“Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other Person (Jesus) obeyed God, many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:18-19).

Greetings again Friends everywhere! On this Thanksgiving season, I would like us to pause and be grateful for something we frequently take for granted as believers and nominal believers. It is the bonafide freedom we have in Jesus. We often overlook the fact that a life of peace, joy, and confidence (grace), is founded upon the freedom as unique persons we have in Christ. The freedom to live true to the personality we were created to be. with distinct gifts. The essential message of Thanksgiving season is the celebration of our freedoms.

Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday, November 23, 2017.

I will begin by echoing a story by Keith Krell, pastor and author from Spokane, Washington: “One of the most famous chimpanzees of all time is one by the name of Washoe. Some soldiers picked up Washoe in West Africa. In 1966 she was adopted by two doctors who raised her almost like a child. In 1970, however, she was turned over to another pair of doctors and taken to the University of Oklahoma. Here she went through rigorous training to become the first non-human to learn American Sign Language. She learned over 140 signs! It was discovered, however, that she was just mimicking all that she had been taught. After several years the staff decided that she was able to try to conceptualize. “She is going to say what is on her heart!” the staff declared. In her safe and secure cage, well taken care of, Washoe said the first three words of her own initiative: “LET ME OUT!!!” She signed the words several times.”

Statue of Liberty, New York, Icon of Freedom and Liberty (Wiki Commons)

So, even animals seek to be free. If given the ‘choice’ between a safe and secure life in captivity  verses freedom, animals ‘choose’ freedom. Some of my readers will remember the song “Born Free” and the movie by the same title. The inspiring motion picture recounts a story about freedom in the wild portraying a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilderness of Kenya. God created all life forms with their instinctive freedoms ‘hardwired’ in them. God will always create life to replicate Himself for He is free in His Tri-Personal Being.

Humans long for freedom too. The reason ought to be plain to see – man was made in God’s likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) Many view and seek freedom in various ways, but the most powerful and satisfying form of freedom God wants humans to have is where a person is living a life that is significant and self-fulfilling in every way, with a distinct gift which identifies him/her as a personality, and a destiny to be a child of the living God. God has created us for freedom, as Paul told the Galatians, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal.5:1). God is free, and desires nothing less for His human children. The flipside of His nature is Love. You cannot have one without the other. Freedom has no meaning without Love, and Love is incomplete without freedom. It gives a glimpse into the nature of God so that to experience true freedom is to be singularly motivated by His Love. Thus, we are given the freedom to Love – we Love for the purpose of remaining free. Hence, Love constrains us so our freedom is not used for selfish purpose through fear (sin/bondage). Paul said, “Owe nothing to anyone–except for your obligation to Love one another. If you Love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law” (Rom.13:8; also 1 Cor.13).

Yet the Bible informs us that mankind has been held in bondage, quite apart from the freedom man was created to have by his Maker. But like Washoe the chimpanzee, we probably have a sense of “security and independence,” only we miss the part that we have been held in spiritual captivity since Adam’s fall. Most are blinded to and unaware of our human incarceration. This imprisonment was entrenched in the human condition when our first parents succumbed to the temptations of Satan the devil and ate the forbidden fruit they were instructed not to touch, much less eat. (Gen.2:16-17; Gen.3) Mankind was expelled from Eden and from the presence of God into the spiritual wilderness of the great tempter, the devil. The prison is called the sin-condition. Sin is the antithesis of Love. Bondage is the opposite of freedom. God is free because He is holy (sinless) in His Love. But man has chosen the way of rebellion and sin and is now held in bondage to the devil. Paul says this, “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone (bondage).” But we are not left to our doom in the sin-condition. The Father’s Love is infinitely greater and cannot be constrained or stifled and sets out to give up His Son for us. (John 3:16-17) Paul goes on, “Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone (freedom). Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person (Jesus) obeyed God, many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:18-19, also John 3:16, emphasis added).

Liberty Head, Liberty Island, New York, and Coin (Wiki Commons)

Yes, Satan has created this sin-condition where mankind is held bondage to his wicked ways. The Bible speaks of the sin-condition in which we are held prisoners, “I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me” (Rom.7:23). Note the words, “law of sin” or what I characterize as the “sin-condition.” The Bible describes this condition as if we are held and tied in chords like prisoners, “The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast” (Pov.5:22). Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34).

Man will attain true freedom by living according to the image in which he was created by  his Creator – Love and freedom. Humans may not realize this, but God’s eternal likeness has been hard-wired in man, only that Satan has deceived and blinded mankind with his lies (sin) as he did to Adam and Eve. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luk.17:21, KJV). Any other way of life which opposes His divine purpose is a form of bondage and a life vexed in perplexity and disquiet. From the passage of Scripture in Romans 5 above, we see an important principle at work exclusively within the Tri-Personal Being of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s a principle that can easily be passed over and overlooked. It is the principle of attribution and substitution, of transference and collaborative oneness and loyalty, of the constancy of God’s Love in creation and mankind, upon which the Tri-Personal Being of God (Trinity) has eternally subsists. It teaches us the utter relevance of the Trinitarian Being of God (Trinity) in God’s interaction with humans, and man’s relationship with fellow humans. This principle works only with persons in relationship, and it finds its source within the divine life of the three Persons of the Trinity. And man was created to live according to God’s Triune likeness. (Gen.1:26-27)

Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity (Wiki Commons)

Paul informs us about the principle’s relational response and outcome in Christ, the second Person of the Triune Godhead: “Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.” Through this eternal principle, life within the Triune Being of God is such that the act of one is always the act of three, and the act of three is the act of one, thus, making this attributive principle relational in every respect. Paul affirms this principle, saying, “For certainly God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and having placed in us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor.5:19). Even David spoke of this principle of God’s infinite Love,”

The passage also show the principle works in reverse, as we see in Adam’s fall: “Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone.” You can say the principle functions like gravity which cannot be nullified nor disproved. If we defy gravity it will hurt us, just as sure as violating the principle of ascription has its spiritual gravitational effect. The basis and foundation for this ascribing principle is God’s infinite Love, for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8).

Note what is said of Jesus in the passage, to “…bring a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.” A right relationship with God can only be made possible by a “new life.” It is not possible to relate with God in man’s fallen life he inherited from Adam. Only through a new birth in the glorified new humanity of Jesus will the ‘new life’ of man can enter into Loving relationship with our heavenly Father and God. Let’s see how this unfolds for each of us. (John 3:3, 5-8)

This imputive principle was and continues to dominate creation including mankind, for good or evil, because man is made in God’s triune likeness, and thereby governed by this eternal principle of attribution and transference. The truth of divine freedom is presented to humans with the freedom to choose – between good and evil. Yes, but unlike the mindless physical law of gravity, we are affected by this imputive principle through the mind by way of thoughts and decisions evoked by human desires and actions. Although we intuitively adapt to physical gravity, we are not as responsive in our thoughts and decisions when it comes to this far-reaching principle. Hence we are admonished to “bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ” (2 Cor.10:5). That is how we interact with the principle of ascription. But regardless of our determination and even discrimination, the spiritual principle will follow our actions nonetheless. This substitutive principle of God is still in force today as we see it alive and at work all around us in human relationships through the choices we make. The sin-condition we inherited from Adam’s rebellion is clearly observable in the evil and destructive way of life we witness in the world around us.

But here is the reverse effect of this principle, through God’s incalculable and boundless Love He removes the attributive punishment of the sin-condition (death), and rescues us and gives us life and personhood in His Son, Jesus. So we read these immortal words from John, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”  (John 3:16-17; also John 11:25-26). The principle of attribution cannot be more unmistakable.

If there is a “law of sin” (sin-condition) under which mankind is held prisoner, then prior to its existence, there was of necessity the “law of righteousness” (holy-condition) under which man stands free as God first created him. Adam and Eve were in such holy-condition until the day they believed the devil’s lies and rebelled. Paul said, “For Christ is the end of the “law for righteousness” to everyone who believes” (Rom.10:4). Many seek freedom in various ways, some ideas purport to bring freedom but are actually incarcerating. As Peter says, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Pet.2:19). Humans have sought freedom in political governance. Others believe in trade unionism; women seek it in women’s rights and liberation. Nations seek freedom through associations like the United Nations and through trade compacts. Some imagine the answer to everything lies in advancing the world technologically.  People have established secretive movements and societies with bizarre theories for attaining freedoms, and so on it goes. But the most significant form of freedom God wants His children to have is where a person is living a life true to his/her divine destiny as persons with unique gifts and fulfilling in every way, shape, and form. This is the place of freedom man was created by God to have as his/her ultimate destiny.

“Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person (Jesus) obeyed God, many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:18-19) Adam and Eve Expelled from Eden; Jesus Christ first Human Raised to Immortality (Pics: Wiki Commons)

How do we get there? By the very same principle which brought us under the sin-condition in the first place: through the principle of attribution and substitution through the vital instrument of faith. Let us again turn to Paul, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom.4:5). Repeating the earlier verse, “Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone” (Rom.8:19). Again Paul reiterates, “For Christ is the end of the “law for righteousness” to everyone who believes” (Rom.10:4). Do we see that? All it takes is faith (trust)  – to believe in our Father’s provision of a Savior in His Son who rescues us from bondage! Faith is more powerful than we realize, for without it God cannot reach out and give us the freedom of personhood we richly deserve as humans made in His likeness. (Heb.11:6) Adam would not have incarcerated mankind in prison if he did not trust (have faith) in the devil’s lies. Our first parents acted upon what they heard and believed, albeit by deceit. Adam’s faith (trust) in Satan’s lies which enslaved mankind in the sin-condition, now works in reverse so our faith in the Savior Jesus rescues and give us back our freedoms, the dignity of personhood, of being true persons formed in the image of the Triune God as we were created to become. Read more on saving faith at: http://bulamanriver.net/8382

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Then He pointedly ask his listeners, “Do you believe this?” (John 11:25). Faith is the silver bullet, a magical weapon, so to speak. The principle of transcription operates upon faith. Without it nothing happens. Getting back to our theme, many think of His statement about the resurrection is futuristic. Truthfully, it is dualistic: present and future. In the present sense, it speaks of another of Jesus’ classic statement of being ‘born again in the Spirit.’ (John 3:5-8; 1 Cor.6:19) Its futuristic manifestation is about our resurrection to immortality at Jesus’ second coming. To be “resurrected” in the human sense means to be raised in our spiritual lives out of the sin-condition and given gifts to identify us as persons and personalities, in God’s likeness in His Tri-Personality Being. To be given “life” in our human form means for the first time we are given a personality conformed in Jesus’ image – He is the first human to enter and exist in the presence of the Triune God. (Rom.8:29) You see, Jesus is the only human who has ever been resurrected to immortality by God and we follow Jesus’ footsteps to be conferred immortality through this principle of attribution and substitution. There is no other way to Love, freedom, immortality, and salvation.

The outcome speaks of human personhood as the Creator had planned from the start. What does personhood mean? It means we have become true “persons” with unique gifts living life that is significant and self-fulfilling in every way as God’s own people in His divine presence or “Triune Life.”* Up to this point, you and I were dead in the sin-condition and non-persons – no human had a individual existence before God apart from Jesus in His glorified human form. Only Jesus gave true life back to our dead humanity. Paul says this of Jesus’ attributive life, “When He ascended on high (heaven), He took many captives and gave gifts to His people” (Eph.4:8). The Message translation renders this in paraphrase as follows, “He climbed the high mountain, He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people.” An insightful metaphor speaking of Jesus destroying Satan’s prison (sin-condition) and led the captives (mankind) out, and gave them back their rightful heritage (Spirit/gifts/’booty’) as persons which the devil stole since Adam. At last, humanity is given back their stolen personhood, with gifts and destinies in the Spirit. Paul says, “Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift” (Eph.4:7). The first and primary gift is the gift of the Spirit.

It’s worth repeating to consider how Jesus rescued mankind and gave human beings back their identity and dignity as persons in the divine triune likeness, with unique gifts before the Almighty God. Through Adam’s rebellion we had zero existence, we were non-persons dead in our sins. (Eph.2:1) We had no life to speak about. Consider what Jesus said just in case we’re trying to equate this physical body and life with true “existence”: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing,” (John 6:63) When Jesus took our humanity and glorified it in Himself, for the very first time ever a human being was given the freedom to stand before the Father as divine/human person uniquely gifted. Paul affirmed this, saying, “He (Jesus) is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence” (Col.1:18). Jesus restored our true humanity and distinct personhood in Himself, and through the principle of attribution God ascribed Jesus glorified humanity upon us so we may attain our freedoms as personalities in God’s eternal fellowship. At last, by conferring Jesus’ new glorified humanity upon us, we have true freedom as persons before God. God gives us the gift of the Spirit to miraculously restore our unique personalities, and personify Jesus’ eternal destiny in us. (1 Cor.3:16; 6:19)

Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit – The Primary Gift (Wiki Commons)

Our sinful self has been nailed to the cross of Jesus and dead and gone forever. Paul repeats this ascribing principle, “For Christ’s Love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (2 Cor.5:14). Just as Christ was resurrected we are given new birth in our free-standing true self with unique gifts. (Gal.2:20; Rom.6:4) Paul said, “In Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority” (Col.2:10). By speaking of Jesus’ divine/human sovereignty (“head over all rule and authority”) Paul affirms that Jesus is the eternal ‘repository’ of huma gifts, saying, “In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (gifts and destinies)” (Col.2:3). That is what the golden Lampstand with seven lights in the temple stood for – Jesus is the central light who illuminates whole Lampstand. (Exo.25:31) Light symbolize gift. (You may read about Christ’s new humanity at: http://bulamanriver.net/9718 and Cross: http://bulamanriver.net/9688

If we believe, then Jesus’ destiny becomes ours by attribution. (Rom.8:29) This speaks of our personhood. We have become “persons” with true life in the presence of God. Up to this point, you and I were dead and had no individual existence before God. God is “life” and nothing dead can co-exist with Him. (John 14:6; Eph.2:1) But now at last we have true life and given to “exist” in God’s own likeness, having been brought out from the dead (resurrection) and given a personality with gifts and have a relationship with God in His Tri-Personal Being. Paul tells us to not compare ourselves when someone is successful and we are not because we are all uniquely gifted and have different pathways in life to relate with and commune with God. (Gal.6:4) We wait on the Lord. Our time will come and takes place only in the condition of righteousness and holiness which Christ has charted for us and ascribed to all who believe. Note how Jesus brings this ascribing principle in His prayer to the Father before He was crucified, “I have made You (Father) known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the Love You (Father) have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them.” (John 17:26, emphasis added). What an awesome privilege! All it takes to make this happen is faith. Faith and trust in Jesus’ finished work brings this born-again personality into a person who now lives a purposeful life in God’s temple, in God’s Loving presence.

The old adage, “Give me freedom or give me death,” is the war cry from the heart of our human experience craving liberty and freedom over all forms of bondage and tyranny. The original pilgrims had come to a new world we call America today to escape persecution and oppression, risking all for freedom. It was their spirited and undying pursuit to seek freedom that the holiday of Thanksgiving is remembered today. Today, our pilgrimage is no different, whether it is on a personal level and/or community and national level. Freedom must be fought for and defended against all forms of bondage and totalitarianism. Yet, our Creator understands this cry for freedom more than we can and ever will.

Jesus has defeated the enemy and secured and continues to maintain our freedom into the future for all eternity. The Father gives us this awesome privilege to attain true freedom through His Son. He wants us to recognize that without our foundational spiritual freedom we have in Jesus any other forms of freedom we seek will be temporary much less meaningful and enduring. The Bible says that our divine destiny is complete in Christ, and gives us a promising future, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who Love Him” (1 Cor.2:9). And let us not overlook how this ascribing principle makes it all possible, “You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that by His poverty He could make you rich” (2 Cor.8:9). What an awesome favor, honor, and privilege Jesus has given believers to live free as persons true to his/her divine destiny and forever live in the Father’s presence and be recipients of His grace, both now on earth and for eternity in His spiritual Kingdom.

Be Truly Thankful this Thanksgiving Season (WikiCommons)

I hope we can stop to reflect upon the awesome grace we have been afforded and take the time this Thanksgiving season to give thanks to our heavenly Father for the wonderful gift of a life of true freedom we have in His Son through His Spirit.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Please continue to pray and help in whatever you can those affected by natural disasters. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:
Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* in the person of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,
(Your Servant In Christ)

* “Triune Life” means to inherit human personhood identifying us as true persons with gifts in Christ and living according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27; Rom.8:29) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means to live in relationship with God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

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“FOR WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD”

Greetings once more friends!

“For we are the temple of the living God,” Paul asserts in 2 Corinthians 6:16. That is a bold statement, to say the least. But what exactly does it mean?” There is a prophecy from the prophet Malachi which makes reference to the temple in a futuristic sense: “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to His Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies”. (Mal.3:1, NLT). This ‘messenger-prophecy’ goes hand in hand with the ‘Elijah prophecy’ in Malachi 4: “Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment” (Mal.4:5-6, NET B.). Jesus explained that both passages of prophecy are identical and was fulfilled by John the Baptist. (Matt.11:7-15; 17:10-13) However, I will focus on this phrase, “The Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to His Temple.”

