| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Manual and the Garden, continued
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10—NIV)
Christ is the Garden. The manual tells us all about God, history, the world, and how to please God. The way we please God is by obeying Christ and His Apostles. Then Christ is formed in us. Then God dwells in Christ who has been formed in us. This is salvation and eternal life. This is the garden.
Having Christ formed in us is not the same as having Christ dwell in us. This is an important distinction.
It has happened it time past that Christian teachers, having become aware the mystery of the Gospel is not Christ with us but Christ in us, have gone past the truth. They have made Jesus one part of a many-membered Christ. They have lost sight of Jesus as the Lord and Christ whom God has installed as Head of the Church.
No matter how greatly Christ is formed in us we do not become the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a distinct Person, never having lost His identity even though He is one with the Father. It is true also that we never lose our identity even though we become one with Jesus Christ and the Father.
In fact our uniqueness is enhanced as we become one with Christ and the Father. It is in our attempt to save our life that we lose it. If we choose to lose our life in Christ we then save it for eternity, paradoxical though this may seem.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the exalted Head of His Church and shall be so for eternity. He is the great Leader, the Commander, the Chief of the holy brothers, the Word of God from eternity.
So it is important to understand that as Christ is formed in us we do not become as great as Jesus. Rather the new creation brought forth by the penetration of the Substance and Nature of Jesus Christ into our personality is neither us nor Christ but an entirely new creation. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the unique Person, the Firstborn from the dead, remains seated at the right hand of the Father.
Having explained that the formation of Christ in us and the dwelling of Christ in us are not the same experience, we will proceed to discuss the dwelling of Christ in us.
This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?" (Isaiah 66:1—NIV)
"Where is the house you will build for me?"
Stephen takes up the question:
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? (Acts 7:49—NIV)
Being disgusted with the behavior of the former leaders of Heaven, God is moving His Throne from the heavens to the hearts of people. He has begun with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the eternal Throne of God, the House of the Father. Christ is the chief Cornerstone of the Temple of God. But in the House of the Father there are to be many rooms. This is where we become involved.
To be continued.