Living Out of the Unseen
October 29, 2015
2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Living Out of the Unseen
Natural eyes, physical sounds, human reasoning, life circumstances, what others tell us, five senses, human conditions, perceptions, surroundings and our understanding all feed into what we perceive as real. In the moment and with all that processes through our being, that may be what seems real and factual. As believers, the word teaches us that there is a realm beyond just human natural perception. This realm is not ruled and governed by the same principles that govern our earthly realm. This realm is not dictated by earthly facts or circumstances. This is a realm that God wants us to more and more operate out of, because it is the realm of the kingdom of God and its principles are truth. Its government and dictates are spelled out in the Word of God. It supercedes that which is natural, for what we currently perceive and understand as reality is passing away. It is temporal, but that which now unseen will take its place for it is the eternal.
Currently, we see in part the invisible realm invading the natural realm, but until it has ran its course in fullness of Father’s time, we will not experience the fullness of the currently unseen realm made manifest. 1 Corinthians 15:50 tells us, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” In this present corruptible world we can not inherit the fullness of that kingdom which is incorruptible until death is swallowed up with life. This is currently taking place in measure even now as Christ comes forth in us and we live out of His life. His life is swallowing up the death in us.
Before the apostle Paul says this he gives us understanding of the state that we have been in and that which we are moving into. “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” Now while we may see Jesus as the last and only Adam to presently demonstrate the fullness and likeness of the man of heaven, the Word of God and the message of Christ reorients the mind of the believer to not just be operating out of this earthly realm. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 3:1-4 declares, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
In light of these scriptures we can see how our spiritual position has changed as we have died to the old Adam and are raised up in the last Adam. In that spiritual identification we see that God has positioned us in heavenly places and in that unseen realm that is eternal. From that position, what does He tell us to do? ” Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” While our physical perspective and position hasn’t changed, our spiritual position has. Now you tell me, which one does God want us to live out of?
Romans 8:5-11 teaches us this, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” You can see where we run into conflict; we find ourselves in two different states, but in Christ we have made a declaration and a statement of faith to disenfranchise and disown our former natural man even while we still abide in this earthen vessel and have put on Christ and identification with His eternal life. That is the position we are to operate our physical lives out of. Even though we don’t see the fullness of that yet manifest we are as Romans 8:22-25 states, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
In that patient hope we aren’t focused on the temporal, corruptible and that which is passing away, but we are embracing the eternal as we declare and decree by faith the Word of God and its promises. It is out of these kingdom principles we now live, move and have our being as we walk by the Spirit and live no longer according to the dictates of the flesh. We are a new creation being made conformable in the likeness of Him who has translated us from darkness into His marvelous light, from death into His incorruptible life.
Blessings,
#kent
Two Adams
June 20, 2013
Romans 5:12-20
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Two Adams
What this passage in Romans 5 speaks to is spiritual principles and acts that have global and eternal impact upon all of creation and in particular, humanity. Verse 14 says that “Adam was a pattern of the One to come.” Now a pattern is a prototype after which all things that are made from that pattern look like. Adam was the example of what God intended from the beginning to have in His relationship with man. Adam is like us, in Christ and perfected with one exception. His righteousness was in his obedience, but not out of faith in Christ as ours is now. Adam was allowed to partake of all of the trees of the Garden, but two trees in the midst of the Garden or we might say the “heart” of the garden had far reaching eternal spiritual weight and ramifications. There was no prohibition from partaking of the “Tree of Life” because it would only perpetuate the state of godly relationship Adam enjoyed with God in the Garden. It was that other tree that was the Pandora’s box to a spiritual dimension that even Adam could not have imagined.
It was obedience that kept Adam in his perpetual state of bliss. The principle we see here is that obedience that is not tried and tested is not obedience that is of proven character.
Jesus was the last Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:45 declares, So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” Adam may have represented the best of man, but it was outside the life-giving Spirit that could only come through Christ. He no doubt did well for an indeterminate amount of time, but there came a day of testing, trial and temptation and this living soul, the pattern of the one to come, gave place to disobedience. When he partook of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he brought death and condemnation spiritually and physically, not only to himself, but to all of mankind and creation.
What made Jesus different? Well, first and foremost, He was the Son of God and yet clothed in the frailty of a human body with like passions and weaknesses. Jesus Christ came in the midst of a sinful and perverse world wrapped in the body of a fallen creation man. There was only one way this Christ man could bring all of creation out of the bondage that had been released upon it through Adam’s one disobedient act. It was now the act of unfaltering obedience that would be needed to bring creation back out of its bondage and into the eventual fullness of restoration that God had purposed from the beginning. It was the act of obedience on the part of Jesus that would determine the fate of creation. If He failed then all hope of creation would fail with Him and the destruction of creation would be inevitable.