 

 “Heaven is My Throne, and The Earth is My Footstool. Could you Build Me a Temple as Good as That?” Picture of Earth from our Moon, and Spiral Galaxy (Pics: Wiki Commons)

The Messenger
We know Jesus appeared in the first physical temple in Jerusalem which Zerubabel was responsible for restoring during the Persian diaspora. This prophecy speaks of “the messenger of the covenant whom you look for so eagerly shall suddenly come to His temple.” Jesus is the Messenger of the New Covenant. However, under the New Covenant the temple is spiritual, not physical. The Scriptures states, “However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands” (Act.7:48). It’s important to keep that distinction in mind as we discuss this topic of the temple. There is the “Messenger of the covenant” and “the messenger who prepares the way for the Lord.” John the Baptist was “the messenger sent to prepare the way” for the Messiah’s coming. John fulfilled the role in the first coming of Jesus. The Bible does not reveal the identity of “the messenger” at Christ’s second coming, but we know if there is one he will come possessing Elijah-like powers.

It is important to realize though that God has not left us in the dark about what “the messenger’s” work will involve: a) “Prepare the way (temple) for the Lord’s coming” b) “Encourage fathers and their children to return to Me.” So, the phrase “The Lord you are seeking so eagerly will suddenly come to His Temple,” speaks of a people who have changed and “returned to the Lord,” are “prepared and ready,” and now eagerly seeks the Lord at His second coming. So, we now know these twin objectives are at the core of the Gospel dispensation under the New Covenant given to God’s people, for its final outcome is the manifestation of the temple that Jesus will return to with His Father in the Spirit’s power. (Rev.21:1-4)

What is a Temple?
Many today think that God dwells in physical temples like impressive Christian cathedrals, elaborate Islamic mosques, ornate Hindu temples, and ancient monolithic structures of bygone eras. The tabernacle Israel was instructed to build in the wilderness, and subsequently the magnificent temple of Solomon, were physical and temporal in nature. God is not mortal like humans to dwell in physical structures, He is a spirit Being and dwells in a spiritual temple. The physical tabernacle/temple were intended to be depictions of the true temple He desires to dwell: in God’s own spiritual people. (Act.7:47-50; 17:24-25) Yes, there is a spiritual component to man’s makeup. And yes, humans are mortal beings but he is given a heart and mind resembling God’s likeness. (Gen.1:26-27)

Does God dwell in Impressive Cathedrals like this in Varna, Bulgaria (Wiki Commons) 

He made this distinction between the physical and spiritual temples when He asks, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Could you build Me a temple as good as that? Could you build Me such a resting place? My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are Mine. I, the Lord, have spoken! I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at My word” (Isa.66:1-2, NLT). What an awesome declaration of truth about His temple. God is proclaiming He has a physical temple – the whole of creation and the universe is His temple. Elsewhere God asks, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD” (Jer.23:24). The Scriptures says how God is adorned in His temple, “You are dressed in a robe of light.” It tells us what His temple looks like, “You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; You lay the rafters of Your home in the rain clouds; You ride upon the wings of the wind. The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants” (Psa.104:104).

We only have to look at the marvelous beauty of this earth and the awesome expanse of the heavens to witness His magnificent temple. Hence, each time our eyes gaze upon the many wonders of His creation we are actually looking into the face of God in His physical temple. And now He invites us into His heart, and we reciprocate by inviting Him into our hearts. He is not seeking another physical temple, but if that is our focus, He challenges us to do better than what He already has. He fills all of time and space as Creator. Sure enough, we stand mute to His challenge.

Here is the point not to be missed, as physical humans we are intrinsically part of His temple as earthlings. If so, what is our role in His temple, and how ought humans function and conduct themselves in their temple-life? All things in the created order are predetermined in their respective function as the Creator ordained except humans. Humans were created in God’s image with minds to choose their God-given function by motivation of Love.

‘Contrite Heart’
Let’s see where God wants us to focus our attention in the function of His temple. In Isaiah, the temple is contrasted between building a physical structure and manifesting a ‘contrite heart’ in man. Thus, God is pointing us to His true spiritual temple: the ‘contrite heart’ of man. A physical structure vs. the ‘contrite heart’ of the believer. The Psalmist penned this revealing passage, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise” (Ps.51:16-17; Isa.66:1-2).The reason ought to be obvious as it is rational and reassuring. On one hand you have a living, walking human being with a heart beating in his chest, while the other is a mindless, unconscious, immobile, physical structure. It may be ostentatious, but it is heartless. God desires to live in the temple of the human ‘contrite heart,’ and man to dwell in His Son through the Spirit’s sanctifying power. God’s temple is the inner sanctum of the heart and mind of humanity that is given to Christ, and in which He dwells.

Look, this is profoundly important to God that He chose a heavenly messenger to affirm this awesome truth: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God… Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev.21:3, 5). There is no more clearer affirmation as to what the temple of God is in His own mind.

Now that we have established that God’s physical temple is the whole of creation and we would be wasting time and resources on something He does not seek, let us throw our weight on what God truly desires. There is a primary foundation upon which the temple of God is built. It is built upon God Himself. God made a promise to Abraham and gave him assurance, saying, “By Myself I have sworn…” to show there was no one greater for Him to swear by than Himself. (Heb.6:13; Gen.22:16-18). God is the sovereign Being upon whom His temple is founded and built. If God is Spirit and fills all of time and space, then He fills both the physical temple (creation/universe) and the spiritual temple (human/’contrite heart’), hence, we differentiate between the physical and spiritual temples. When we speak of the spiritual temple it is identified by the heart – the heart of God and the ‘contrite heart’ of man.

“God IS Love” (1 John 4:8, 16) (Wiki Commons, By Böhringer Friedrich – Own work)

Love
Therefore, the temple reveals God’s identity in who He is in His heart. That is, His nature, character, and substance. If the temple reveals the essence of God’s heart, then a true knowledge of Him must form the center of man’s own heart. Because He is eternal and utterly holy in His Love, so must His dwelling place (temple) be. That is the primary foundation of the temple: Love, for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) Hence, we read this from the language of the New Covenant, “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jer.31:33; Heb.8:10). This shows a fusing of two hearts – the heart of God and the ‘contrite heart’ of man. His laws reveal His nature in His Love. Under the New Covenant God’s Love is manifested in the human heart by the Holy Spirit, “For the fruit of the Spirit is Love” (Gal.5:22-23; also 1 Cor.13) Here we see God’s identity (“My law” or Love/Spirit) embodying the heart of His people. Let us keep our bearings in check, man is not the temple, God is. Humans possess the potential to become a temple as and when God comes and dwell in the person through His Spirit. John said, “Whoever lives in Love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16) (To read more on the topic of God’s Love go to: http://bulamanriver.net/9354 and http://bulamanriver.net/5166

Freedom
There are three aspects of divine freedom which stems from the nature of God. The primary meaning of freedom is to exist as a separate personality and function like God is in His Triunity as three free Persons in the Father, Son, and Spirit. Since Adam’s fall, we were incarcerated by the devil living the ‘solitary’ life of sin without purpose with a certain divine retribution. When we were freed by Jesus, for the first time we are given a personality likened after God’s free ‘Triune’ image. This is the awe-inspiring miracle of the birth of man’s true personhood in Christ we often overlook. Second is to be freed from the incarceration of the devil’s sin condition through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. And third is the process of being conferred a calling and destiny by God pertaining to the believer’s life-gift and divine destiny. Yes, when a person stands in his/her God-given gift and calling, that is the essence of divine freedom. Then Love shows us how to use our gifts in our relationship with each other. (1 Cor.13)

A person uses his/her God-given freedom to voluntarily enter the temple by receiving His Son who absolves the believer from sins and is declared holy. God will not demand or force anyone to become His temple, like the devil forcefully and deceptively imprisons man in his ‘solitary’, self-centered sin-condition. God made man a free moral agent with the liberty to choose, hence the ‘contrite heart’ helps man in choosing God’s way of life of Love and freedom. With the ‘contrite heart,’ God confers upon the believer true freedom by means of the person’s gift and divine calling. There is no freedom without a life of doing God’s will for your life. (To read more, go to my previous blog tilted, “Gifts, Abilities, Destinies” at http://bulamanriver.net/2166 )

Israel’s tabernacle/temple in the wilderness had a permanent fire on the altar which never goes out. (Lev.6:13) It was for the people to offer sacrifices for sins, whenever the people seek God’s grace and mercy. People also offered gifts of gratitude to God. The unquenchable fire was casting Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for our sins in the spiritual temple for our eternal freedom: past, present, and future. Paul confirms this saying, “God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin” (1 Cor.1:30). Paul said further, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (sin).” (Gal.5:1, emphasis added) So, freedom is the second element of the foundation of God’s temple. Yes, God’s Love will always be present to take us to our freedoms through each of our divine destinies as we live the “Triune Life.”*

Trinitarian God
There is a third and vital aspect to God’s temple. We have seen the humble ‘contrite heart’ and how it is formed by two divine elements, Love and freedom. They describe God’s inherent nature. The third element is God’s Trinitarian nature. We saw that the temple is God Himself and He fills it completely. The doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is three consubstantial Persons or hypostases – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as One God in three divine Persons. Many have tried to explain the Trinity in various ways and the explanations always fall short. For some, they say it does not make sense mathematically – three does not add up to one. However, the Trinity is not a math issue, it has to do with the nature of Being – a matter of Love. Love is a state of Being, it is not  measurable but infinite as God is. God is not made of Love and thereby discoverable, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16). God is Spirit and undiscernable. Symbiotically, the act of one Person is the act of all three, and the act of three Persons is the act of one. It is their Love for and in one another that makes them One, for “God is Love.”

Rublev’s Famous Icon of the Trinity (Wiki Commons)

The doctrine of the Trinity lays out that the three Persons are co-equal, co-eternal and co-substantial. I will quote from the Athanasian Creed: “For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. So likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So, likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.” (https://heidelblog.net/2013/03/the-athanasian-creed-on-the-trinity/  and http://bulamanriver.net/10401

In the final analysis, it is the testimony of Scripture which undergirds our confession of the Trinity: You may read Matthew 28:18-20; Jude1:20-21; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Matthew 3:16-17; John 14:16-17; Romans 14:17-18; 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Luke 3:21-22.

I will share an analogy I read earlier which can help us understand how God can be one and yet be three. The article quotes a qualifying statement from theologian Thomas Torrance that we must “reject any mythological projection by us into God of the creaturely relations and images latent in the natural and pre-theological significance of these concepts” (The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons, page 105). “We learned in school that white light actually contains all the colors of the rainbow. There are three primary colors, which we name red, yellow and blue. Yet, these three primary colors are contained in the one light that is white light. The primaries do not exist apart from the white light, but co-inhere in it. At the same time, light as white light would not exist apart from the three primary colors. To speak of “light” is to speak of the three primaries, and yet each of the primaries is distinct from each other.” (https://www.gci.org/Jesus/isgod) Although there is nothing in our physical world we can use to even remotely plumb the depth of God’s divine Being, I found that earthly analogy to be helpful to my limited human mind in trying to conceptualize how each Person of the Triune Godhead is distinct but not separate.

Rainbow in a Distance – distinct Colors but Not separate (Wiki Commons)

Three Pillars of the Participatory Temple-Life
So, these are the three pillars to God’s temple: the underlying Trinitarian nature of God, Love, and Freedom. One cannot do without the other, God is both Love and freedom and becomes a single expression of the temple-life reflecting who God is in His Tri-Personal Being. There is an applicatory term I would like to share which depicts the inclusive divine temple-life, it is called the participatory life. This is what life in the temple is all about. It depicts God as more than one, for to be participatory means to be in relationship. The trajectory of the participatory life arises out of God’s divine nature of three free Persons of the Godhead. Without Love and freedom (God’s divine nature), the participatory life is non-existent. Love engenders relationships of the three Persons of the Triune God, and freedom confirms the distinct role of each Person. This is the introductory steps into life in the temple-life – our interaction with every member of the family, Father, Son, and Spirit (Godhead) is founded upon Love and freedom. So, we see how all three Persons of the Triune God work as one in bringing us into His temple, and we are made to participate in the same philosophy of life in the temple. The Psalmist proclaims, “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?” (Psa.77:13, KJV). And John says how we are to relate with each other in this temple-life, “And He has given us this command: Anyone who Loves God must also Love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:21)

Holy Spirit Makes a Human Temple
Now, let us read how God makes a human into His temple: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16, NASB). Man is physical and made in God’s image, however, the spiritual side of his makeup, namely his heart, mind, and soul, gives him the potential to receive the Spirit of God, and only when such an event occurs does the believer become God’s temple. Paul told the Corinthians, “For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor.6:16). However, we saw earlier the temple of God cannot exist in humans without the ‘contrite heart.’ What does the ‘contrite’ heart mean? The ‘contrite heart’ reveals the presence and work of the Holy Spirit and the believer’s submissive heart to the leading of the Spirit. Man is born with a ‘rebellious heart,’ but only the Spirit can replace it with the ‘contrite heart.’ (Jer.17:9; Mar.7:22-21) He is the personification of Love and freedom in human believers. And the gift of the Spirit comes as a result of man’s faith in Jesus as the eternal Savior and Mediator. (John 3:16; John 14:26, 16; Eph.1:13)

“We are the Temple of the Living God” (Pic: Wiki Commons)

So, when believers enter and live in God’s temple through Jesus, their understanding of the temple-life essentially means to engage in the divine participatory life of the Tri-Personal God who is Love and freedom by nature. Hence, it is vital we understand the true nature of God if we are to enter His temple and commune with Him: that He is three Persons in One Godhead, and He is Love in nature and free in Person living the participatory life. (1 John 4:16)

“You shall be Holy, for I am Holy”
God is utterly holy in His Triune Love-Being. The Bible quotes God, saying, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet.1:16; also Matt.5:48; Rev. 4:8 Isa. 43:15 1 Sam. 2:2 Psa. 11:4). On the other hand, the Bible says this of humans, “The heart is deceitful above all things (desperately wicked) and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer.17:9). Jesus further elaborates on this view, saying, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mar.7:21-23). Here, we see the contrast between God’s heart and man’s heart – He is utterly holy and we are desperately wicked.

However, recall man’s original creation was perfect in God’s likeness. (Gen.1:26-27) Hence, man originally possessed a Godly ‘trinitarian’ heart, until  the devil deceived our first parents and introduced his rebellious heart with its ‘solitary’ life and sin-condition. Jesus reminds us of this truth when he said, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” to remind us of our true heritage in Christ and the divine image. Satan can never take that away from us, but he can deceive and blind us to our true divine personhood through sin and rebellion. But the Scriptures reveal how the Jesus removes the rebellious heart to make us see our true identity through the ‘contrite heart’ in the Spirit.

So, in one move of Love our heavenly Father brought us out of the depth of our sinfulness into the pinnacle of His holy Love through His Son. (John 3:16) We are taken from a person with a ‘rebellious heart’ to one with a ‘contrite heart.’ The Bible states, “God demonstrates His own Love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). In other words, God demonstrates His Loving heart to us. Now, that is an act of incomprehensible magnitude for any human mind to fathom. To imagine that in one movement of Love He takes us from the chain of Satan’s prison and into the Loving arms of our Father in His holy temple in heaven; from darkness to light; from death to life; from a persona non-grata to an offspring of the divine, from fear to Love, is nothing short of the greatest miracle a human being can freely receive and experience. The prophet puts it across like this, “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isa.1:18). To come from nothing and less than nothing to become the temple for the living God is truly an act of incomprehensible Love by God for sinful man. This is the essence of the participatory life in the temple.

Participatory Life (Triune Life*)
The next question is, what does the participatory life temple-life looks like? Remember, though we have become believers, we are still humans living in a world that’s subject to and dominated by Satan, and the sin condition that undergirds his world. The devil still has a “lease” over this earth because Adam handed it to him in Eden. (Gen.1:26, KJV; Gen.3) A lease has an expiry date, and we live in his world while we are called to live in an alternate other world of God’s temple. Paul exhorted the faithful, “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty”” (2 Cor. 6:16-18).

We remain in the world but are not part of it. All the pain, suffering, and trials humans go through in life can be explained in one simple word: sin, hence, the command to “come out” in the sense of not participating in sin’s unholy way of life. The storms of life that sin creates can only be defeated within the walls of the temple with the Spirit’s help who sanctifies believers, not outside of it. God’s holy Love reigns in the temple where sin has no power. It is the temple of light (Jesus) not darkness. (John 8:12; John 3:19-20) So, the participatory life reflects God’s own Trinitarian life. It involves our continual sanctification so we may remain in God’s holy presence in His temple. So, when we read God promising, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool,” it speaks of an eternal reality God sees of mankind in His Son, through the work of sanctification that is being actualized in the Tri-Personal Being of God (temple) for which our participation is being enlisted. Our participation involves maintaining a ‘contrite heart’ and freely submit to the lead of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Teaching – Learning & Living well in the Participatory Life (Wiki Commons, By James Tissot )

“Whoever Wants to be My Disciple…”
The participation of the ‘contrite heart’ in the temple was laid out by Jesus when He said, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Matt.16:24-26). To “carry our Cross daily” means we experience an ongoing forgiveness (Love) and freedom from the prison of sin so we will live in our true self, that is, in Jesus new glorified humanity in the temple. There are only two human forms that has ever existed and walked upon this earth: the first Adam, and the second Adam, Jesus Christ. (1 Cor.15:45) (To read about Jesus’ new humanity go to: http://bulamanriver.net/9718

“Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me”
Paul speaks eloquently of what it means to “Carry your Cross daily.” He said, “I have been crucified with Christ (Cross), and I no longer live, yet I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20). We see here how the first man, the fallen “Adamic human” in his old sinful self is crucified to the cross and has died, and we see also the second new man, in Jesus  risen “Immanuel humanity” now lives in constant state of forgiveness and holiness in the Spirit.

