This is the basic salvation experience. I receive forgiveness through the blood atonement and I now have peace with God.
There is water to the knees. This is the beginning of life in the Spirit.
There is water to the waist. This is the level where our personal strength begins to be broken as we say “Not my will but Yours be done.”
Then there is a river that cannot be crossed. This is Life lived in the Fullness of God. We become a tree of life, a person from whom others can derive eternal life and physical healing.

There are the thirtyfold, the sixtyfold, and the hundredfold. I think what I am saying is that we can have as much of God as we want.

It is rather frightening to relinquish our first personality that we might become part of another Person. It is a conscious choice we make, whether to preserve our independence or to turn ourselves over to the Lord.

When we first come to Christ we talk and sing about giving our heart to Jesus. But when it comes right down to it, we may draw back in favor of saving our life.

It is as Jesus said: “If you save your life you will lose it. If you lose your life in Christ you will gain it and bear much fruit.”

The Father is in Christ. Christ is in us. This means both the Father and Christ are in us.

Paul spoke of being crucified with Christ. Paul wrote it no longer is he who is living but Christ who is living in him.

Are we willing to become an integral part of another? Are we willing to lose our independence of thought and action? Once we decide to become a part of God through Christ there is no turning back. Or perhaps I should say, to turn back after we have committed ourselves to God is an extremely serious matter. It is possible we never again will have the same opportunity to become an eternal part of God. That would be a loss beyond all comprehension.

Except for a handful of people, the world is not interested in you or me no matter how accomplished we are. The people of the world want God. The Muslims want God. The Hindus want God. The Buddhists want God. The American Indians want God.

The man in the street wants God. If God were to place His Throne in a city in some country, everyone on earth would rush to be there. People want God!

But they do not want our religion necessarily. They don’t want us personally. But if we become an integral part of God so His Glory is in us, then they will come.

If God were to fill us with His Glory today, and all the nations came to us, we would try to make them part of our denomination. We would have to hire seventy thousand clerks to enter all the necessary data.

The first and most important task would be to record how many actually came. Then we would want to know where they came from, how much money they put in the missionary offering, how many buildings and Bible schools are needed, and so forth. Christian architects would fly to many places in the world carrying their blueprints with them.

Instead of giving the people Divine forgiveness, healing, and eternal life, we would make certain they had signed up as part of our denomination.

I think this is why God had Mary at the cave when Jesus arose. Mary gave Him love. The disciples would have wanted to build tabernacles.

People want God. They want to be forgiven. They want to feel God’s love. They want to be healed in mind, spirit, soul, body, and emotions. They want to be better people. They want to have fellowship with God. They do not want religion! They do not want to join one of the many divisions of the Christian religion.

Will we ever get it through our heads, or will self-will and personal ambition continue to prevail?

The Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, and the rest do not want to hear how their belief is incorrect. But they would appreciate having fellowship with the true God! Will we ever be able to bring God instead of ourselves to them?

When the believers are brought to complete unity, then the world will know it is God who has sent Christ. As I stated previously, as long as we are spiritually immature we will have disunity. But when each of us comes to the stature of the fullness of Christ, then the unity automatically will be present.

We will never agree on doctrine. We will never all join the same denomination. It is a good thing, too.

But if we will pursue spiritual maturity, then the desired unity will occur. It is not a unity of the brain but of the heart that will cause the world to know it is God who has sent Jesus Christ.

The world will understand also that the Father loves the believers as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ. If there is a more astonishing verse in the Bible I have never read it.

Do you believe that God actually loves you as He loves Jesus Christ? Is that a staggering thought!

I think the Christian churches for so long have viewed Christ as being the same Person, or nearly the same Person, as the Father, that the statement that the Father loves the believer as He loves His Son is neither credible nor intelligible.

I don’t know about you, but this verse puts the relationship of the Father and the Son in a new light. We are going to have to learn that the Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son, and that, as Jesus said, the Father is greater than the Son.

We gain the viewpoint that the Father is the Source of all personages, things, and circumstances. The Father loves the Son to an extent not in any manner comprehensible to us. I think we can accept that.

But that He loves us as He loves the Son–that takes some thought.

Now we picture a great company of sons, of brothers of Jesus Christ, born of the same Father. The danger here is that we will think of Christ as only one member of a many-membered Christ. Such is not the case. Christ is different from us, being from eternity with the Father, and having been appointed Lord and Christ. In experience and assigned status Christ is very much superior to the best of us.

But we must not let the majesty of Jesus Christ detract in any manner from the fact that we are genuine brothers! Genuine sons of God!

Christ is the Firstborn from the dead. We also have been born from the dead. So there is a secondborn, and a thirdborn, and a fourthborn, and so forth.

We participate with Christ in His crucifixion and we participate with Christ in His resurrection. There is no question about this.

Go tell My brothers, “I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.” This sort of thing.

My guess is that Christ is more pleased with the idea of having many brothers than we are. We are more apt to shrink back in dismay at the thought; more apt to stagger at the promise of God through unbelief.

Well, we don’t have to, you know. If this is what the Bible says we probably should step up and be counted.

Now comes another unusual thought. Why is it important that the world understand the Father loves the believers as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ?

It makes me think of Christ’s statement in John: “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Maybe some day we will be saying to people, “You believe in Christ, believe also in me.” Wouldn’t that be something?

Why would it be necessary we claim to be part of Christ in God? Because otherwise people would not have faith to receive what we have to give to them.

The Spirit and the Bride tell whoever will do so to come and receive eternal life.

Whatever we bind or loose on earth is bound or loosed in Heaven.

Whoever’s sins we retained are retained; whoever’s sins we forgive are forgiven. But we cannot help people unless they believe we represent Christ; just as Jesus cannot help people unless they believe He represents God.

That is clear enough.

For some reason, God wants the world to know whom He has chosen and that He loves those people.

I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. (Revelation 3:9)

“They are the seed whom the Lord has blessed.”

All of the reasons why God insists that other people know whom He has chosen and that He loves them as He loves Christ are probably not known to us at this time. I think it is something that will become clearer in the future.

What I get understand from this is that we are to stand in relationship to Christ as He stands in relationship to God.

Wouldn’t it be something someday, perhaps a billion years from now, if the theologians were confused about whether there is one God in millions of manifestations; or if all these saints are gods who are coequal, coeternal, coexistent, and all the rest of it.

The Lord Jesus prayed that we would be in union with one another in Christ in God so the world would believe that Christ actually has been sent from God. I think we should take this prayer seriously and begin to pay attention to the task of bringing ourselves and our brothers and sisters to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.

How do you feel about this?

(“Living in the Glory”, 3628-1)