Christ that Is...

Hello friends, before I dive into my new post, I'd like to point out that most (if not all) of what I write in these blog posts doesn't come directly from me. Most of it is me re-articulating the arguments of great men like John G. Lake, Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, or many others. But that isn't to say that I'm stealing from them, because they would openly say that they borrowed their ideas from elsewhere as well. I say all that so that you aren't in awe of me and my amazing revelation (though maybe you should be in awe of my ability to read, underline, remember, and borrow :P ).

With that said, I want to talk about Christ as he IS, not as he WAS. I have been talking all along about this idea of the Church and its necessity to be glorious. Today I'd like to take another crack at it.

Romans 8:29 says:

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

The end of 1 John 4:17 says:

"...as he IS, so also are we in this world. "

We are to be as Christ is, now, to the world.

How is Christ now?

In all my previous posts you can read all the verses about Jesus being lifted up at the right hand of God, in a glorious state. He once was lowly and meek, bearing our burdens, and suffering and humbled.

But that was before the cross. Before he died and rose again. We are called to be "as he IS", not how he WAS, to the world.

So how IS he?

Revelation 1:17-18 says:

"Fear not, I am the first and the last,and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."

In Matthew 28 He says:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

And again in Eph 2, Paul says:

"[God] raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."

Jesus is alive and glorified. He holds the keys of life and death, he knows no death any longer. All things are placed under his feet. He has total authority and dominion over all.

As Christ IS, so we are to the world.

That verse in Eph says that he gave all things to the church, which is his body. If Christ is over all things, and we are his body, where does that place us?

How can somebody be over all things if his body is under all things?

He can't. If we are his body, we ARE over all things. So why do we still struggle with sin and shame, and why do we look at the cross as our example of how to live in this world, a cross that that brought suffering and shame to our savior in order to set us free!

We are not slaves to sin, Jesus freed us on the cross.

We are not slaves to the cross either. The cross was for Jesus, not for us. Jesus died on the cross so that we wouldn't have to. He died on the cross so that we could be seated in glory along with him.

But we always turn to the cross as the way to live our lives. Surely Jesus says to pick up our crosses daily, to die to our selves and to live for others, I do not deny that. I am calling you to view it differently though.

We live in a place of victory. Jesus won, we share in his victory. We are his body, set over all things.

In our hands are the keys of life and death. Let us unlock the chains of sin and death, of sickness and disease, of poverty and hungry, but most of all, let us do it hidden is Jesus' glory.

We are called to be a people so inundated with God's weighty presence that we can't help but change the world around us, not by what we do, but by the mere presence of his presence upon us.

We are not sinners, but saints. We are not losing the battle, but have already won. We are not slaves to sin, but called to be covered in His glory.

We need to get over our small view of our selves and realize that Jesus views so highly that he would die on a cross, he would suffer long, not for us to suffer as well, but to set us free, that we can live in the presence of God all of our days.

We need to be leaky people. God's presence must seep out of us onto others, like a heavenly perfume that changes the world.

We must be as Christ IS, not as he WAS. Being Christ to the world is being his glorified presence in the world.

Christ IS glorified right now. We ARE his body, his presence in this world. We MUST get over our small, broken view of our humanity and view ourselves as Christ views us, as glorified, as holy, as his.

And the only way I know to do this is to soak ourselves in his presence so that we leak to the world. To just be in his presence.

If you are a believer, you have legal access to his realm (but only if you believe ;) ). We must enter into his throne room and bask in his glory, that we might know what it means to be Jesus to this world. We must see the glorified Christ to get the blueprint of what he means us to be in this world.

Surely this comes through reading the Bible and finding truth, but it must go further than that.
I've written about this in previous posts, but we must have the experience of a transformed mind. While he is to an extent, God isn't entirely concerned with our logical pursuit of him.

Like a fine steak, we must marinate in his glorious presence until our very beings smell and taste and look like the glorified Jesus.

Because we're called to be as Christ is...