The progression of Christ. Our Journey to our Father.

We learned early on about the birth of the Savior, Emmanuel and God in the flesh because that is what Emmanuel means, God is with us. That God took on human form and became one of us. Yes Word is another conception of who God is and how we can know Him. For this reason scripture says “and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us” like us and for us. However that was to be short-lived.

For this reason the gospel is progressive in nature, and beacons us onward and upward to a greater and larger understanding of who and what God really is, and in cooperating with the Holy Spirit, when we discover God, we recover ourselves as well. A baby in manger is a baby step into the Kingdom. That is only the introduction but there is a whole lot more.

We then learn of Christ as the inquisitive boy, who was not the Christ yet because Christ was a title for the job He had to do, however He is so much more. He stayed behind at the temple questioning the religious  authorities as His family left for home. When his parents realized he wasn’t with them on their journey, they came back and Jesus reasoning with his (Earthen) parents, they asked him what He was doing and He replied “I must be about My Father’s business. He knew He had another Father other than the carpenter.

We later see the Son of God in His 40 day stint in the wilderness doing what the Israelites couldn’t do in 40 years. It was there that He was offered by Satan all the kingdoms of the world and to Satan’s demise Christ left there with all of them anyway because He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He was born King but was incognito, He didn’t want to blow His cover, for them they would not have killed The Lord of Glory.

From that day forward He went into the temple and proclaimed that “the Acceptable year of our Lord is fulfilled in your hearing” which is the way all things are fulfilled and from there He also proclaimed “The Kingdom of God is at hand” as being synonymous. This is something that confused many because they thought their Jerusalem was God’s Kingdom. But nevertheless He proved Himself by healing the sick and raising the dead, to fulfill old testament expectations of the savior, because these are a few things a savior does. He did this to expire all the old testament prophecies, to fulfill and shelve the whole Old Covenant (of death through sacrifices) as being fruitless because of a “New and Living way” had been provided for us to the Father. “Be ye reconciled to the Father” is the true object of our faith and the purpose of the gospel. To be once again joined to the Father in the way that Adam and Eve had before they invested their faith into the counterfeit ruler of providers.

The rituals of killing animals were for teaching and removed as unnecessary. Even as God spoke through the mouth of Isaiah saying

However we can learn of the true sacrifice of faith in the heart when father Abraham (who pictured our Father in Heaven). Abraham, like God, delivered up his son Isaac as a sacrifice and Abraham said to Isaac “do not worry my son for God will provide us a sacrifice”.  And He did, He provided the Lamb that was stuck in the thicket, which was a picture of the law.

That is why Christ came as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. To work His way through that briary stinging thicket of bushes called the law, as something no one else could ever do. And He did that to reverse the curse that separated us from the Father. To do away with the old testament law that made us good and dead and available to impliment the new that brings us life, eternal life. To trade one life for another, but make sure you do not still see Christ as dying.

The purpose of the cross was to shelve the Old Covenant Will and Testament, to Establish the New Covenant which when implimented, makes available to us our inheritance because the blood spilled for this Will and Testament was the hurt aimed at us that He took unto Himself. This provided to us our inheritance as the kin next in line. And because Christ experienced death at the cross, the inheritance was given. Yes the Creator God sent forth His only begotten, meaning the only one whose original source is eternity unlike the rest of Gods offspring.

“To as many as received Him (in this way) to them He gave power to become His children, even to those who (simply) believe in His name”. And we did not say “believed in His name” meaning past tense act, because we are beaconed to continue to believe in His name to each consecutive generation. (1 John 5) And we do this because the gospel was for that time and this time, and is progressive for all time, for each one in their own order of becoming saints.

If the gospel wasn’t progressive you would be immediately removed from this life but you have some learning and growing to do. And because scripture and the gospel is progressive you see The Son of God becoming a baby then growing up, and because scripture says “when we see Him as He is, we become like Him” we don’t want to be stuck worshipping a baby Jesus. Don’t stop there. Now, having come this far and understanding the progression of the gospel is a journey. That we are sojourners and pilgrims parabolically shown in the old testament, with the destination we call The Father.