Repentance                                                                                                                                                     However, there is a flipside to forgiveness, it is called repentance. Forgiveness springs from the gift of repentance. Without repentance of personal sins there is no forgiveness and renewal. Peter said, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Act.2:38, NLT). Yes, repentance is a gift we can request and receive, for no one is perfect nor sinless. (2 Tim.2:25) The ‘contrite heart’ and repentance goes hand in hand as we live a holy life in the temple in heaven and in this human life. Only within the walls of the temple are we given the privilege to probe deeper into and experience God’s infinite Love for us. (Luk. 24:46-47; 2 Tim.2:25; 1 John 2:1; Rom.3:22-25)

The Historical Silhouette of Calvary with Three Crosses is Symbolic which Reveals the One-ness of death of God in His Triune Being for Mankind. (By James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum, Wiki Commons)

Repentance, Forgiveness, Freedom
So, we see the temple-life of “carrying our cross” involves an ongoing spiritually ‘organic’ process of repentance, forgiveness, and freedom through a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life (Love). (Eph.1:13; Gal.5:25; 1 Cor.13: 1-13) This sums up the state of the ‘contrite heart’ of man.  Paul sheds more light into our act of “carrying our cross” in the temple-life, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship” (Rom.12:1). The instructions God gave Israel about the physical temple-life shows it was a place of worship where sacrifices were offered for the ongoing forgiveness of the sins and transgressions of the people. So likewise, this shows the life of the spiritual temple of the human life and heart in order that believers may live in the uninterrupted expression of His Love and grace so we may be free from the sin condition with its consequential fatalistic existence. This is what ancient Israel did in the tabernacle/temple in the wilderness to portray what goes on in the true spiritual temple (human believers) today. However, the sacrifices portrayed a picture of and symbolized Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice of Himself on Calvary for human sins. (Heb.10:4-7; 9:11-14) In the spiritual temple of human believers today, we are the living sacrifice as we read the Psalms tell us, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise” (Ps.51:16-17).

Temple High Priest
Jesus is the High Priest of the temple of God who once for all time offered Himself as atonement for our forgiveness and freedom. The Bible says this in Hebrews, “We have such a High Priest (in Jesus Christ), One who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a Minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle (temple) that the Lord, not man, set up. For every High Priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices” (Heb.8:1-3, my emphasis). We are the subjects of this scenario in the temple offering ourselves as “living sacrifice” upon the cross we carry before the Father in our act of “true and proper worship.” Each day as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” (Matt.6:12), we are “carrying our cross” and surrendering ourselves in the temple of the High Priest in heaven, replicated in the bodily temple of His people, to receive ongoing atonement, absolution, and sanctification in order that we may be joined and made one with the Father, Son, and Spirit, in divine completeness. (2 Cor.5:21; 1 John 1:9)

An Impression of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem (Wiki Commons, By Johnreve-Own work)

Altar and the ‘Contrite Heart’ 

In this manner, we see man as the living temple in whom and for whom Jesus’ sacrifice for absolution is offered as a copy of the heavenly temple. The human ‘contrite heart’ is the altar upon which the sacrifice and blood of the Lamb is laid and offered by the High Priest Jesus before God. The ‘contrite heart’ was once ruled by the spirit of rebellion but is now the domain of the Spirit of God. There were seven furnishings God instructed Moses to build for the tabernacle/temple in the wilderness. Each had profound meaning to the character of the spiritual temple of God’s people, and how they conform spiritually in a fallen world in God’s presence. I have mentioned three, namely the temple (man), the altar of sacrifice (‘contrite heart’), and role of the High Priest (Jesus). I will cover the other furnishings in a future post.

“The Power of His Resurrection”
Paul surmised the temple-life this way, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death (cross), and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Phi.3:10, my emphasis). This is the alternate life we live in Christ in the temple-life. What is our part? To have the humility to submit to the Spirit’s work of sanctification of promoting the ‘contrite heart’ to always acknowledging our wrongs and repenting before God, and we will experience the power of Jesus’ resurrected life.

The Heavenly Temple

Do you want to know what this heavenly temple environment looks like? Wouldn’t you like to take a peek and appreciate it from a more complete sense? Listen, “Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our times of need… You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God Himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the One who mediates the New Covenant between God and people” (Heb.4:14-16; 12:22-24).

Each one of us have a part in this magnificent temple, as Peter said, “And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple” (1 Pet.2:5). Paul told the Ephesians, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” (Eph.2:19-22). Indeed, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Jesus is the chief cornerstone upon whom we are raised to become the temple of the living God. It is a place which no words can describe. And herein lies all our answers to life and its fullest expression of living joyfully which is carried through in the presence of our heavenly Father, God Almighty! As Paul affirms, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who Love Him” (1 Cor.2:9).

“If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His” Rom.6:5   (By Car Heinrich Bloch, Wiki Commons)

Finally, Jesus said this powerful and encouraging words to His followers, “The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God; and I will also write on them My new Name” (Rev.3:12). Let us restate the prophecy we read at the start, “The Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to His temple.” We were born and called to be the true living temple of God that the Father is preparing for the return of His Son to this earth. Let us prepare ourselves to receive Him with joy and celebration for He will bring, peace, justice, wellbeing, and immortality to humanity.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Please continue to pray and help in whatever you can those affected by natural disasters. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:
Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* in the person of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,
(Your Servant In Christ)

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

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2

“Keep Yourselves Safe In God’s Love” (Jude 21, NLT)

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:28, ESV).

“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luk.10:27)

Greetings Friends!

We Must Look to Jesus For Inspiration, Not Human Leaders. His Sacrifice is The Ultimate Expression of Love (By Carl Bloch – Wiki Commons)

In light of the recent violent racial tensions in the US, I would like to pause and offer a prayer of reconciliation with my readers:

“Our loving Father in heaven, as you look down upon your creation You have made in Your image, we implore Your forgiveness for our failures to use the freedoms you conferred upon us to reflect your image of Love, grace, conciliation and peace. Thank you for giving us the ministry of reconciliation through your Son, thank You for each and every human you have given life whatever their race, color, belief, nationality, or station in life. We pray that you will give us the strength and heart to extend a hand of conciliation to all regardless of their race, beliefs, and whatever purports to divide us. We praise You and pray in Jesus name, Amen.”      

Let me begin by saying that the ministry of reconciliation was given to mankind so we can use our God-given freedoms in a way that identifies with His Love, for we were made in His image and likeness. (2 Cor.5:18-19; Gen.1:26-27; 1 John 4:8) We are all made immutably different racially and giftedly. None has a choice of being one or the other, racially or in every other way. We all have one blood flowing in our veins which gives birth to the same human life. (see Act.17:26, KJV) In other words, the one blood which produce human life does not determine our racial differences. (Lev.17:11) We come from the same humanity united by the one blood which gives life to all. Thereby, racism is a manufactured idea of the fallen human mind.  There is a difference between race (color) and racism. Racism means prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior. (You may wish to read an essay in the NewsWeek magazine from the “The Myth of Race” at: http://www.newsweek.com/there-no-such-thing-race-283123)

Protesters at White Nationalist March in Charlottesville, Virginia (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) Images)

God is diverse in His Triune Being (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), so everything He created is a simulation of Himself in His Tri-Personal Being. By the same measure, everything He continues to do has diversity reflecting His trinitarian nature. The magnificent creation all around us trumpets this beautiful truth of diversity we cannot refute. Mankind is no different. Mankind was created into three predominant color (racial) grouping, making color (race) a fact of life. God made us different not to divide us but to find reason to celebrate and unite us. There can be no unity without diversity, just as freedom has no meaning without bondage. If we are all identical and born unified in every way then unity would be an empty word.

So, we are all different by race, culture, nationality, and beliefs. We are different in our political leanings. We pursue different goals and vocations. We even have preferences in the way we eat and dress. Everywhere we look we see this principle of ‘unity in diversity’ in all creation. However, only in man we see that to be united in our diversity requires a deliberate choice on our part as free moral persons. And sadly, not every choice we make is in line with God’s Love. Man was not created like animals with preset instincts to regulate every act, he is given a mind like God so he may exercise freedom in all he does. (Gal.5:1; 1 Pet.2:16) But freedom comes with the responsibility to use it in line with our preordained destiny in God’s Love. (Gal.5:13-14; Gen.1:26-27)

Members of Ku Klux Klan at Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

We must constantly look into the face of the Creator to help remind us of the true heritage of our diversity in the divine. It is when we forget to do so that we look inward, and when we do we have no moral compass to guide our relationships, but what the “self” dictates. Self-centeredness gives rise to narrow-mindedness and prejudice which spirals into intolerance, bigotry and racism. When we truly look into the face of God we will see nothing but Love, for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). Love is about relationships and becomes our moral compass.

The non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center based in Alabama said recently there are 917 active hate groups in the U.S. It defines hate groups as organizations with “beliefs and practices which attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” It is an astounding statistic to assimilate. The beautiful truth is no one was born with hatred in his/her heart. It’s a learned behavior. So, a racist is made, not born. Racism is artificial because it is man-made

Man was made in the image of God so he may live by the way of His Love. (1 John 4:21; Matt.22:37-39) However, Love was replaced by fear when man disobeyed God, looked into the face of the devil, and ate the forbidden fruit. (Gen.2:16-17; Gen.3) Fear entered the heart of man for the very first time. Fear is the foundation of self-centeredness instead of God’s other-centered Love. Fear makes us look inward and leads us on a path which produces intolerant behaviors. Why? Because fear produces torment, and torment produces undue anxiety and tension, and the end-product is utter moral bankruptcy ending in death. This is what God warned Adam if he ate the forbidden fruit, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen.2:17). It does not mean man will just drop dead when he’s disobedient, it means he will live a way of life (fear) that will ultimately end in depression and death. However, God encourages us by saying, “There is no fear in (His) Love. But perfect Love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18, emphasis added).

Tending the Injured in Charlottesville , Virginia (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fear accentuate our differences and gives us reason to be intolerant. But the Bible tells us this when we look into the face of God, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:28, ESV). In other words, what Paul says is people’s internal character is what really counts, not their external differences. God is telling us that if Love is truly guiding our hearts, then we are given every reason to celebrate our diversity like God does in His Tri-unity.

Theologian Reinhold Nienhold penned this well-recognized prayer, God “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” We cannot change God who is One (united) in His Tri-Personal Being. But we can change who we are and be like Him (Love) in His Tri-Unity and accept our diversity as natural and worthy of celebration. His command for us is plain and unequivocal, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luk.10:27). May He grant us the wisdom to understand and the courage to change. I hope we will turn from ourselves and look into the face of our God and allow His Love to change us and make us a force for reconciliation.

(You may read more about God’s Love and how man can participate in His Love-nature: Go to – http://bulamanriver.net/10401)

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* in the person of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang, (Your Servant In Christ)

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself”

Greeting Friends! I am writing this segment while visiting with family in Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. Families are microcosms of the greater community and the foundation of human society. Central to its core is the essence of love. Love is the ‘glue’ which holds the family unit together. The family is the place where we come into the world because love was and continues to be the mainstay of its stability. It is love that nurtures us and gives families the tools to prepare us for the ‘ups and downs’ of life. Families can break down, as they often do, and when that happens the grounds for such failure can be traced back to love and the fact that love had somehow forsaken the family. This impacts not only the lives of those who rely upon the family unit, but to a greater extent, the community at large.

Every family owes an unspeakable debt of gratitude to this underlying, spiritual substance we call love. More precisely, the family unit was given by the Creator to impress upon us a likeness of Himself in His divine Triune Life* on the human level. The family is the nursery for Godly offspring so mankind will not lose touch with their heritage to the Creator. This brings me to the subject of our segment this month: LOVE!

The Love command is sure, as much as it is direct, upfront, and in your face (so to speak) … I mean the Bible command about Love and how to apply it in life: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luk.10:27). It ought to be clear that the second aspect of the command (Love of neighbor) cannot be fulfilled if the first (Love of God) is not true, for the first dovetails into the second.

Let us answer the first part about Loving God. I have written about the second aspect of this command which you can read at: http://bulamanriver.net/7875. Is such a command even possible for a human being to keep and obey in its true intent and spirit? I mean, does anyone seriously think that fallen sinful humans can “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind?” The answer ought to be direct as the command is unambiguous – No! Why, because God is divine and we are mere mortals. Can a fallen mortal, born to sin, truly Love a God who is holy and divine? No! (Rom.3:23; Gen.6:5)

In fact, only a person who is equally divine with similar attributes can Love God on co-equal terms. Then why did God give such a command that’s humanly impossible to keep? We know that God is just and impartial, so why this obvious contradiction? What is the answer, if there is one? The answer lies at finding the true meaning of His command. What did He really mean? It is human to read a wrong message into something when we fail to understand its true meaning. Obviously, it does not mean what we may think it means. The Bible gives us a vital piece of wisdom, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame” (Prov.18:13). We often assume something before we find its actual meaning. We misread a statement and we are none the wiser. Yet, the Bible is clear about one thing, discover the truth and you will be surprised by how liberating it is. (John 8:32)

The first thing about Love is what the Bible tells us of its origin: “We Love, because He first Loved us…For God is Love” (1 John 4:19, 8, 16, NASB). So, right from the outset we read that Love, in its divine expression, is not something we are capable of articulating. You can say, this is the rule of thumb about Love – it never begins with us because we don’t have it to begin with. Love begins with God and flows back to Him because He empowers us to Love Him in return. But how does God empowers humans to Love Him? Therein lies the answer and the truth about Love. Throughout this segment, I have capitalized the word “Love” where it relates to God’s divine nature, as opposed to the non-capitalized human love.

So, let’s unravel the meaning of this all-embracing yet seemingly contradictory command. First, to find the meaning of something we must answer the six key questions – who, what, how, when, where, and why? For now we will answer the most relevant ones – the ‘who’ and ‘how’ questions. Who was God addressing when He gave this command? The answer is He was speaking to Israel. Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament – see Deut.6:5 and Lev.19:18. So the original command was specifically for ancient Israel. God did not give this command to the nations surrounding Israel, or for that matter the whole world. It was for Israel and Israel alone. God had a covenant relationship with the nation of Israel and the Love command was a vital part of His pact with Israel. So, from its origin we discover there was specificity to the Love-command: the nation of Israel.

However, when Jesus came He made  it universal under the New Covenant. He commanded the disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt.28:19-20). The parable of the good Samaritan Jesus gave was to teach the disciples that God’s Love was open to all peoples of every nation. (Luk.10:25-37). You may also read of Peter’s example in Act.10:1-48, where he declared, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right” (Act.10:34-35).

Rublev’s Famous Icon of The Holy Trinity (Wiki Commons)

So, the command was given exclusively to Israel under the old covenant, then the whole world (“all nations”) under the new. But, although the command was universal (“all nations”), the “teaching them to obey” was specific in its application only to the disciples (“make disciples”). In a way that makes the great commission universal but selective. So, the Love command was specific to Israel then made universal to “disciples from all nations.” “Disciples” are not everybody, but specific to believers who have made a commitment (faith) to forsake the spirit of rebellion and follow Jesus’ teachings, command, and example. (Matt.16:24; 1 Pet.2:20-22; 1 John 2:6)

In my recent blog post I have shown that since Jesus’ birth there were only two human forms that have walked this earth – the first Adam, and the second Adam, Jesus. (1 Cor.15:45; also 2 Cor.5:17-21) The first Adam (human) proceeded from the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Gen.2:7) Then they both succumbed to Satan’s temptation by eating the forbidden fruit and disobeying God’s command. (Gen. 3) By choosing to live the way of rebellion and fear, they rejected God’s Love and followed the devil’s example who was the first to instigate rebellion against God. (Isa.14:12-14).The second human proceeds from Jesus Christ, who is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God, or, “Immanuel” meaning “God with us.” (Isa.7:14) He was born a human by the power of the Spirit, walked this earth perfect and sinless. He was crucified for human sins, and was glorified by His supernatural bodily resurrection and ascension to heaven. (John 1:1-2; Matt.1:18, 23; John 3:16; 1 Cor.15:14-17)

I will quote from Dr. Bruce Ware, an esteemed theologian and author, “Christ alone was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38), and as such, He alone qualifies to be Savior. Why does this matter? Only as the Holy Spirit takes the place of the human father in Jesus’ conception can it be true that the one conceived is both fully God and fully man. Christ must be both God and man to atone for sin, but for this to occur, He must be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a human virgin. No one else in the history of the world is conceived by the Spirit and born of a virgin mother. Therefore, Jesus alone qualifies to be Savior.” (www.jesus.org). So, Jesus alone qualifies to inaugurate and give birth to a totally new humanity. You may read more about our new humanity in Jesus at: http://bulamanriver.net/9718. In it, I called the first fallen human the “Adamic human.” The second new human I named the “Immanuel human” for he proceeds from Jesus Christ. So, the “Adamic humanity” represents the universal (“all nations”) aspect of Jesus’ commission He came to save. The “Immanuel humanity” signifies believers (“made disciples”) from His commission to “go to all nations.”

