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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Heavenly Jerusalem, #45
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)
Both Jesus and Paul taught us that we cannot satisfy God's requirements for righteousness by adhering to Moses, now that Christ has come.
What follows our receiving of Christ, our eating of Christ?
The result of eating Christ is that the Kingdom of God enters us and we are changed. Covetousness and the other works of the flesh are cast from us.
If any man actually is dwelling in Christ and Christ in him, a new creation is emerging. The Kingdom of God is being created in him. If no new creation is emerging, the Kingdom of God is not being created in him. He is not dwelling in Christ no matter how much he professes faith in Christ.
That is what Paul meant when he stated that no covetous individual has any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and of Christ, and what John meant when he said no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
The Kingdom of God is not adherence to any set of religious beliefs whether Jewish or Christian. No person can enter the new Jerusalem on the basis of belief in a creed. The Kingdom of God is the new creation.
For in Christ neither circumcision [Jewish beliefs] availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision [Christian beliefs], but a new creature. (Galatians 6:15)
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
What does Jesus mean by saying, "Cometh to me"? He means every day in our deeds, our words, and our thoughts, we "come" to Christ. We feed on the risen Christ continually. He becomes All in all to us.
As Christ becomes All in all to us, the hunger of our soul for righteousness is satisfied and then enlarged. The Kingdom of God increases in us. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life gradually are driven out by the power of the Kingdom of God growing in us.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)
Christ's flesh is the eternal Life of God. Christ's blood is the eternal Life of God. The living Word has become flesh.
As we, each day of our discipleship, keep on pressing into the eternal Life that is in the flesh and blood of Christ, we are enabled through its Divine Virtue and power to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (II Peter 1:4)
It is not the promises that enable us to escape the lusts of the world, although they certainly help. Rather, the task of the promises of Scripture is to bring us to the Divine Nature, to Christ. It is the Divine Nature working in us that drives the lust from our personality.
To be continued.