We see Christ the man become the sacrifice Lamb “who takes away the sin of the world”. This is the one time the scripture that says “when we see Him as He is we will become like Him”. You don’t want to do that here because it was at the cross that He was NOT Himself. He took that on for our cause. He became the old you, He became the old me, He became all the sin and all the stench for all of mankind so that they would have a way out if they so choose.

Even in the old Covenant, the sacrifice was burned “outside the camp” as being infectious stinky and dispicable. We are not to stay focused on that. Even as Paul told the Romans that “God made Him who knew NO sin to become our sin, in order for us to become the righteousness of God that was in Him”. Having diffused the sin that leads to death He gives us life now, and not later. Otherwise you would not have professed (spoken into existence) that you are raised in newness of life as scripture commands. Unless maybe your leaders did not explain this to you correctly. You have your new being, and the gospel helps you learn how to use it. However because of this “those who have the Son have (eternal) life, and those who have not the Son have not life but the wrath of God abides on them.

What The Son of God did at the cross was to take every crime humanity would ever do onto Himself and became the pole, the tree and the cross where the lightning bolt of Judgment would land, with such precision and accuracy so as to neutralize any judgment, at least to as many as received Him. But what is hard to do is to relieve everyone from their self imposed separation from God of having a guilty conscience. Stop with your confessions at the cross! A sin focused conscience does not understand the cross.

God did not leave us in our sin. He did not leave us weeping at the cross begging for more forgiveness and crying and waiting for Him to come back to take you to a better place or a new level, rapture or whatever your eschatology may be, they are all wrong, because Today is the day of salvation and any salvation that is partial is a bandaid at best and leaves you struggling with sinning in your mind which is simply defined as unbelief. Unbelief puts you outside of Christ fending for yourselves.

For even the Israelites in Egypt and at the Exodus, meaning departure. After they applied the sacrificial blood to their door posts, they were suppose to eat the sacrifice in haste and get the heck outa there. Why? Like the cross, that belonged solely to Christ. As scripture confirms that our inequity was laid upon Him. He was striken for us all, and by His stripes we are healed. (Having already been given the healing in this lifetime).

For this reason we profess at baptism to be buried in the likeness if His death to be  meaning, resurrected in a new life because He became our sin for us to become His righteousness in Him. To be in Him in this way qualifies us to he “in Christ” “for even the angels in heaven behold the face of the Father in these little ones.

Now being passed the death and the resurrection is behind us having been provided to us through the cross.  We can now join Mary at the tomb, the stone rolled away, where no body lay. She then turns to one supposing him to be a gardener and asked him “where did you put my Lord. He exclaimed, Mary! And immediately she recognized it was her Lord and as if to try and hug Him He said “see that you do not do that because I have not yet ascended. But go tell thy brethren that I am ascended to My God and your God, to My Father and your Father”. You see He did not want Mary to cling or hold onto the wrong concept of who the Son of God is.

Every step that Christ took so far was to pull them out of themselves. Out of there death, out of sleep and indifference, ignorance and misunderstandings to arrive at the conclusion of the Gospel of being reconciled to The Father. Remember, when “we see Him we will become like Him because we shall see Him as He is” and he is no longer a baby, he is no longer a boy, he is no longer a just a prophet, He is no longer on the cross, He is no longer in the flesh and He is no longer in the tomb. DO NOT CLING TO THESE! “For I have ascended to My Father and your Father”. In a proverbial way Christ took your hand and put it into the hand of your Father too.

Side note: For this reason Paul in Timothy warned of those who say the resurrection is past, because it did happen with Christ and it did happen to many others, but that doesn’t mean you can’t expire the resurrection in yourself in your lifetime. In this way it is not past for some but for others it is. They ascend.