So, to answer the question as to “who” the Love command in Luke was directed, the answer would be it was given to the world at large, but explicitly to believers (disciples) who are drawn from the world. Paul said to believers, “Come out from them (world) and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor.6:17-18, emphasis added). So, realistically there are two worlds, one is colonized by “Adamic humans,” (of which we were all once part) and the second world or civilization is inhabited by “Immanuel humans.” Both live side by side but inspired by opposing spirits and living dissimilar ways of life.

A Depiction of the “Tree of Life” – Symbolic of the Believer’s Reincarnation into Jesus’ New Humanity by the Holy Spirit (By Beth Erez – Own work, wikimedia.org/) 

With that said, this does not mean God is for some while He is against others, rather, God has saved all humanity through His Son. (John 3:16) No one is excluded, Jesus died for all. God has already saved the world in Jesus and through His grace everyone is called to salvation waiting upon man to guarantee their calling by unpretentious faith in Jesus who delivers humans from the satanic spirit of rebellion. (Colossians 1:12-14, 19-20; John 11:25) That’s the only difference between disciples and others: faith. It does not mean the unbeliever is condemned, it simply means the “Adamic human” is not saved yet, waiting for faith to step in and change the status quo. Faith is a powerful gift and converts the person into an “Immanuel human”: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Paul tells us. (Eph.2:8) Nothing is impossible with God who is able to save all by His Spirit. (Isa. 59:1-2) God sent His Son to save the unsaved, all is included in God’s Love. We must not share the Gospel in a frame of mind of us vs them. We must not use fear in our attempt to convince people to receive the Gospel message of God’s Love. It’ll be found wanting in the long run!

Jesus explains how a person is reincarnated from one life into the next, from one human to the new, from one world into the other. He said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7b; also read V.3-8). Peter tells us, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God (Jesus)” (1 Pet.1:23). This reincarnation process enables one to undergo a spiritual death and rebirth into a totally new person in Christ’s glorified divine/human Person. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

Paul explains what this means in Christian terms, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live (death), but Christ lives in me (new life). The life I now live in the body (new humanity), I live by faith in the Son of God, who Loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20, emphasis added). Paul speaks of our new humanity in this fashion, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new (redeemed) life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, NLT, emphasis added). Jesus is not talking about a rebirth in the bodily sense, but in the spiritual sense. (John 3:4). Jesus said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T. emphasis added). The purpose of salvation is to change us to be like God spiritually, and this is done when Jesus engages us, personalizing His new humanity in our daily walk of faith.

The doctrine of the incarnation teaches us the vital truth of how God became human in His Son, Jesus. (Isa.7:14; John 3:16) No human being could raise himself to God’s divine level of Love-existence, but God has brought Himself and His Love to our human level. Now, God calls upon man to do the same, only in the reverse – a reverse incarnation. Through Christ we are given this most mindboggling privilege to be raised and enter into God’s presence and the divine Love-life. (Eph.2:6) The Bible explains man’s final destiny of being fully incarnated (resurrection) into human immortality like Jesus in God’s kingdom. (Rom.8:8, 11; 1 Cor.15:50-56) This rebirth is made possible through the gift of the Holy Spirit, who now comes to dwell in the body of the believer and makes him/her an “Immanuel human” and ultimately immortal. (Rom.5:5; 1 Cor.3:16-17; Rom.2:7)

Isa.7:14, The Incarnational Verse In Hebrew, “Immanuel, God with Us” (By Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, Wikimedia.org/)

Jesus explained this, saying, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So, don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8). The promise of the Spirit was inaugurated in humans by Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan and poured initially upon man on Pentecost. (Act.2:1-4). Jesus further confirms this, saying, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39).

Since the Spirit and Jesus are hypostatically of one substance and Being with the Father and can never be separated, thus, by indwelling the believer (temple) Herald** (Spirit) thereby automatically joins the believer to Jesus who in turn mediates on the person’s behalf as High Priest to the Father in Love. All the while the believer is carrying his cross daily, living a repentant life. (Luk.9:23) It is from this vantage point where the believer is joined to the Tri-Personal Being of God in Jesus that he/she is made a complete new Immanuel person. From this staging point of eternal oneness with the Triune God, existing in the eternal wellspring of Love, that Love, in the divine sense of the word, is made humanly possible with God. This is the how of the Love command we read in Luke is made reality on the human level. There is no other way.

So we see how Love is made reality for humans. It happens out of a human reincarnation process into the new humanity of Jesus. This is the only way a human being can Love God “with heart, soul, strength, and with all his mind” from within God’s Triune Life,* as we will see further. This means this is an eternal reality that can never be undone or reversed. Paul said it this way, “For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb.10:14). This was God’s decree from the beginning when He said, “Let us make man in Our image after Our likeness.” (Gen.1:26-27) This is where our faith as believers must rest and find the confidence for living and Loving. This is the eternal moment of reality for the Father, and one He has always desired from the very start when He created man – to be joined to His human children through His Son, so He can embrace them in Love forever.

Human Beings, Created to be God’s Living Temple on Earth (Wiki Commons) 

Let’s see the practical sense of how this Love becomes a reality in humans. Out of the depth of His Love for fallen humanity the Father willingly gave His Son so He might be sacrificed for human sins and thus be made holy by the indwelling of the Spirit, whose role is to sanctify believers and empower them to Love God through and in Christ. Thus, we are made His eternal children He embraces in Love. In this, we can see how Love flows from the Father and back to Him through His Trinitarian Being?

He gives us His Son Jesus not only as a one-time Savior, but is a permanent Mediator in His High Priestly role in heaven who exonerates humans on an ongoing basis. As humans, we will sin always, by commission or omission, but not willfully in open rebellion which is something else. Our best efforts to be good and holy won’t be enough, Jesus has to stand in the gap and make us whole in Himself through the Spirit’s empowerment. Paul tells us, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5). Jesus is both High Priest and the perfect Lamb that was slain and sacrificed for human sins. There is no absolution for sin without a sacrifice, and a sacrifice cannot be offered without a Priest. A Priest is unusable without a temple, and a temple is unworkable devoid of an altar. A Priest can only perform His role upon an altar within a temple. A temple is a place designated by God to meet and communicate with humans. (Exo.25:8-9; 29:44-46; Rev.21:1-4, 3)

The Bible says this of the Holy Spirit and God’s temple: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Cor.3:16). Herald** is given to indwell the believer by turning the mortal body into a human temple in which the High Priest performs His intercessory role on earth as a copy of His heavenly mediation. (Matt.6:10) Now we understand what Jesus meant when He said, “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luk.17:21, KJV). Humans were created to be temples wherein God can live and walk through His Spirit. Collectively as the church, we form the body of Christ, God’s complete temple. (Rom.12:5; 1 Cor.12:27)

In this manner, man is the metaphor of the living temple in whom and on whose behalf Jesus’ sacrifice for absolution is offered. The human heart is the altar upon which the sacrifice is laid and offered by the High Priest Jesus before God. The human heart is the place where the spirit of rebellion lives. Through rebellion sin takes root and controls the person through his/her thoughts and actions. Thus, the human heart is symbolically the altar whereupon ongoing absolution takes place so Love and righteousness may reign in place of rebellion and sin through the new humanity in Christ by means of His everlasting mediation. But most importantly from this vantage point, God’s Love can flow unimpeded between God and man. Thus, Paul tells us, “As God said: “I (Love/noun) will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Cor.6:16).

Man has lived separated from God’s Love through Adam’s choice to eat the forbidden fruit. Man have since lived in the spirit of fear, rebellion, and self-centeredness, rejecting God’s way of Love, harmony, and other-centeredness. Though man has chosen to separate himself from God, God has never stopped Loving man. Yet, we are told two cannot walk together unless they are agreed. (Amos 3:3) One espouse rebellion while the other promote Love. In His Love we see God’s plea to bring man back to Himself, “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (Isa.1:18). In other words, God’s desire has always been that man will return to Him and to the Love relationship they had in Eden prior to Adam’s fall. And we have heard how He has reached out and carried out the promise of His Loving plea by giving us His Son and His Spirit. (John 3:16; Isa.7:14; John 7:38-39; 15:26; Act.2:17-18; Ezek.37:14) The end result is that the relationship between God and man may find its basis upon God’s Love!

The Resurrected Christ took Man into God’s Presence, and thereby Gave Man Passage to Love God (Wiki Commons)

There is a vital aspect between fallen humanity and God’s divinity that cannot be overlooked as it relates to the Love command in Luke. Since Love can exist only within God’s Triune Being, it tells us only someone of the same nature as God is capable of Loving God equally, completely, and consummately. That categorically rules humans out of the Love equation because man is separated from God by sin. But, it also tells us that the only way to experience true Love is for man to step into and live from within their Tri-Personal Love relationship through rebirth. Herald** is the missing ingredient in the Love command between the two humanity’s. (Rom.5:5) From eternity, this has always been the activity of God: God has existed in His Love relationship between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And this has always been the Father’s purpose from the start when He gave us His Son and the Spirit. We are given that potential because man was made in His Triune Love image. (Gen.1:26-27) That is why He gave us His Son for our ransom, and that is why He gave us His Spirit for our sanctification, so He can keep us in His Loving embrace always, even now. That is how He makes true His promise that though our “sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (Isa.1:18; Heb.8:12).

So, Jesus is the only human who has Loved God perfectly and consummately and now exist within the Trinity in His glorified divine/human form. He has done what no human has been able to do since Adam’s fall – to Love God on co-equal terms as the “Immanuel human.” Thus, He takes our place in the Triune Life* to Love God in our place. So, to Love God completely and perfectly, we must spiritually step into the glorified divine/human life of Christ by a rebirth, who alone is able to Love the Father perfectly and completely as the Father has Loved us. Thus, Paul confirms, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.1:27).

This is the principle of substitution. This overarching principle of transference and substitution, of collaborative responsibility, is the underlying essence of God’s Trinitarian Life and Love. Love is relational and is thereby participatory stemming from the Tri-Personal Being of God. Love is a divine participatory life where each person of the Trinity transposes himself into each other without confusing their own personality making them one God (not three Gods), so the act of one is the act of three, and the act of three is the act of one. When we are joined to the Triune God through Jesus we will live by the same attributive principle, so we trust Jesus to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Thereby, God accepts this participatory principle of substitution as our very own act. Thus, Christ’s Love of the Father becomes our very own act of Loving God, fulfilling the scriptural command in Luke.

Man cannot relate with God from his rebellious “solitary” stance to life handed to him by the devil. It is incompatible with the collaborative Triune Life* of God. Yet, the existence of mankind and all of creation has been undergirded by this collaborative triune principle, whether man realizes it or not. As long as man lives in ignorance of it, he will suffer the negative albeit unsuspecting consequences of his actions. Paul speaks of this principle saying, “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:18-19). Cain answered God when asked as to the whereabouts of his brother Able, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In Cain’s response we see the “solitary” life based on rebellion, fear and selfishness, and what ought to be  the right response in the “triune life” based upon Love and generosity. Yes, we are all our brothers’ keepers, that’s the meaning of Triune Life.* (If you wish to read more about this triune principle of attribution, go to my blog at: http://bulamanriver.net/1076).

We can see this principle anchoring Jesus’ prayer to the Father for the disciples before His death, “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in you (in Love). And may they be in Us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave Me, so they may be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know You, but I do; and these disciples know You sent Me. I have revealed You to them, and I will continue to do so. Then Your Love for Me will be in them, and I will be in them” (John 17:20-23, 25-26, NLT, emphasis added). Yes, we see this Trinitarian principle of transference and substitution where we are all made one together with the Father through the Son by the sanctifying Love of the Spirit. What an awesome privilege we are given to have in Jesus, our Elder Brother.

Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit Who Personifies God’s Love in Humans (Wiki Commons)

The divine Love is not a matter of how we “feel,” humanly speaking. Human love is variable for it is physical and reacts chemically and fluctuates under duress. Not so God’s Love…His Love comes to us through His Spirit and is not a physical chemical reaction but responds to our faith. (Rom.5:5) Love is a faith-reactive divine substance. God’s Love is consistent, straight, and true, for it is personified in the Person of Herald** the Spirit. (Rom.5:5) It is the Love of the Tri-Personal God overflowing from them to human believers. It never fails us and responds to our faith first before it affects us bodily and our physical environment. 

Faith is the lifeblood of the believer and is the engine of Love. As we go through this journey of life we will discover soon enough that God’s Love is not so much about how well we succeed at Love in a practical sense, but rather how well we believe in God’s Love process to bring us to His eternal embrace. It is happening now with Christ’s true followers as we speak. It is all a matter of trust and believing well. The Bible says quite categorically, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (2 Cor.5:7; Heb.11:6).  To “please” God essentially means to Love God. (You read more about Jesus’ saving faith go to: http://bulamanriver.net/2811, also at:  http://bulamanriver.net/83820)

It is my hope that we fully understand that this Love command can only be lived in its true intent when we are living in the Tri-Personal Being of God. Only through the participation of  Abba our Father, Jesus our Elder Brother, and Herald** our Friend (Triune Life*), can Loving God be made a reality on our human level. May God grant you the faith that activates this beautiful Love and make it true in your life and your loved ones, as it does in all true believers. (To read more about God’s Love, read my earlier post titled, “God’s Love is Man’s Spiritual Gravity” at http://bulamanriver.net/1420, also, “Love Drives our Fear” at: http://bulamanriver.net/4488)

In all honesty, I can’t imagine anything more awe-inspiring for a human being than to live a life drinking from the very essence of God’s Being: Love! To breath and walk upon this earth and know we have every reason to stride boldly in self-assurance fully cognizant of who and why we are in every fiber of our existence in Christ. I sincerely hope you and I can see we were made to be Love as He is Love. (1 John4:8)

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* in the person of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,                                                                                                                                                         (Your Servant In Christ)             

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

**Herald: the name I use in my personal relationship with the Spirit.      

***Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to: http://bulamanriver.net/4825 where you can read our Mission, Vision, and Value statements.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write material. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information. Thank you.

“The first man, Adam, became a living person. But the last Adam–that is, Christ–is a life-giving Spirit” (1Cor.15:45)

A very warm greeting to all my readers!

Independence, What Is Its True Meaning? (Wiki Commons)

July 4^th is the United States of America Independence Day. Many nations have their day to commemorate their own independence. Independence is a word that’s divine in its origin. Its etymology is derived from the very nature of God. God is three independent Persons in one divine Godhead. Author Jon Tal Murphree says this of the nature of God “Each Person of the Trinity transposes Himself into the others without confusing His own (independent) personality with the others…the Father, Son, and Spirit do not exist as (independent) persons alongside each other as much as they exist in and through each other.” (Pg,29, The Trinity and Human Personality, my emphasis).

When Jesus was about to give His life on the cross, He said, “No one can take My life from Me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what My Father has commanded” (John 10:18, NLT). Jesus is an independent Being, but what makes the Trinity behave as one is their Love for each other, for the scripture tell us, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16). If “God is Love,” then it is equally proper and true that “Love is God.” The two are inseparable for it reveals the oneness of their nature. Yes, Love is completely transparent where though independent, their Love for each other automatically cause them to think and act interdependently as one, where each occupy one another in complete giving of themselves to each other.

So independence was conferred upon man because he is made after God’s Triune image: “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness” (Gen.1:26). And we were created to Love like He does in His Tri-Personal Being. Yet, independence is also portrayed in an opposing sense where fear and shame is at its core, not Love and honor. Satan the devil chose to live the way of fear, rebelling and rejecting God’s Love. (Isa.14:12-14). Adam succumbed to the devil’s temptation in Eden and rejected God’s Love. Hence, man was consigned to exist in the sin-condition and lived by the devil’s philosophy of fear, shame, and self-centeredness. God cannot be anything other than being honorable and other-centered because He is Love. (John 3:16; 1 John 4:8) These two distinctive forms of independence defines the two forms of humanity: the fear-motivated, corrupt “Adamic humanity” influenced by the devil; and the Love-motivated “Immanuel humanity” of Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit. (Read more on the new humanity of Jesus at: http://bulamanriver.net/9718) 

Jesus did not come to save us in our old fallen, corrupt, depraved “Adamic humanity” that was sired by the devil. (John 8:44) Because of that fact, the prophet Jeremiah said our “Adamic humanity” is “beyond cure.” (Jer.17:9) I suspect many believers are trying to live the Christian life in such a way, and because it cannot be done, they are living a fatalistic lifestyle.  Jesus’ clear mission was to nail the corrupt humanity on His cross, and give us a new birth into the new redeemed man of His perfect “Immanuel humanity” as Paul explained it plainly and bluntly to the Galatians: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20, NKJV).

The Resurrected Christ took Man into God’s Presence, and thereby Ushered the New Humanity. “Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone” (Rom.5:18) (Wiki Commons)

There is no way known to man by which he is given the means to once and for all rid of man’s corrupt humanity that’s been the harbinger of all the human suffering, pain, and misery, other than by the cross of Jesus. Without the cross, we are doomed to relive our unspeakable and maligned history which bears the footprints of our offensive way of life. Paul says, “My old self (“Adamic humanity”) has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (“Immanuel humanity”)” (Gal.2:20, NLT, my emphasis). The reason this is man’s saving grace is because only God’s Spirit has the power to make it possible.

