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Jesus and Christ Son of Man and Son of God Earth and Heaven Are One April 2010
And (Jesus) sent
messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the
Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his
face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and
John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down
from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias (Elijah) did? But he turned, and
rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the
Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they
went to another village. Luke 9:52-56 Here,
these followers of Jesus assumed that they had the same spiritual identity as
that of Elijah. It was well known to them that when Elijah was a man that he
had commanded fire to come down and consume his offering and altar as a
result of his competitive challenge to the malignant prophets of Baal that
were from the royal house of Ahab and Jezebel. It was also known to Jesus'
followers that Elijah would come again, before the Lord himself came, to
command fires of judgment on unbelief. However,
Jesus told these that they were not of the same spirit as that of Elijah. So,
in this section, Jesus is informing them that they are of a gifted spiritual
nature but not the same gifted spiritual nature as that of Elijah. Jesus then
indicates that spiritual nature of these followers as that of the Son of man.
Scripture informs us that there was a complimentary nature of Jesus. That
complimentary nature is revealed when the Lord is identified as the Son of
God rather than the Son of man. In
that name of Jesus Christ are the unified spiritual natures also identified
correspondingly as Son of man and Son of God in scripture. "Jesus" is the
name of his perfect soul also identified by the title Son of man. As such the
apostle Paul identifies Jesus as the second Adam or the second perfect soul
made through the power of the feminine from and since the foundations of this
world. "Christ"
and "Son of God" are the names for the spiritual endowment from and by the
Father from conception. As, also, the firstborn son from before the
foundations of this world, Peter appropriately identified Jesus as "the" Christ.
Here the word "the" is critically important. Peter and those who wrote the
gospel record knew that Jesus was not just Christ or "a" Christ. He was "the"
Christ. Peter and others in that day and time realized that there had been
others and would be others with weak and damaged souls from fallen Adam, yet
anointed with the spirit of Christ. When Peter writes about the salvation
that is to be revealed in the "last time" in his first letter he writes about
those in whom the spirit of Christ dwelt. 9: Receiving the end
of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 10: Of which
salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you: 11: Searching what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when
it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should
follow. 12: Unto whom it was
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things,
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto
you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire
to look into. (unto) It is
important to notice Peter's usage of the words "them" and "us" in this
section. By his usage of "them" Peter does not include himself as one endowed
with the spirit of Christ. So Peter was, as John and James who wanted to
command fire, of a different spirit than that of Elijah. That different
spirit of Elijah is the spirit of Christ. So of what spirit were Peter, James
and John? They were of the Holy Spirit. This
theme of two differing yet complimentary and intertwined spiritual realities
repeats itself again and again in the apostle Paul's writings. He addresses
his letter to the Colossians to both the saints and the faithful in Christ
Jesus. In the following section from the introductory chapter, Paul, as a
saint, is addressing the faithful souls in the church of Colosse. 25: Whereof I am made
a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you, to fulfil the word of God; 26: Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest
to his saints: 27: To whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28: Whom we preach,
warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29: Whereunto I also
labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. The
precision of this phrase "Christ in you" in verse 27 from the original Greek
language is compelling evidence of the two distinct yet intertwined spiritual
realities that comprise the one body of Christ. In what may have been the
most precise language in the history of man these three words read, "Christ
among you." (In most other places in the original where the Greek third
person dative plural follows the Greek preposition "en" the English
translators translated the phrase with "among" as required by the rules of
Greek grammar yet here they did not. There is no substantial or valid
peripheral reason in the rules of Greek grammar to justify this mistaken
liberality of translations.) So
some think, "what difference does it make?" Well, this verse in
its context and alone is one of numerous that are epitomizations of the Great
Mystery within the apostle Paul's gospel. And, it is by his gospel that the
secrets of men's hearts are to be judged. Yes, one is saved by faith but by
what faith is one saved? According to Jude, a natural brother of Jesus and
spiritual brother of Christ, it is by the faith once delivered unto the
saints - like well-known Melchisedec, Gideon, Deborah, Sampson, Ester, David,
Daniel, Paul, Luke, Timothy, Isaiah, Moses and Elijah. Those of this faith in
the apostle Paul's revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ will see the saints as
Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.
This will be when the tens of thousands of former saints, then transformed as
the holy angels of the Melchisedec priesthood descend from heaven. And
hopefully those who see will respond in awe as Peter, James and John did.
Salvation depends upon it. Now
that we have come to the Mount of Transfiguration in the context of the two
complimentary spiritual realities of the one body of Christ, one can consider
that the voice from heaven, stating that Jesus Christ was the beloved son in
whom the vocalist was well pleased, was that of the Father while the similar
words spoken from heaven, when John the Baptist baptized his natural cousin
Jesus in the Jordan under the light of a spiritual dove, were from the
feminine Holy Spirit. Certainly in him, the beloved son, Jesus Christ, does
all the fullness of eternity dwell. Jesus,
as the first perfect soul since the origins of Adam, had the fullness of
man's reasoning abilities and the fullness of man's emotions. As he walked
forward, the panorama of his life unfolded before him. In situations that
arose, his compassion, in of itself, brought healing to broken hearts and
hope to despairing souls. He, as Jesus, felt the sting of the insults thrown
at him by those who had taken the law which was at one time applied, as
intended, as holy, just and good and were now misusing it to enslave men
within their corrupt systems. He wept at the unjust death of his cousin John
and the death of his suffering friend Lazarus. He became enraged at those
that made their ill-begotten profit from cheating the common man by selling inferior
sacrifices in the shadow of the temple. He became angry with those who
resisted and opposed his ministry of deliverance. Jesus rejoiced upon the
return of his seventy ambassadors as recorded in the gospel of Luke. He was
and continued unto death as the perfect prototype soul generated from the
Holy Spirit for the coming age long life on this earth As
Jesus walked forward into the real life panorama he came to "really know"
that he was "the" Christ that he read about when he was a child. Shortly afterwards,
he went to the holy mount to met with two of the tens of thousands from all
times and places in whom the spirit of Christ dwelt. These two were Moses and
Elijah. From that point onward, he knew what he must accomplish as "the"
Christ and yet what he must suffer in willing subjugation to all the
reasonings and emotions of the soul that loved his given life to the utmost.
This was Jesus, in the agony, hanging, broken, battered, mocked and deserted
as a common criminal between death and life in the midst of insanity, held by
that ancient faith. It was a faith, in that ultimate passion, which was so
distant and faint as the proverbial mustard seed yet so full and powerful
that it carried him to die at the exact moment and at the precise location
that the Father willed from before the foundations of the world. Yes,
this is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who has acquired a name far
above his holy angels. Yes, rightly so, he will minister over all those that
have been indwelt with Christ and over all faithful souls together within his
unified body in the New Jerusalem - the expansive glorious "city" populated
by the sons and daughters of the power of the Highest and the Holy Spirit
that will descend from above and remain for one thousand years in his coming
kingdom upon this earth. One |