That is a point we are trying to make. That the gospel is progressive in purpose to “each one in their own order. Christ the first fruits then afterwards those who are Christ’s at His consecutive comings. (1 Corinthians 15)

That’s the glorious thing about scripture is that it meets everyone exactly where they are according to their need and abilities. That in actuality nothing is expired for you untill you receive it. That you move on in your own “transfiguration into His self same image from the Glory to the Glory by means of the Spirit”. 2 Corinthians 3.18 +

You can learn to expire in your mind those incidents as bygone conclusions, and reach for a greater understanding.

You can then realize if you understand this teaching, you will be able to see the book of Romans as an explanation of the expiration and the purpose of the whole old Covenant. That it is emphatically expired and shelved for historical reference only,  then to reach out NOT for the “Anastasia” the Greek word for resurrection but the “ex-anistadsia. Meaning out-of the resurrection”. Or a better term is the ascention. This  concept from the Greek taken from Philippians chapter 3.

So there is a difference from being resurrected and being raised up together in Heavenly places, which is the ascention and NOT the resurrection. You go from being dead to the things of God, to being alive, awake and spiritually alert, to then to go on to arise (which is your ascension) to take possession of the gift given. This is the Prodigal coming to their senses. The Father sees them a long way off, goes to meet them and says “this one of Mine was lost but now coming to their senses they are found. Therefore prepare a feast and cloth them with the finest attire and we will celebrate. For even the angels in Heaven resound in praise and jubilation at the arrival of anyone of God’s children to reach these truths and conclusions and closeness to the Father. Not conclusions, but THE conclusion because The Father is the end of the gospel. For the Kingdom is preached and the violent (or aggressive) take it by force).

Even as James said “recieving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls”. Your invisible parts stitched together with His to be indistinguishable one from the other. As Christ said follow Me that where I am ye may be also.

…Paul’s letter to the Romans was Paul expiring the resurrection, which is the first big leap. But even the first, or basic tenant of our faith is baptism which is nothing more then the conclusion of the old because both the baptism and the old Covenant take you to the same crossover point. The resurrection is different from the ascention, and our main point with Christ after His resurrection He said “do not cling to Me yet” do not stop and camp here for “I am ascending”.

…The Son of God having us follow us this far. Through the sin and death of the cross, to the burial and the resurrection they were not in limbo. “Tell them I have ascended? To My Father?. You have the resurrection, do you want the ascention? Because many don’t. They sit and wait like it’s like an intermission at a movie for the second half and they call it a second coming. But Christ said “do not cling to Me now” meaning you can do better. I am ascending to the Father. Didn’t He say in John to ” follow Me that where I am you may be also”? Are you now ready for the ascention? This is the reason we were left the comforter and helper who “will take what is mine and manifest it to you”.

…From now on you have known Me and you have seen Me! And “Those who have seen Me have seen the Father”. And our Father is God. “Let us make man in our image and likeness”? Our God and Father

The object of the faith was always the Father. Even as Paul said of our Father God. “Our Father who art in Heaven”?

“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” And if you remember it was John the disciple (He had not earned his apostleship yet) he was seen with his head in the bosom of Christ because Christ is the bosom of God our Father. The Son declared God because they had a heart to heart connection, as do we.

¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the (residents of the) world to Himself, not ^[d]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” Reconciliation means linked back together, to become one. And in case it is heart to heart and not like a place or a building because they said “I will never leave you or forsake you” we don’t have to go somewhere to get this, and we don’t have to wait as though it is in the making. “Be ye reconciled”.

²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf (in His stead), be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, for us become the righteousness of God (that resides) in Him.” For us to be on Him and with Him in the here and now, without faltering.

And as John finished his epistle with the Father, so too he started out with these words, “² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that ^[a]your joy may be full.

All things the Father has are ours. This is The Kingdom. Amen!