“Immanuel humanity” and “Adamic humanity”? How are they different? What do they mean? There are only two forms of humans that has ever existed and walked upon this earth. Both originate from the Creator God. As humans we are all God’s children through two distinct creation, as Paul explains, “So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45; Act.17:28). The first, Adam was created from the dust of the earth perfect and sinless until his fall in Eden at the hands of the devil. (Gen.3:1-24) Thus, mankind was consigned to a life of spiritual imprisonment under the sin-condition. Consequently, from fallen Adam all the peoples of this world proceed. This is our old fallen and corrupt humanity – he is the “Adamic humanity.”

The First Fallen Human, Adam and Eve Evicted from God’s Presence in Eden. “Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone” (Rom.5:18) (Wiki Commons)  

Then there is the second new humanity Jesus brought from God the Father to restore mankind to the blameless condition before the fall. God used the prophet Isaiah to announce this beautiful truth to man, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:22-23, KJV). He is the new and now glorified humanity of Jesus, the “Immanuel humanity,” the “life-giving Spirit.”

What is the fundamental difference between the two? There is the primary difference of origin. The first Adam was created from the earth, and God gave him the breath of life and Adam became a mortal human. The second Adam, Jesus, is the eternal Word who originate from God’s holy Trinitarian Being. (1 Cor.15:47; Gen.2:7; John 1:1-2) Jesus is referred to as the “Son of Man” in Scripture. It is Jesus’ Messianic title that means He was God and fully a human being, who spring from the one Triune Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (John 1:1; 14:16-17; Eph.4:4-6; 1 Pet.1:2) So Jesus was fully man and fully God. Therefore, the title denotes the difference between Jesus’ new redeemed humanity and Adam’s fallen corrupt humanity. Through Jesus’ mother, Mary, God assimilated Himself in mankind through His Son, and conversely Christ now joins humans to God, and ultimately for eternity in the resurrection. (1 Cor.15:50-56) By assimilating Himself with humans, Jesus subjected Himself to all the pulls of our corrupt sinful Adamic nature and through His new humanity redeemed man by living the sinless life, and taking man to a higher plane of existence by His death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus glorified our humanity and made it new.

Jesus’ New Humanity Defeated Satan in the Temptations (Matt.4) (Carl Heinrich Bloch, Wiki Commons)

In so doing, He opened the door to the new redeemed human being that mankind can now receive that’s joined to the divine nature of God. (Heb.2:17; 4:15) The Bible calls Jesus the second Adam, “The first man Adam became a living being. But the last Adam, that is Christ – is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). Paul speaks of our new humanity in this fashion, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new (redeemed) life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, NLT, emphasis added).

I perceive that many Christians are trying to live the true Christian life (“Immanuel humanity”) through the corrupt, fallen, and sin-bound “Adamic humanity,” and it’s impossible to do. Sadly, many live this way without realizing it, and in so doing they incapacitate the move of the Spirit in their lives. Either it is ignorance on their part, or the true way is narrow and hard to follow. There are shortcuts to everything in life, and the Christian life is not immune from it. It’s human to follow the path of least resistance because confronting anything bad and evil requires struggle and our total attention. We are always faced with the choice our first parents had in Eden.  Metaphorically speaking, we are eating (living under) from the fruit of the tree of good and evil, or we are being nourished from the tree of life. The tree of life represent the Spirit. The tree of good and evil represent the devil. We either follow divine guidance, or we do what seems right or wrong in our own eyes.

Even in mature spiritual matters we can be misguided and deceived. Spirituality is no guarantee for divinity. Recall. the devil quoted the scripture to Jesus in the temptations. So our spirituality can take its own diabolical disguise and turn self-righteous so the Spirit’s power is set aside and negated. That is what happens when we are living the Christian life in the fallen “Adamic humanity.” I believe the book of Job was given to teach us that vital lesson about life and spirituality. We can carry a blinding self-righteous attitude to life that is founded upon fear and not Love. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it” (Matt.7:13) The time of ignorance has past, and it is time to live life in Jesus’ new humanity and grasp its full reality. (Act.17:30) There is a thin line between the pathways of the two human forms as we can see in Jesus’ temptations (Matt.4). We ought to prayerfully choose and ensure we understand where we stand in our faith walk.

Jesus explained how our “Immanuel humanity” replaces the fallen “Adamic humanity,” He said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). It is not a physical birth, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, it is a spiritual birth into Jesus’ glorified humanity. (John 3:4) So, He was not talking about the physical body per se. In fact, the human body is constantly undergoing metamorphosis through cell regeneration as a consequence of our diet, our environment, and other factors which affect us epigenetically. The human body is merely a shell, a casing, held together by cells, connective tissues, nerves, organs, bones and the blood flowing in its veins give it physical life. (Lev.17:11) The human body is given to us by God to be a temple for His Spirit. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6:19-20; also Gen.2:7). But fallen man has allowed a corrupt spirit to enter, occupy and control him. As Paul said, “The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam–that is, Christ–is a life-giving Spirit. (1 Cor.15:45, NLT).

Adam’s humanity succumbed to Satan’s Tempation (Gen.3) (Wiki Commons)

Jesus said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.) That’s clear enough. How so? His words feed the real person who is spiritual and lives in the temple of the human body and manipulates its deeds and works through the spirit which controls it. The picture of the “temple” that was given to ancient Israel where they would come and meet and relate with their God, all along was really a shadow picturing the coming New Covenant “temple” of the human body. (Heb.10:5, NLT) The Bible says, “However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands…(God asks) ‘Could you build me such a resting place? Didn’t My hands make both heaven and earth?'” (Act.7:48-50, NLT). But God made humans to exist independently so that he/she has to choose to give himself/herself voluntarily. So, “Man is either the old “Adamic human” manipulated by the spirit of the fallen self, or, the redeemed glorified “Immanuel human” motivated by Jesus in the Spirit’s helping power. It is the living faith of the spiritual man which takes the believer into the miraculous reality of Jesus’ glorified humanity in heaven. Paul said, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:6).

Let’s examine some examples so we can evaluate them in relation to living the Christian life as it relates to these two human forms:

• When Paul said, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:6), many see “us” as the fallen “Adamic humanity” but somehow made right with God. Is this why many are trying to live the Christian life and fail at it. The truth is only when we exist in the new “Immanuel humanity” of Jesus can this passage become reality. Paul makes this plain, “My old self (“Adamic humanity”) has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (“Immanuel humanity”)” (Gal.2:20, NLT, my emphasis). He further said, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person (“Immanuel humanity). The old life is gone (“Adamic humanity”); a new life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, NLT).
• When Paul said, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16), do we imagine the Spirit comes and live in our fallen “Adamic humanity?” No, the purpose of the Spirit in man is to “personify” Christ’s “Immanuel humanity” and nothing else. (John 16:13-14) Instead, He empowers us to carry our “cross” daily to ensure the demise of the fallen humanity so Christ new humanity may live and walk in us? (Luk.9:23)
• When the Bible speaks to us, thus: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” (Rom.12:2, ESV), we ask, is the fallen “Adamic humanity” capable of this task and feat? No, only the new “Immanuel humanity” of Jesus can bring renewal.
• When the Scripture instructs us, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them (in the “Adamic humanity”). But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices …” (Col.3:5-10, ESV, emphasis added), is this speaking to the old “Adamic humanity” battling himself? No, this is the Spirit activating the “Immanuel humanity” in man so the believer will defeat old habits and traits of the corrupt humanity that was put to death at the cross. (Gal.2:20)
• When the book of Romans tell us, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom.12:1, ESV), does this speak of the corrupt “Adamic humanity” under the devil’s influence sacrificing himself? Jesus said, “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mar.3:25).
  
• Here we see Paul urges us to follow him as the Spirit personifies Jesus’ by becoming a ‘prisoner’ in His new humanity: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” (Eph.4:1-6, ESV).Jesus’ Death and Resurrection was His final act of Victory and Redemption for Man, “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God” (1Pet.3:18) (By James Tissot, Wiki Commons)

Jesus said this, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matt.7:21-23, ESV). Now, this passage has puzzled many. Who were these people Jesus addressing? I believe this passage comes down to His purpose and reason for His Being – Jesus came to reveal the Father and by extension the Spirit to man. (John 10:30; 14:16-17) I believe this passage is speaking of ‘believers’ who are trying to live the Christian life in the fallen “Adamic humanity.” Paul said, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person (“new creation” NIV). The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, NLT). Only the new person personifying the new “Immanuel humanity” in Jesus in the Spirit’s move and power, can say, “Lord, Lord, and will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Taking the label of a Christian does not make one a true follower of Jesus, likewise, attempting to follow Christ in the body of the fallen and corrupt “Adamic humanity” cannot make one a true convert. True conversion takes place only by the Spirit manifesting the new glorious humanity of Jesus in man: “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ… For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Rom.8:8, 14).

The proof of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” in the Christian is the presence of the Holy Spirit, for it is He (Spirit) who manifests Jesus in believers as He lives in them as His temple. (1 Cor.3:16; John 16:12-15; 14:26, ESV). Paul said, “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). No one can be a true follower of Christ if the three Persons of the Triune Godhead is not directly involved in his/her life. This is the underlying message of the Gospel Christ brought to man. Without Jesus we would not have come to the knowledge of God as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as a Triune God. The reason for this revelation ought to be obvious, we can only apprehend the divine Love when we exist from within their Tri-Personal Being. Divine Love cannot be experienced outside of their relationship, but from the inside out. (John 17:26) Outside of their existence is a fake love and false unity which Satan promotes and deceives man.

Jesus final words to His followers were, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt.28:18-20). To “baptize” means to be inducted into something. It means to be given a new birth into the life and Love of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Paul told the Romans, “Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Rom.6:3-4).

The birth of Jesus and His baptism in the Jordan inaugurated His new humanity to mankind. After Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, the voice of the Father boomed out of heaven, “You are My Son, whom I Love; with You I am well pleased” (Mar.1:11, 10). Thus, Jesus inaugurated our new “Immanuel humanity” which was first introduced to humans on that momentous day of Pentecost in 33 AD. (Act.2:1-4) By fulfilling His promise, the Father revealed His will and purpose in humanity, “If you then, though you are evil (“Adamic humanity”), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit (“Immanuel humanity”) to those who ask Him!” (Luk.11:13, emphasis added, also John 7:37-39). O, how awesome, beautiful and subliminally divine is the purpose of the Father’s Love to bring mankind into His bosom.   

Dove, Icon for The Spirit, “He will glorify Me (Jesus), for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14, 12-15; 14:26), ESV (Pic: Wiki Commons)

The history of mankind have seen people struggle for independence and freedom from aggression, enslavement, and other forms of subjugation. Perhaps the most iconic example was the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery. (Exo.6:6) But Israel’s deliverance through the Passover and their subsequent yearly enactment of this event, was picturing Jesus in the greater role of delivering all of mankind from the spiritual bondage of sin. (1 Cor.5:7; matt.28:18-20) A contemporary example of independence would be the breakup of what was once the Soviet Union. Then, there is our own American independence on July 4th, 1776. There are many other mundane examples of the capacity to be independent but equally sacrosanct, like our struggles to express our gifts and dreams. Individuals have formed partnerships and sought freedom through their ideas and causes through Independent thought. Today independence and freedom forms the very backbone behind the achievements of various fields of human endeavor.

Yet, we must not lose sight of why we are conferred this unique gift to express ourselves independently and freely as humans. Most of all, to be clear in our minds about the purpose of independence in God’s divine plan for mankind. Our independence reveal the divine nature that exist in all of us which can never be erased regardless of race or nationality. It is about who we are as humans fashioned in God’s Tri-Personal likeness. Paul frames a question succinctly in relation to human independence and Jesus’ new humanity in us, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (of true independence) (2 Cor.13:5, my emphasis).

Humanly speaking, we are capable of expressing multiple facets of independent thought through likes and dislikes, with human desire being the principal driver. But the Love-nature of God (Spirit) gives us the power to summon our resolve to harness all our errant independent desires into one shared and virtuous inter-dependent life and purpose in Christ. (see 2 Cor.10:5)

Have a Happy Independence Day, world!

To read more about the new humanity of Jesus Christ go to: http://bulamanriver.net/9718

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* in the person of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,                                                                                                                                                          (Your Servant In Christ)                                                          

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you (“Immanuel humanity”). Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036      

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write material. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information. Thank you.

“When the Spirit of truth comes…He will bring Me glory”

Greetings once more friends! It is the time of year when Christians observe Pentecost to picture a new civilization Jesus came to institute and grow its citizenry and people. Hence, Pentecost is an important day for Christians.

Pentecost By Emeltet – Own work (Wiki Commons)

It is important because on this day Jesus delivered on His promise to send them the Helper from His Father in heaven. The Helper is the third Person of the Trinity, Herald* the Holy Spirit. This Helper would give them something they sorely lacked as a group – a power that was not human, but divine that would fill every need in their lives to carry out the will of God for them. Shortly before His death on the cross, Jesus promised, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit was a promise fulfilled.

According to the Book of Acts, on that memorable day that would be forever etched in the annals of Christian history, the disciples and believers rose up from being a wimpy, discouraged, and scared group of people, to the most courageous, articulate, and inspired band of followers ever witnessed by the people of the day. As they were gathered together for Pentecost, there appeared tongues of fire that rest on each of them. “All were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Act.2:4) People from many nations were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost and heard them speak in their respective language and dialect.

They were astonished witnesses to the awesome power of God. The crowd was perplexed and wondered, while sensing there was something special and out-of-the-ordinary here. Some thought it had something to do with consuming too much wine. As they pondered about what it could possibly mean, Peter rose up and addressed their enquiring minds by expounding Jesus to them, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles,” he began. And “everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles” (Act.2:22, 43). Yes, they performed supernatural feats, miraculous healing, and works of wonder as the Spirit empowered them so they can magnify Jesus.

But more than just merely giving the disciples their enabling power, the Spirit came to inaugurate a new civilization. A civilization that can only be manifested to mankind by a new form of humanity – the glorious divine/human Jesus in heaven. Let us see how this picture unfolds.

What were the people witnessing here? Clearly, they saw the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit moving in their midst. But remember, the Spirit will not and cannot act on His own. He is hypostatically unified to Jesus and the Father in one Triune Godhead in heaven. Author Jon Tal Murphree says this of the nature of God and the divine pattern of the Triune Life,* “Each Person of the Trinity transposes Himself into the others without confusing His own personality with the others…the Father, Son, and Spirit do not exist as persons alongside each other as much as they exist in and through each other.” (Pg,29, The Trinity and Human Personality). The truth of the Trinity is that God is ONE God who exists in three Persons – the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Matt.28:18-20; 2 Cor.13:14; Eph.4:4-6; Jud.1:20-21; 1 Pet.1:1-2)

The act of one is always the act of all three, and the act of three is forever the act of one God. This is what divine Love looks like – they give their all for each other as co-eternal, co-equal, and equally divine Being. The Bible tells us, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Then it is also true that ‘Love is God.’ Love is more than a verb, it is a noun which identifies who God is. Love defines God’s relational oneness in His Tri-Personal Being, and with His creation. The same Love (nature of God) is poured into our hearts by the Spirit’s presence in us and makes us one with Him. Paul said, “God’s Love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom.5:5). Yet, each Person reflect their separate personalities: the Father reflects His fatherhood, the Son His brotherhood with humans and His role of Savior and High Priest, and the Spirit His friendship (Advocate) who reflects God’s Love and act of sanctification in believers. (John 17:1, Rom.8:15-16, Luk.12:32; Heb.2:11, 4:15; Rom.5:5; 1 Pet.1:2) Murphree says, “Diversity is required for relationships. Relational oneness implies that separate persons relate to one another.” (Pg.26) The human personality, each with its own distinctive gift and type is fashioned after the diversity of the Tri-Personal Being of God who created humans in His own likeness. (Gen.1:26-27)

Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity (Wiki Commons)

So the Spirit (Love), was not reflecting Himself though His Personality was undeniable, but someone else in the Trinity. If the three Persons of the Triune Godhead are hypostatically unified in their one Being of Love (and they are One), it is impossible for any one to act independently from the other two. Hence, the modus operandi of the Godhead is, “The act of One is the act of Three, and the act of Three is the act of One.” Murphree says, “Each one constantly has perfect access to the other’s complete thoughts and feelings. Each is utterly transparent to the others…Each occupies the other’s personalities…Intimacy is complete as these separate persons have relational oneness.”  Fallen humans (“Adamic humanity”) do not know how to live in this Trinitarian fashion, it has to come by revelation of His divine Triune nature. And that is what Jesus came to do, to reveal the Father and the Holy Spirit to humanity. (John 10:30; John 14:15-17)

So, who was the Spirit reflecting to the first believers on that momentous Pentecost day? Jesus, of course! Not the Spirit – He was the empowering and endowing agent who manifested Jesus to the believers. Since Jesus is the one within the triune Godhead who had taken upon himself the human form and glorified it, the Spirit is ‘automatically’ made part of humanity by His union with Jesus (divine/human form) and the Father. And the way it is done is the Spirit joins Himself to believers through faith in Jesus and repentance before God. (Act.2:38) Paul said, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16). Thus, man is given the awesome privilege through Jesus and by the Spirit’s Love and power to enter and  participate in the “Triune Life”** of God.

When Peter stood up to speak to the people, he witnessed and attested to the name and Person of Jesus, not the Spirit, though it was the Spirit who gave Peter the utterance to preach with conviction and power, and work many wonders and miracles. Jesus explained to the disciples about the role of the Spirit, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me. All that belongs to the Father is Mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me” (John 16:13-15).