Praise God in the highest and His Son Christ Jesus; He didn’t fail, but was obedient even unto the death of the cross. The difference between Adam and Christ is brought out in Hebrews 5:8, “Although Jesus was the Son [of God], he learned to be obedient through his sufferings.” Jesus is now that pattern Son for us. If He learned obedience through sufferings, then we will learn the same way. The proof of what is in the character of a person is not fully seen until it is tried and tested.
Just as the many were made sinners through one man’s act of disobedience, many will be made righteous through one man’s act of obedience. It is our faith in Him who is our obedience that appropriates that righteousness to us. When the sinful nature of Adam was crucified on the cross in the mortal body of Jesus, the last Adam, Christ, became a quickening, life-giving spirit through the resurrection power of the Spirit of God.
As we have comprehended in our spirits this truth we now, by faith put off the old man, identifying it with the death of Jesus on the cross. We now, by faith, put on the new resurrection Man that is a life-giving Spirit that has set us free from our former curse of condemnation inherited in our first man Adam. We are now after the order of a new pattern and prototype that is Christ Jesus. Even though we still live in a world that is plagued by the state of the first fallen Adam we have risen in our spirits into the state of the resurrected last Adam. In Christ is the hope that is being manifested through us.
Romans 8 speaks to the purpose that is now in us who have acted by faith in partaking of the obedience of Christ. Romans 8:12-25 declares, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
It is in the this hope and patience that we press into the high calling that is ours in Christ Jesus. It is in that faith, hope and patience that we exercise ourselves in godly faith, so that as many of us as are being led by the Spirit of God, we are the sons of God. The body of Christ is the key to completion, reconciliation and restoration for creation through what Jesus finished upon the cross.
“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)”
Blessings,
kent
Satan Beneath Your Feet
June 10, 2013
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Satan Beneath Your Feet
This scripture has far more weight and meaning than just Eve’s immediate offspring. God was speaking a prophetic word. When God created Adam in the likeness of Himself, then the seed that the Word gives reference to would be that which was in the image of God. We see now the fulfillment of this passage going forth as the woman spoken of here is the Church and her seed are the sons and daughters of the most high. We might ask the question, “Why is the serpent’s head bruised under the heel of the woman’s seed?”
Satan, represented in that serpent, has always been the thorn in the side of God’s people and the bruising of the heel. We see him spoken of as the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2:2 and “the God of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Adam was originally the god of this world. It was to him and his offspring dominion was given. Genesis 1:27-28 states, ” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.””
When Adam and Eve made the choice to sin against God they relinquished that authority to satan by exercising their free will. As a result the people of God, and even all of creation, have felt the bruising of our heel and more by satan’s tyrannical rule.
It took the blood shed by the innocent Lamb of God, to take back that authority and dominion that satan has held. As a man without sin and whose life satan took unjustly, Christ Jesus rose the third day the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Psalms 68:28-21 declares, “When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious— that you, O LORD God, might dwell there.
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah 20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. 21 Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins. (Psalms 68:19-21)” Then Hebrews brings forth the fulfillment of this scripture in Ephesians 4:7-13, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it[a] says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.” 9(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Hebrews 10:11-14 goes on to say “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” That day Christ put the perfection of God back into our hearts and restored the dominion and authority lost. He has set down at the right hand of the Father and now it is the responsibility of the Church to take up that mantle of authority and victory left for us in Christ through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We have the same mandate that Joshua gave to people of Israel as they entered the promise land in Joshua 1:3, ” Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”
Our inheritance, our dominion and authority is that which we lost in the garden with the first Adam, but that which has and is now being restored is that which we have regained through the last Adam, Jesus Christ. We are the feet of Christ and the enemy is our footstool. How many believe that Christ is ready to put His feet up? Romans 8:37 declares, ” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Revelations 12:10-12 reveals our overcoming source and power to prevail, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Your victory and dominion is in the word of your testimony, the authority of the Word of God in you and through you, and the blood of the Lamb which has already accomplished for us everything that pertains to life and godliness. Satan is a defeated foe and it is time to storm the gates of hell for they shall not prevail against us. ” And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you. Amen. (Romans 16:20)”
Blessings,
kent
tricklesoftruth 