This passage gives us an object lesson on how God’s Love works within an organically unified personhood of His Tri-Personal Being. We see this interrelated and unified principle occurring in everything God creates in nature and the universe. Nothing exists or behaves in isolation or solitary fashion except for the survival of something else which depends upon it. For all of life exists interdependently as a copy of God’s mutually dependent and unified divine nature who created everything. For example, in nature there are biomes and ecosystems which exist symbiotically with other biomes and ecosystems to produce a single expression we call life upon this earth we call the ‘blue marble.’ This is true also with human personalities and human relations, but we are always being dragged away by invisible forces to live an opposite image of God’s Love to one that is selfish and solitary that’s opposed to His outgoing and mutual (triune) divine mode.

Can we begin to see our God-given personalities not as points of difference to provoke conflict, but is inspired from a divine source where personalities originate, and as blessed recipients we are miraculously brought together and weaved into a tapestry of Love so humanity and God may live together for eternity? (1 Pet. 2:5) Yes, all the energy of our uniqueness (personality) is gravitating towards that common end, like all of creation points to the Creator. (Psa.66:4, 145:10. all of Psa.148) Our predominant difference is we have been given ‘independent’ minds to make a deliberate choice to behave in that mutually beneficial way. The human mind was fashioned after the mind of the Triune God, unlike beasts which behave by inbuilt instincts. The goal is to make our minds ‘inter-dependent’ with God and our fellow humans with Love at its core, like God is in His Tri-Personal Being.

Ultimately, anything which exists outside of the divine Being and energy (Love) cannot be sustained, just as nothing unholy or profane can endure in God’s presence and realm. So, we seek to enhance each other’s purpose for we’re all part and parcel of the same destiny to become unified to the body of Jesus’ new humanity. (1 Cor. 12:12-14, 27) Paul makes this abundantly clear, “No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church” (Eph.5:29). The “church” is the collective term for all true believers who form the new humanity of Jesus. (1 Cor.12:27-28; Col.1:18; Rom.12:4-5; Eph.1:22) This is the manner in which the Tri-Personal Being of God Loves and live for each other.

Philip, one of the disciples, failing to grasp the basic trinitarian reality of Jesus’ nature, asked Him to show them the Father. Jesus answered without hesitancy, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father! So why are you asking Me to show Him to you? (John 14:9, NLT). Yes, Love is completely transparent where each occupy one another in complete giving of themselves to each other. So, Jesus lives to reflect the Father fulfilling His calling as Savior. That is the divine Love pattern of the Triune Life.** Now, taking that as our cue, it is logical to conclude that as believers we reflect Jesus in our walk, not ourselves, but who we are (our purpose) in Him, just as Jesus reflects the Father and who He was in His plan of salvation for man. (John 3:16) And the role of the Spirit is to articulate to humans the reality of Jesus in His glorified humanity, and each of our individual role in God’s calling and purpose. In other words, the Spirit personifies Jesus in the believer.

Dove, Symbol of Love and The Holy Spirit (By Sh1019 – File: Gezi.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org)

In the final analysis, the proof of true Christianity is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer, for it is He (Spirit) who unifies man to the Triune God and empower the believer to live the Triune Life.** Calling oneself a Christian by name alone does not qualify a person as one. Paul said, “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). What Paul is saying is we still stand condemned in our fallen humanity until we are joined to the Triune Being of God by the Spirit’s enabling power through faith in Jesus. Jesus Himself said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39). Yes, they exist contemporaneously in their unified Being, much like Jesus’ new humanity in the believer is the riverbed and the Spirit stand for the living waters flowing in and through it. It is impossible to separate the two – the riverbed and the living waters is a single entity. You can say the Spirit is the Christian’s seal making believers God’s children and followers of Christ. (Eph.1:13-14)

Let’s see how this happens: by His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus, as the second Person of the Trinity, gave birth to and ushered in His and our new glorified humanity within the trinitarian Being of God. Because the divine triune nature is such that each of the three Persons occupy each other in a single Godhead, by association the Father and the Spirit automatically joins themselves to human believers by virtue of Jesus glorified divine/human form. I have called Jesus’ glorified human form our “Immanuel humanity.” This new humanity of Jesus comes by renewal through spiritual birth as He explained to Nicodemus. (John 3:3, 5-8)  The day of Pentecost inaugurates that beautiful and marvelous truth in humanity. (Act.2:1-4)

Here is what Pentecost reveals to us. From that day forward a new form of humanity was ushered upon our earth. Born out of the power and divine Love of the Spirit to replace the spirit of fear and powerlessness of the devil. (Rom.5:5; Col.2:15; Heb.2:14-15, NLT) By ‘humanity’ I mean a new civilization. A civilization populated by Jesus’ followers who are endowed with Jesus’ new humanity, of which He is its sovereign ruler. Now, let us ask how Pentecost relates with the believer as the Spirit interacts in Love with the person. Pentecost is the demarcation of two humanities (civilizations) that has existed upon this earth: first, there is the fallen corrupt humanity of Adam, I call the “Adamic humanity.” (Rom.5:12; 2 Cor.11:3) Second, there is new glorified humanity of Jesus, the “Immanuel humanity.” (Rom.5:18-21; 1 Cor.15:22; Isa.7:14) The first fallen humanity was fathered by the devil. (John 8:44) But who will manifest and most importantly personalize and embody the new humanity in the life of the believer? The answer is Jesus Himself by the power of the Spirit. Believers stand redeemed in His new humanity, while unbelievers stand convicted and condemned in the old corrupt humanity of the first Adam. (1 Cor.15:45)

Jesus’ Glorified New Humanity (Altar Picture of Risen Christ, Wiki Commons)

Just as taking the label of a Christian does not make one a true follower of Jesus, likewise attempting to live the Christian life in the body of the fallen and corrupt “Adamic humanity” cannot give birth nor make one a true believer. True conversion takes place only by the Spirit manifesting the new glorious humanity of Jesus in man. How does the Spirit relate with the corrupt “Adamic humanity?” He guides the believer into crucifying him on the cross of Jesus. Paul makes this plain, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, (“Adamic humanity”) yet I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me, (“Immanuel humanity”) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, (Spirit manifests Jesus’ living faith) who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20, my emphasis) The Spirit goes on and give the believer the power of His Love to carry Jesus’ cross daily to deny and destroy the “Adamic humanity” permanently. (Matt.16:24)

So, when Pentecost came and the disciples were displaying all the power, wonder, and miraculous signs before the people, who were they reflecting? Jesus, the Son of God, who now lives in His divine/human form in heaven! The Spirit was empowering the believer and personifying Jesus’ glorified “Immanuel humanity” in them. Jesus is the leader of God’s new civilization (humanity) who brings and shares with mankind His new glorious divine/human triune Being. He now sits at the right hand of the Father, performing His mediating role as our High Priest so man may live in His glorious form continuously. (Heb.3:1; 4:14-16)

Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God is the template of what humanity was really predestined to be by existing as the temple of the Holy Spirit. And all of mankind await His return to be resurrected to immortality in the likeness of the new glorified humanity of Jesus. Listen, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn (of new humanity made immortal) among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29, emphasis added; also 1 Cor.15:50-58)

May the reality of the Spirit’s sanctifying power be yours this Pentecost and manifest the new humanity of Jesus on which we stand redeemed.

You may read more about Jesus’ new humanity at http://bulamanriver.net/9718. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”** in the personhood of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,

*Herald: the name I affectionately call the Holy Spirit in my personal and intimate relationship with Him 

**Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God (“Immanuel humanity”), as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took His new redeemed humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of God’s Love through His Spirit in us. (Rom.5:5) The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit (Love) within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                   

*** Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information

“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son”

Greetings once again friends! I hope you had a truly reflective and meaningful time commemorating the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior. I would like to continue with the post I shared with you. You have heard me use this phrase: “Immanuel humanity.” What does it mean? Let me explain.

“Take and eat; this is my body… Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” – Sharing His “Immanuel Humanity” (Matt.26:26-28) (Carl Heinrich Bloch, Wiki Commons) 

The death of Jesus upon His cross and His resurrection ushered in a new beginning for mankind unlike any other seen or experienced in human history. The birth, perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension to Jesus’ High Priestly office spells one important aspect of human life we often overlook. As mankind’s High Priest in heaven today, Jesus sits at His Father’s right hand clothed in His glorified bodily humanity. Performing His High Priestly role, Jesus is constantly mediating for humans and believers with the aim that they may exist in His new redeemed humanity in perpetuity before the Father. (Heb.4:14-16; Rom.8:29; Gal.2:20) What we see is God imputing the life and the finished work of Christ and by His mediation save and bring mankind to salvation.

There are only two forms of humans that has ever existed and walked upon this earth. Both originate from the Creator God. In the sense of being part of the entire human race we are all God’s children. (Act.17:28) First, Adam was created from the dust of the earth perfect and sinless until his fall at the hands of the devil. (Gen.3:1-24) Thus, mankind was consigned to a life of spiritual imprisonment under the rebellious sin-condition of the devil. Humanity was cutoff from access to the Holy Spirit (Tree of Life) because of sin. (Gen.3:24)

Consequently, from fallen Adam all of humanity proceed and are descended. This is our old fallen and corrupt humanity – we will call him the “Adamic humanity.” Then there is the second new humanity Jesus brought from God the Father. God used the prophet Isaiah to announce this beautiful truth to man, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:22-23, KJV). We will call the new humanity of Jesus, the “Immanuel humanity.”

What is the fundamental difference between the two? There is the primary difference of origin. The first Adam was created from the earth, and God gave him the breath of life and Adam  became a mortal human. The second Adam, Jesus, is the eternal Logos, the Word of God who originate from God’s holy Trinitarian Being. (1 Cor.15:47; Gen.2:7; John 1:1-2) Jesus is referred to as the “Son of Man” in Scripture. It is Jesus’ Messianic title that means He was God and fully a human being, who sprung from the one Triune Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (John 1:1; 14:16-17; Eph.4:4-6; 1 Pet.1:2)

So, Jesus was the second human creation after Adam, but being fully man and fully God, or “Immanuel” meaning “God with us.” (Isa7:14; Matt.1:23; 1 Cor.15:45) All humanity descended from the first Adam, and now God calls upon us to adopt the gift of His Son’s ‘Immanuel (God with us) humanity’ through whom eternal life is bestowed. (John 3:16-17) Therefore, the title “Immanuel” denotes the difference between Jesus’ new redeemed humanity and Adam’s fallen corrupt and sin-conditioned humanity.

Through Jesus’ mother, Mary, God assimilated Himself in mankind through His Son, and conversely Christ now joins humans to God, and ultimately for eternity when He glorified His (and our) humanity in His resurrection. By assimilating Himself with humans, Jesus subjected Himself to all the pulls of our corrupt sinful nature and through His new Immanuel humanity redeemed man by living the sinless life.

In so doing, He opened the door to the new redeemed human being that mankind can now receive that’s joined to the divine nature of God. (Heb.2:17; 4:15) It was God’s way of showing His Love and reconciling fallen humans back to Himself in Jesus. (John 3:16; 2 Cor.5:18-19) The name Immanuel means “God with us.” Or, God joined Himself with man, and equally unified man to God through Jesus’ new redeemed humanity. He is the true “Son of Man,” a human dedicated to being joined to God in every way, shape, and form. This is the foundation and essence of the new redeemed humanity we have in Jesus.

The Bible calls Jesus the second Adam, “The first man Adam became a living being. But the last Adam, that is Christ – is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). Paul speaks of our new humanity in this fashion, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new (redeemed) life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, italics mine, NLT).

Throughout Jesus’ life we see more differences between the two human forms and why God gave us His Son’s new humanity to adopt. The first Adam succumbed to the devil which precipitated mankind’s incarceration under the sin-condition; hence, Jesus while contending with His Jewish adversaries, identified the father of the fallen “Adamic humanity,” He said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires” (John 8:44). The second Adam, who proceed from God the Father, defeated Satan in the temptations in the Judean wilderness and ultimately upon His cross, thereby liberating mankind from the rebellious sin-condition.

Jesus’ victory generates a condition of righteousness through His new humanity in the believer. (Matt.4:1-11; Gen.3:6, 11) One lives in spiritual darkness, but the second walks in God’s light.  (Matt.4:16) Jesus went about doing all manner of good and performed many miracles to alleviate the people’s suffering. (Act.10:38) One produces sin and death, and the other gives life and immortality. (John 11:25; 14:6; Rom.6:23) Through Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” He lived a perfect life on earth, and offered Himself as the only worthy sacrifice upon Calvary for all human sins and transgressions. God raised Him and He lives today as mankind’s High Priest mediating for humans in God’s presence in the heavenly temple.

The purpose of the second redeemed humanity of Jesus is to substitute for the fallen first humanity of Adam so humanity may enter God’s holy presence. Paul makes this clear, “Do not think about how to gratify the natural desires of the flesh, (“Adamic humanity”), but instead clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (“Immanuel humanity”) (Rom.13:14, my emphasis added). Jesus, the “Immanuel human,” was given to mankind as a gift from God the Father. (John 3:16) The “Adamic humanity” was consigned to a life under the sin-condition where Satan and his demonic spirits continue to imprison man. The “Immanuel humanity” of Jesus frees humans from incarceration of the enemy’s sin-condition and brings the righteousness of God.

Paul said it this way, “You have taken off your old self (“Adamic humanity”) with its practices and have put on the new self, (“Immanuel humanity”) which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col.3:9-10, my emphasis, also Gen.1:26-27). Taking on Jesus’ new Immanuel humanity is the essence of the New Covenant, listen, “I will put a new Spirit (“Immanuel human”) within you; and I will take the stony heart (“Adamic human”) out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek.11:19-20; Heb.8:10)

Jesus’ Exist In His Perfect “Immanuel Humanity” and Died for Our Redemption (Gebhard Fugel, Wiki Commons)

We are all Adam’s children by birth and born into Adam’s “Adamic humanity” in a world  dominated and ruled by the devil and sin. However, Jesus’ new “Immanuel humanity” is offered and received on a personal and individual basis by an act of faith. That’s to say, God gives man the freedom to choose between the two human forms, just as He gave Adam and Eve to choose between two trees and the fruits (deeds) each tree would produced. It gives new birth to the true person who lives internally in the human body and controls all its activities. It also tells us that faith plays a significant and powerful role in a person’s choice: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16-17; also, 2 Cor.5:7; Eph.1:13, 6:16; Gal.3:26; John 1:12; 3:16)

Paul then says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Rom.5:1-2). In other words, living faith enables us to enter into what God is doing in us through His Son’s new “Immanuel humanity,” instead of trying to live through the fallen and corrupt self in our “Adamic humanity.” We have to believe what God said about adopting our new “Immanuel humanity” in Christ before we can become complete in Him. (Rom.4:3; Col.2:10)

God counsels us as He did with Adam and Eve, to use our freedom wisely, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life” (“Immanuel humanity”) (Deut.30:15,19, emphasis mine).

God is Love, and the flipside of Love is freedom. (1 John 4:8; Gal.5:1) Faith helps us to choose between Love and fear, freedom and bondage. It helps us choose the good from the bad, the real from the sham, the positive from the negative. The Bible tells us, “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor.5:7).

God is spirit and can’t be seen, touched, or felt. The only way to see and understand God is by revelation through faith. (Rom.10:17) The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (though indiscernable by our five senses) and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb.11:6, emphasis added). Things are not always what they appear to be as the mysteries of quantum mechanics teaches us. And Paul says “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor.4:18).

The reason Christians are called “believers” is because they live by believing in the unseen rather than placing their confidence upon what’s visible and seen. Jesus said that people can have eyes and yet not see, and they can have ears but not hear, for the real answers to their questions and concerns are spiritual (unseen) by nature. (Mar.8:18)

So, it is not a blind and empty human faith as some assume, but a living all-powerful faith supplied by the Spirit who gives us the power of a believing mind, and a discerning heart about the truth. (John 16:13) Freedom is not a sight thing, but an unseen faith thing where we are unalterably tied to God’s purpose for us. It is indeed a powerful thing to observe a person exercise the living faith capable of manifesting God’s blessing, purpose, and grace.

Jesus told the blind man He healed,”It shall be done to you according to your faith” (Matt.9:29). This does not speak of our weak human faith, but the living faith of Jesus expressed in the Spirit’s power. (Gal.2:20, KJV) Yes, living the life of our “Immanuel humanity” will literally take a leap of faith.

Jesus explained how our “Immanuel humanity” replaces the fallen “Adamic humanity,” He said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). It is not a physical birth, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, it is a spiritual birth into Jesus’ glorified humanity. (John 3:4) As Paul said, “the last Adam, that is Christ, is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). The human body is merely a shell, a casing held together by cells, connective tissues, nerves, organs, bones and the blood flowing in its veins give it physical life. (Lev.17:11) In fact, the body is always rejuvenating through cell regeneration via epigenetics.*

Be that as it may, Jesus said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.) How so? Because His words feeds the real person who is spiritual and lives in the human heart and mind and manipulates the body’s deeds.

A human being is either the old “Adamic human” manipulated by the fallen self, or, the redeemed glorified “Immanuel human” motivated by Jesus in the Spirit’s helping power. It is the living faith of the spiritual man which takes the believer into the miraculous reality of Jesus’ glorified humanity in heaven. Paul said, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus’ (glorified new humanity)” (Eph.2:6, my emphasis).

Jesus explains our “Immanuel humanity” further, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). By saying, “Remain in Me and I in you,” Jesus affirms His “Immanuel humanity” in us. There is another vital aspect of our humanity that takes place when we are “born again” – the “Adamic humanity” is no more and ceases to exist. The ritual of baptism was to established this reality in humanity. (Rom.6:3-7)

These two human forms existing in their opposing philosophies cannot live side by side. Paul asks, “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Cor.6:14). Have you ever noticed whenever light enters a pitch-black room darkness flees before it? Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Either light takes the place of darkness or vice versa.

So, what happens to our “Adamic humanity?” Paul again answers, “My old self (“Adamic humanity”) has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (“Immanuel humanity”)” (Gal.2:20, NLT, my emphasis). Jesus did not come to save us in our old fallen, corrupt, depraved “Adamic humanity” that was sired by the devil. The prophet Jeremiah said our “Adamic humanity” is “beyond cure.” (Jer.17:9) He came to nail it on His cross, and give us a new birth into the new redeemed man of His perfect “Immanuel humanity.”

There is no way known to man by which he is given the means to once and for all rid of man’s corrupt humanity that’s been the harbinger of all the human suffering, pain, and misery, other than by the cross of Jesus. Without the cross, we are doomed to relive our maligned and grievous history which bears the footprints of our depraved deeds and way of life.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20) (Francisco de Zurbaran, Wiki Commons Media)

As we stop to reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection, often we forget the personal meaning and application of His cross. The cross teaches us the more important truth of the crucifixion of our ‘false self’ (“Adamic humanity”) with Christ on His cross, so He may reign in our lives through His glorified “Immanuel humanity,” and stop the carnage of man’s inhumanity to man, and bring peace, Love, and genuine emancipation to mankind. The cross is not so much about reflecting on the past as it is about what it means and is doing to our lives in the present. (You may read more at my Post titled: “The Cross of Jesus”: http://bulamanriver.net/9688

Jesus was unequivocal about what His “Immanuel humanity” will mean to your life and mine, He warned, “If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples” (John 15:6-8). What Jesus says is we cannot live the authentic Spirit-led Christian life by remaining in the corrupt “Adamic humanity.” I sincerely hope we understand the difference between the two.

Any human attempt to live the Christian life under the fallen “Adamic humanity,” which many have tried and still do, will only lead us to the path of self-righteousness and legalism – not the divine goodness, grace, and Love of God. Our hearts deceive us into supposing we trust in God when we do not. We still trust in our “self” and that is living in the spirit of the “Adamic humanity.”

Jesus said, “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire” (Matt.7:18-19, NLT). That’s to say, the only way out for fallen humans is through a rebirth, not by trying to overhaul and mend the evil nature which can never be mended or made whole again. (John 3:6-8; Jer.17:9)

We can read the book of Job to delve deeper into this topic. Job was super good humanly speaking that even Satan could not fault him. Why was that? Because it was the sin of self-righteousness, and the enemy could not see it in Job because if he did he would have been pointing the finger at himself. That was the devil’s sin of rebellion and self-righteousness from the start. (Isa.14:12-15) In fact, he was blind to it, for to have eyes to see it in Job would be tantamount to admitting the error of his ways and thereby repent, but he has not relented from opposing God and will not change.

Jesus said, “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matt.7:5) After Job’s discourse with his friends, neighbors, and finally God Himself, he was brought to the point of seeing who he truly was in his “Adamic humanity,” and recognizing the true God for the first time, he lamented, “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job.42:5-6).

How does Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” live in us on a day-by-day basis? Jesus answers, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me” (Luk.9:23). The incarnation process of the “Immanuel humanity” in humans is a life of denying the false self (“Adamic humanity”) by crucifying its way of life daily to the cross of Jesus. (Rom.8:36-37)

Then in its place the “Immanuel humanity” must be made to live the life of the believing Christian on a day-by-day basis. (Gal.4:19; Matt.6:34) As we heard from Paul, “Put on the new self, (“Immanuel humanity”) which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col.3:9-10, my emphasis).

We are compelled to live in this state of constant awareness of the unceasing liberation of our being because this world is ruled by the devil and besieges us with his deceptive and wicked way of life and activities. (2 Tim.1:7) We live in this continual state of spiritual warfare to keep our freedoms, and the Spirit is more powerful and gives us the weapons and ability necessary to live a victorious life in Jesus’ redeemed humanity. (Eph.6:10-18) Jesus encourage us, “Take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We take heart in Jesus because we replicate His victory as we vicariously stand in His glorious “Immanuel humanity.” (Col.2:6; Eph.4:15; John 15:5)

“Immanuel Humanity” (God with Us) Dying for Man in His Tri-personal Being (James Tissot, Wiki Commons)

It has to be understood that living the victorious life in our “Immanuel humanity” is not humanly possible simply because it has to take an external Entity in the person of Jesus entering your life and mine and will walk through and in us. (2 Cor.13:5; Rom.8:10; Col.1:27) Paul explains who Jesus truly is, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Co.2:9-10)

This is who we speak of when we mention the “Immanuel humanity” for it reveals the other side of Jesus’ humanity – He is God in the flesh! We are made complete by being given a new birth into Jesus’ redeemed and now glorified humanity. We are incomplete if we fail to receive His “Immanuel humanity.” It is a life of living faith.

Man will say he continues to sin even after conversion, how can Jesus’ perfect “Immanuel humanity” live and breath in us as believing yet sinning humans? Yes, we are inundated by the onslaught of sin in this satanic world, but here we see the unfolding divine mystery. Recall, Jesus is mankind’s High Priest in heaven sitting at the Father’s right hand in His glorified human form. (Heb.4:14-16; 7:3, 25; Rom.8:34)

Jesus’ role as High Priest is to continually mediate on behalf of His people in all their spiritual shortcomings and inadequate human responses and forever present us perfect before our heavenly Father, so He may forever caress His human children in divine completeness (Love). This was the mystery that the prophets of old had desired to know about in the truth of the Messiah’s finished work. (Matt.13:16-17)

This is what’s happening: Satan is constantly prosecuting man (you and I) before God day-in and day-out. He is called “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accusers them before God day and night” (Rev.12:10; Job 1:6-10). The last thing Satan wants to see is humans becoming God’s immortal children, and showering His Love upon them and vice versa for all eternity. But the eternal mediation of our High Priest through His sinless life and perfect sacrifice on Calvary’s cross is more than adequate and cancels all guilt and declares us holy before our heavenly Father. Believers are no longer living under the enemy’s sin-condition,’ but under the shadow of the Spirit’s sanctifying ‘Love condition’ in Christ. (Rom.5:5; John 16:14)

Paul said it perfectly, “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them…so God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor.5:19, 21). What a beautiful wondrous mystery which only God our Father could have made reality and share His Love with His human children. “You, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit” (Rom.8:9).

God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice for the human sin-condition as the absolute and final atonement for human corruption and evil for all times. We cannot add to what God has put to bed once for all time through and in His Son. And He affirms this by giving us the gift of Himself in His Holy Spirit who seals us until the day of our redemption into immortality at Christ’s second coming. (Eph.1:13)

Hence, Paul tells us, “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom.8:34). Yes, all of Satan’s prosecutorial words are utterly ineffective before Jesus, who Himself is our final Word before the Father. This is why you and I are always standing under the shadow of Jesus glorified “Immanuel humanity,” personified in us by the Spirit, who brings us before Him, our High Priest, who forever reconciles us to God the Father.

That, in essence, is how man is kept right and in God’s presence always, and how we exist in His and our perfect “Immanuel humanity” today. This is the mystery which the men of God of old had wondered concerning God’s mind and His plan of redeeming mankind. And we have the privilege to live out that mystery today under the New Covenant – it is awesome in its magnitude. (Matt.13:16-17) We ought always to stand in wonder of God’s wisdom and praise Him evermore. I hope we can find every reason to rest our hope and joy in His saving grace.

Can a believer sin willfully? How can he when the depraved fallen “Adamic humanity” is dead and no longer lives. The Bible states, “If we died with Christ (on His cross), we believe that we also live with Him (in His resurrection)” (Rom.6:1-2, 5-8, emphasis added) If we sin willfully then plainly we still exist in our fallen humanity. This brings us to the third element in God’s activity in mankind. We have seen the Father’s role of giving us His Son, and the Son’s role of freely giving His own life as atonement for sins. The third is the aspect of God giving Himself to us in the Person of the Spirit, who in turn  personifies Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” in believers on a day-to-day basis.

This is the meaning of Paul’s words when he said, “the last Adam, that is Christ, is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). The Son and the Spirit are both housed in the new “Immanuel humanity” of Christ in you. (John 7:38-39; Act.2:1-4) This brings in the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We cannot carry Jesus’ cross on our own, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. We need the help of His Spirit, hence, He is called, “Helper” or Advocate. (John 15:26, NASB) The Helper (Spirit) personifies Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” in us to enable us to carry our cross, and be an overcomer in the devil’s world.

Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)

Before His crucifixion, Jesus promised to send the Spirit who will personify His “Immanuel humanity” in believing humans. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). And Jesus explained the Spirit’s role, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me. All that belongs to the Father is Mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me’” (John 16:13-15).

Yes, it is Herald (Spirit) who takes us by the hand and lead us to Jesus always because He is homoousiosly** unified with Jesus and the Father in the Trinitarian Life. His role is to honor Jesus, and not draw attention to Himself.

Paul further explains who and what the Spirit does, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price (His Son’s death on the cross). So you must honor God with your body” (1 Cor.6:19-20). The Spirit’s role is to personify the “Immanuel humanity” as He dwells in us. It is a life of surrender, but not in the sense of suppression or domination, but Love. (Rom.5:5) For Love cannot be understood, let alone experienced and allowed to prosper, without glad surrender.

Much like a man and woman who are joined in marriage, their love for each other gives meaning and inspiration to the act of surrendering all to make their union purposeful and resolute. So, here we understand how the believer is made to live the “Triune Life”*** of God through Christ’s “Immanuel humanity” by the act of Loving surrender.

From the above we see a vital truth in the manifestation of Jesus new humanity in us. Our concept of God is relevant to its reality. God is Triune and His salvation is the work of the Father, Jesus in His immortal and glorious humanity, and the Holy Spirit equally. You cannot have one without the other. If one is left out the other two cannot function for they function as One unified Triune Being. They live and behave homoousiosly** as one Tri-Personal God.

I believe Jesus was resolute about His followers stripping themselves of their depraved and fallen “Adamic humanity,” and instead clothe themselves with His “Immanuel humanity,” when at the last meal He shared with His disciples He emphasized the centrality of this new redeemed life by taking bread and wine and charged them, “Take and eat (this bread); this is my body.” Then He took the wine and said, “Drink it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt.26:26-28). A new body and new blood flowing through its veins is none other than our new redeemed humanity we are privileged to have in Christ. As Paul affirms, “No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it… for we are members of His body” (Eph.5:30).

The New Glorified Humanity of Jesus (Wiki Commons)

In closing, there is a final question to ask and answer: what does this new redeemed personhood (humanity) in Jesus means to my life and yours in our mortal existence upon this earth? Jesus answers, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). It is easy to answer this from the perspective of the fallen and depraved “Adamic humanity” and read this passage in isolation. He sees it as open season to ask for whatever satisfies his whims and fancy.

As I said earlier, trying to live the Christian life in the depraved “Adamic humanity” leads to self-glorification (self-righteousness). The worldly are led by the spirit of avarice and materialism. But thankfully we do not live that life any longer, but we are living the “Triune Life”*** in Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” For indeed, Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The very next verse explains what this collaborative Triune Life is: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). So, the two verses explain each other (the scriptures in its original form was not recorded in chapters and verses, so this helps us understand the context)

To “bear much fruit” simply means you are fulfilling your unique divine destiny, first, is the corporate goal of conforming to the image of Jesus’ new humanity through the new birth, and second to play your own unique role in the Father’s work of spreading the Gospel of His Son in a dying world in the Spirit’s move and power. (Rom.8:29; Matt.28:18-20) We understand the first part, but no one can answer the specifics of the second part which relates to your individual calling, not even you. Only the Spirit does, as He reveals Jesus to each of our destinies. (Col.2:3, NLT) This is a life of faith, where your calling can evolve over time, place, and service/duty.

When Jesus said, “ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you,” He was emphatic about our prayers being answered every time as it concerns you personally. We are all different, and we ought not to look at others as yardsticks to measure ourselves, our worth, much less our individual unique destinies. The fallen mindset usually does and tries to “keep up with the Joneses.” If we pray in that fashion, our prayers are selfish and will ‘not’ be answered because it’s a prayer affirming the “Adamic humanity” where fear and lack is its motivation. Lack and fear begets poverty, while divine Love begets joy and abundance.

Jesus vouches for this principle, saying, “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have (lack), even what they have will be taken from them” (Matt.13:12, my emphasis). The only place of abundance is in God’s Love which is fully manifested through Jesus’ new redeemed humanity. We should always be praying the prayer of gratitude, giving thanks to God knowing He will never fail in working out His unique plan for us and bless us in our originality  out of His super abundance. (1 Thess.5:18; Eph.5:20)

Each of us is living the matchless life that’s reserved only for us exclusively and nobody else – that is our place of abundance. He promised, “For I know the plans I have for YOU” (not the next person), declares the LORD, “plans to prosper YOU and not to harm YOU, plans to give YOU hope and a future” (Jer.29:11, my emphasis). That promise is personal and individual and has nothing to do with our neighbors, who have their own unique plans which we cannot and are not supposed to usurp by trying to emulate.

All of our individual uniqueness collectively is fashioned into the most beautiful temple “fitly joined together” which only Jesus could build for God’s dwelling. (1 Pet.2:5; Eph.4:16; Rev.21:2-3) That is how we live in harmony with ourselves and others and ultimately with God where we are anchored to the truth of true life itself in Christ. As Paul said to Timothy, “to take hold of life that is truly life” (1 Tim.6:19).

So, since the Spirit lives in you as His earthly temple, He will reveal Jesus’ will for your life, and His will brings glory to the Father. John was clear on this part when he quoted Jesus, saying, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears (from the Father and Son), and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you” (John 16:13-15).

Using our Gifts to Serve God’s Glory and Purpose (By Stefdn, Wiki Commons)

Everything which concerns you in terms of your mortal existence, your unique calling, your family and children, your education, your job, your finances, your home, your societal and geographical location, your church, your friends and associates, your health and healing, your hobbies and activities, and whatever else that has to do with this life, are all answered in the “Immanuel humanity” you now live and make your stand. You don’t have to “get” these things from God, they are automatically yours in the abundance of God’s Love for you, and are yours for the asking. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” says Jesus. (Matt.7:7)

I will end with Paul’s emphatic word concerning Jesus’ new redeemed humanity that now resides and walks in us, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new (redeemed) life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, NLT, my emphasis). Living God’s unique purpose for each of us is to know the difference between reading Jesus in history and meeting history through our experiences in the person of Jesus’ new “Immanuel humanity” in our lives.

May you and your family live the miraculous life that only Jesus’ glorified humanity in us can provide. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”*** in the personhood of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang, (Your Servant In Christ) 

*Epigenetics: visit this website for meaning, https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/

**Homoousios: in Christianity, the key term of the Christological doctrine formulated at the first ecumenical council, at Nicaea in 325, to affirm that God the Son and God the Father are of the same substance. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

*** Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God (“Immanue humanity”), as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took His new redeemed humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of God’s Love through His Spirit in us. (Rom.5:5) The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit (Love) within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write material. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information. Thank you.

THE CROSS

“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matt.11:27)

Greetings again friends. As we approach the time of commemorating the death of Jesus as the Savior of mankind, I would like to share in the one-ness of God and that in the death of the Son the Father and the Spirit were united with Him in saving us and bringing us into His Triune fellowship and Love.

The Last Supper Before He was Taken and Crucified (By Carl Heinrich Bloch – Commons.Wikimedia.org)

Understanding the Trinity is not normal to the human mind simply by virtue of the fact that man exists in a fallen state of being. Man, in all respects, in his total outlook, his belief and conviction, his attitude and perspective, his inner sentiments and ideas, are entirely founded and deep-seated in his “solitary” worldview based upon fear. Yet, the Trinitarian worldview of God based upon Love stands in diametric contrast from it. They both march to a different drum beat. It is for this very reason that man’s mind and God’s mind operates at opposing rhythm that we cannot see let alone explain how God exists in three Persons in one divine Being. That is the primary reason why it is very difficult for the fallen human mind to come to terms with explanation of God existing in three Persons in one divine Being. They are symbiotically One – the act of one is the act of all three, and the act of three is the act of one. Expressing His Tri-Personal Being and nature to “solitary” man, God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). The gulf in knowledge inequity between the mortal and divine is so wide in its breadth and scope that man will never be able to fathom the depth and mysteries of God in His infinite Being.

Just as it is totally natural for fallen humans to think and do things in the “solitary” mode of fear (“solitary life”), so God has existed from eternity in His One Triune mode of living and expressing Himself in three divine Persons. So, there are two philosophies of life standing face-to-face opposing each other. One is the “solitary life” founded upon fear under Satan’s influence, while the other is the “Triune Life”* based upon the divine nature with God’s Love central to His core of existence. One defines the “true self” after God’s Love-likeness, while the other defines the “false self” after the enemy.

That being said, since man was created in God’s image he will never lose his spiritual kinship to his Maker. God’s likeness is what inherently defines the ‘handle’ for human existence at the primordial level. Even the devil cannot undo that. He can only blind man by deception to who man is truly. So, the answer to man’s dilemma is explained by Paul when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live” (Gal.2:20a). In other words, the “false self” which gives legs to the “solitary life” has to die like Christ died for man. And in his place the “true self” is resurrected to take his rightful place in human life. Jesus said it this way, “You must be born again” (John 3:7,5). The prophet Jeremiah tell us this “false self” is “beyond cure.” (Jer.17:9)

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Do we see the Trinitarian template that is integrally and symbiotically played out here. Just as He died for us so we die for Him. In the same way Jesus was resurrected, so are we given a born-again “true self” in Him. This process is not a once-off experience at conversion, but a daily undertaking. The “Triune Life”* of Love is lived out daily. That is what we demonstrate in the ritual of baptism which believers undergo. Paul said, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom.6:3-4; also Eph.3:2).

Jesus Carrying His Cross (Kreuzweg von Gebhard Fugel (1921) – Wiki Commons)

Listen to how Jesus makes this plain, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luk.9:23-25). Self-denial is about denying the “false self” whose walk is the “solitary life” of fear. When Jesus said what’s the point of being rich of this world and “forfeit your very self,” attests to the truth that the fire of true life (God’s image) kindles deep in man’s heart of heart. When He said “Whoever loses his (solitary) life for Me will save it,” again testifies to the life which lays hidden deep in us and desperately wants to be freed, if only we realize he waits eagerly to be manifested. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” and gives us the promised Spirit to resurrect that hidden life that is made in God’s image. (Luk.17:20-21, KJV; John 16:7)

At present, he is buried in the rubble of trash and filth the “false self” has heaped upon him. (John 16:12-14) But the Trinitarian philosophy and aesthetic is natural to humanity at a very primordial level. We are just outdone in and by the dark cloud of deception and cunning the devil has hung over our heads to know that yet. We have not dug deep enough inside us, or are oblivious as to where to dig, let alone find the answers to our authentic “true self.” God’s Love never fails us for the answer lies with the cross.

The process by which this new birth/self is lived out daily is when man is “carrying his cross.” What is the cross of Jesus? It defines the ongoing activity of forgiveness through repentance in the believer. Jesus taught us to pray this daily prayer, “And forgive us our shortcomings, as we have forgiven those who have failed in their duty towards us” (Matt.6:12, NLT). No believer becomes perfect all at once upon conversion. It’s the everyday process of “carrying our cross daily.” We have no resources or ability to do this, only the promised gift of the Spirit who comes and makes us His temple by living in us, He provides the power and ability to live the “Triune Life.”* (1 Cor.3:16; john 16:7) Listen, the Bible tells us, “For it is God (the Holy Spirit) who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose” (Phi.2:13; also 1 Cor.3:16). It is entirely and totally a life of faith, but not our human faith, but the living faith of Jesus which resides in the new humanity of the second Adam. (1 Cor,15:45; Gal.2:20) Paul said, “Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come” (Rom.5:14, NLT). In other words, Christ brought us the new perfect humanity the Father wanted humans to conform to – the ‘lmmanuel humanity.’ (Rom.8:29; Isa,:7:14; Matt.1:23; read also Rom.5:15-17)

Understanding and believing the Trinitarian philosophy lies at the heart of our understanding of Christ’s death, and how that only through Jesus we are able to relate with God in His Triune likeness in whose image man was created. (Gen.1:26-2) All of life in the realm of the living as we know it was created to reflect the Trinitarian nature of God who made it. Nothing exists in “solitary” existence, but each interdependently relies upon each other to survive like God in His Tri-Personal Being. All of life exists in this symbiotic state automatically behaving as the Maker predetermined them in their natural habitat and by instinct. However, man has a mind where he is called upon to assess and arrive at a determined course of action in every aspect of his life-situation. That is not mindless beastly instinct, that is divine because man was made in God’s image. Man is the only living species in the universe who is not spontaneously living the Trinitarian philosophy and esthetics because he has to decide, and has made up his mind not to. That is the cause of all human anxiety and pain.

The life of the Father and the Son is One Life. Man was created to live and thrive in their midst where Love is the glue which joins man and God as One. The Father and the Son can only be known in the other, and wholly in each other. Jesus makes this abundantly clear in this vital passage from Scripture, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (the Father)” (Matt.11:27, BSP). Hugh R. Mackintosh, quoting T.F. Torrance in his book, The Doctrine of the Person of Jesus Christ, says this passage presents a concept which no religion can go, for the “sentence as a whole tells us plainly that Jesus is both to God and to man what no other can be.” (unquote). I might also add, that no human mind can ever enter except through Jesus. So, Jesus says at the beginning of this verse, “All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father” (V.27a). The life of the Father and the Son are so inseparably intertwined in each other that the only way to the Father is through the Son. The whole verse reveals the final bastion of truth which must be the spiritual anchor in our hearts and in our lives. It is the heart and soul of the “Triune Life.”*

The Crucifixion of Jesus with Two Revolutionaries -Three Crosses Depiction of the Tri-Personal Being of God (By James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Jesus answered the disciples’ question about the identity of the Father, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). Let’s understand what Jesus is not saying, He is not saying God is one Person with dual personalities. Jesus is emphasizing two Persons with the oneness of Being bound by their Love-nature and Love for each other. So, what Jesus is actually saying because of their one-ness in Being the only access to the Father is through the Son – there is no other way. No human has ever been born who knows how to Love the Father perfectly and consummately as God, but Jesus, and vice versa. Jesus reminds us of this insurmountable truth, saying further, “No one comes to the Father except through Me, for I am the Way (to the Father) and the Truth (to/about the Father) and the Life (of/in the Father)” (John 14:6, my emphasis added). “Christ alone can claim to know and reveal the Father on the basis of the fact that He is one in Being and essence with the Father such that to know Him is to come into an immediate, direct, and personal knowledge God as He has always been eternally in Himself.”

Having confirmed their one-ness of Being, and that no human mind can comprehend their God-ness except in themselves, we are obliged to conclude that when Christ was crucified, the Father was very much part of the Son’s death upon His cross. Their One Being from eternity has always been spiritual, not physical. Though Jesus died physically He remained and always is the eternal Son, the Logos, the Word, in His divine Being. His purpose was to bring His new humanity to substitute for our fallen one and take mankind into His eternal Being so He may join man with God forever, and so fulfill His desire from creation, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen.1:26-27) Paul said, “For as in Adam all die (“false self”), so in Christ all shall be made alive (“true self”)” (1 Cor.15:22; also Rom.5:12-21).

The historical silhouette of Calvary having three crosses is symbolic and reveals the one-ness of death of God in His Triune Being in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, in true Trinitarian mold and aesthetic we are called upon to die the death of our Savior by “taking up our cross daily and following Him,” and again Trinitarianly and relationally we rise with Him in His resurrection so He may come and live and walk in us, and we in Him. (see Eph.2:6) By saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me,” Paul attests to the new humanity in Christ we receive because our fallen humanity in Adam was crucified with Jesus on His cross. (Gal.2:20). The Bible speaks of a complete new genetic make-up in God’s image physically and spiritually in the believer, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17). This is the symbiotic meaning of the cross for it arises spontaneously out of God’s Trinitarian nature.

By saying, “I have been crucified with Jesus and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God” is an authentic “Triune Life”* statement. We say with Jesus when He walked this earth, “I can do nothing on My own…I carry out the will of the One who sent Me” (John 5:30, NLT). The Father’s will is never selfish but is always about for our best good because He is Love. We are made to enter the realm of reality of knowing the Father’s Love through and in the Son. We could not know the Father until the Son came, brought to us our true sinless humanity, joined us into Himself, overcame Satan in the temptations, lived as the new perfect human species, was crucified as the worthy sacrificial lamb for our forgiveness, was resurrected, and ascended to the role of our High Priest in heaven.  Now, He makes intercession for us daily only as we carry our cross daily, mediating all our imperfect human responses. Because I stand in Jesus I enter into the Father’s life, and through that divine completeness by association and one-ness through Christ He is bound to extend His grace through His creative hands in my life which He does through the Spirit. This is the miraculous life we are privileged to live in Christ.

In my next post we will cover the subject of the cross of Jesus. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* as a Bulamanriver.**  Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang, (Your Servant In Christ)                                                                     

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                   

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write material. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information. Thank you.

Greetings Friends!

I would like to devote this post to a very important aspect of Christian, and thereby human, life and living. It’s that part of our lives that we sometimes fail to give enough attention, let alone urgent consideration to. We fail to place enough weight as to its crucial necessity in today’s hectic, demanding, and increasingly dangerous and hate-filled world. I am talking about reading and studying our Bibles, and devoting time and effort to this vital activity, not only for our own well-being, but for the interests and benefit of those around us. Yes, it’s an activity that’s an essential part of living the “Triune Life,”* a term I coined and repeatedly espouse on this site, about human life that is lived in the midst of the Tri-Personal Being of God who declares Himself as a God who is every way, shape, and form, LOVE! (1 John 4:8, 16). Living the Triune Life and Love means to live the participatory, communal life associated with the divine Tri-Personal God.

The Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial book printed in the West with movable metal type. Before its printing in 1454 or 1455, books were copied by hand. Owned by the US Library of Congress (Wiki Commons)

As believers and non-believers alike, we know the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. The apostle Peter tells us why it is inerrant and how the Bible came to be in our hands today, “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God” (2 Pet.1:20-21, NLT) Then Paul tells us the Bible’s purpose and function, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  (2 Tim.3:16-17). (As far as the accuracy of translations from the original languages, we will leave that for another time and place. Suffice to say that scholars agree the Bible as we have it today has been preserved over the centuries with a remarkable degree of trustworthiness) So, the Bible as a book from God to His human creation is holy, inerrant, and contains the word of life which is capable of producing divine “goodness” to those who are exercised by it. Its positive flow-on effect produces a way of life which brings life-giving benefits to others around the person schooled and trained in it,

I would like to share just one aspect of reading and studying the Bible that is vital to getting the most value from the Word of God. One of the most common mistakes people do in their Bible reading and study is they read their own meaning into the Scriptures rather than God’s meaning and being transformed by the mind of God. We have just read the Scripture which tells us the Bible did not come to us by private interpretations. So, to break the cardinal rule upon which the Bible is founded is tantamount to reducing the Bible to a mere human book like any other. For each time we make private interpretations for our own ends we miss the meaning of God’s intent it becomes a mere human document and ceases to be God’s divine and inerrant guide for us. God has given us freedom as part of His divine nature, and we ought to behave responsibly when it comes to God’s Word. That is what Adam did when, with his wife Eve, they partook of the forbidden fruit. They used their freedom to allow their self-will to determine “good from evil,” without turning to God (Love) for guidance.

I want to share with you a ‘rule of thumb’ if I may call it that. This will help us  keep on a straight and narrow path to the divine intentions and will of our heavenly Father for His human  children. We will begin at the beginning, as always. God gave Adam and Eve the fruits of the “tree of life” to eat and be sustained spiritually. There were other fruit trees in Eden which sustained them physically, but the “tree of life” was different and special for it sustained them spiritually. (Gen.1:29; 3:6) Also in the garden, God planted the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” which God forbade Adam and Eve from ever touching, much less eat its fruit. This tree represent spiritual death, whereas the “tree of life” depict the God-life.

We preview life in the Pre-Adamic era because it tells us the life God desired in His relationship with humans when humans had not fallen by eating the forbidden fruit. Many believe our first parents fell to the devil’s temptation at their very first encounter in the Garden of Eden. If that were true then it would be reasonable to assume Satan was undoubtedly stronger than God. We would also have to conclude we are today at the mercy of the devil’s wiles and deception. The Genesis account of life in Eden was very brief, and much of human recollection of our first parents was their disobedience rather than their obedience prior to their fall. No, Adam and Eve had for a very, very, long period of time lived faithfully and in vibrant Love-relationship with God as their Father by freely eating the Love fruits from the “tree of life.” It was a testament to the power of God’s Love.

Adam & Eve Eating From the “Tree of Life” Representing God’s Spirit and Love (Wiki Commons)

The Scriptures reveal God is more powerful than His enemies, and the devil and fallen angels “tremble in terror” at the mention of His Name. (Jam.2:19; Luk.4:31-37). Jesus defeated the best Satan could muster against Him in the temptations in the wilderness of Judea so we can live the victorious life through Him. (Matt.4:1-12) The Post-Adamic era after the fall show how God was allowing man to learn from the error of his ways, then making provision for a Redeemer in His Son, and restore the Love-relationship of the Pre-Adamic reality in the Spirit (“tree of life”) to believers. (John 3:16; Act.2:1-4)

Let’s come back to the ‘rule of thumb’ about God’s Word I mentioned earlier. You can say the “tree of life” was to our first parents what the Bible is for us today. The “tree of life” with its fruits represented the work of the Holy Spirit by guiding us through God’s Word. The fruits of the Spirit today is seen as the different tones of God’s Love which Paul catalogs in his letter to the Corinthians. (1 Cor. 13, and other passages) These fruits are not legalistic requirements we obey, but gives us a peek into the way of life of Love the Tri-Personal Being of God have existed and lived by from eternity. And now He calls us, and gives us His Spirit to empower us to live in His presence.

So, to keep their Love-relationship with God glowing and responsive, Adam and Eve had to engage the Spirit (fruits of Love) to guide them in God’s way of Love and life. Though the “tree of life” may be symbolical, it was real and represented true substance of spiritual value and life to them. We understand our first parents were created full adults without the benefit of hindsight of growing from babies to adults as we do. So, the fruits were symbolically knowledge ‘capsules’ the Spirit infused into our parents to help them understand and live the divine way of life (Love).

The Fruits of the “Tree of Life” Representing the Love of God (1Cor.13) (Pic. by Tomwsulcer Wiki Commons) 

Let me share some information from the ancient texts of patristic writing you may find interesting. It was hypothesized that Adam and Eve existed in a state of ‘human immortality’ in Eden. It was the essential and normal order of their state of being In God’s immortal presence,  sharing His immortal likeness, “Let us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness (Gen.1:26-27). The context is implicit the source of their ‘human immortality’ and way of life came from their daily sustenance from the fruits of the “tree of life.” The tree represented the Holy Spirit whose power raised up Jesus from the dead, and will raise humans to immortality in future. (Rom.8:11)  So, when God told our first parents of the consequences of their rebellion, “You shall surely die,” if they ate the forbidden fruit, for them it was a literal death sentence not only in the spiritual sense, but also in the physical sense because up until then they had never experienced any form of bodily deterioration. Physical death was not part of man’s original lot, but God foretold he would die in whatever day he ate the forbidden fruit. (Gen.2:17, KJV)

The moment Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and sin entered their lives, their ‘human immortality’ disappeared suddenly, and they assumed nothing more than their temporary human existence and mortality. The metamorphosis from immortality to mortality happened in a flash because light and darkness cannot co-exist. So, immortality is not a totally distant proposition for mankind, man had lived it before. Immortality was man’s lot for he was made in God’s eternal likeness. Our predicament is, only Adam and Eve experienced what it was like. So, there were no other firsthand witnesses beside them.

Having been reduced to a mere temporary human existence, another ancient text states Adam was consumed with inconsolable grief for what they had done and all they had lost. But there was no turning back for a mighty cherubim stood guard prevented them from reentering Eden. (Gen.3:21-24) When God said, “He (Adam) must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the ‘tree of life’ and eat and live forever,” (V.22) attests to the ‘human immortality’ they possessed and lost due to their rebellion. Of course our original parents were totally devastated, they has just lost Paradise for a bite of the forbidden fruit. God had forgiven them but divine justice calls for a ransom to save mankind from the spirit of rebellion and sin.   

Paul speaks eloquently of the reversal of the consequences of Adam’s rebellion through Christ, the second Adam, at a future time, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (death), but we will be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…Then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor.15:51-55). So, we see how immortality will be given back to humanity in exactly the same way it was taken – “in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye.” The first Adam was responsible for taking it away, and the second Adam, Jesus, is the One who will bring eternal life back to mankind. The Bible calls Jesus the “firstborn (human made immortal) among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29).

Man’s Destiny – Human Made Immortal Like Jesus (Fountain of Eternal Life in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA – Wiki Commons)    

So, the first point to remember about the Bible is the Holy Spirit is the One who leads us to understand the meaning of God’s will and our ultimate purpose of immortality. The Spirit’s work is the ‘rule of thumb’ in the reading and study of God’s Word. (2 Pet.1:20-21) Why is the Holy Spirit the all-important equation in understanding the genuine will of God for our lives? Because we are fallen beings, and as such we will always see things through the human “solitary life” under the sway of Satan and his worldly influence. The Spirit brings the “Triune Life” and Jesus’ new life and the inspiration of His Kingdom into the life of the believer.

So, Paul tells us the only way out, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  (Gal.2:20a). Yes, this false self who lives the “solitary life” must be put to death, and the new life in the Spirit enters the human heart to energize the life of Christ. Jesus makes this plain when He said, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8). Yes, we undergo a rebirth where Jesus comes and walks in us in the Spirit’s power. Then we can walk in our true self reflecting Jesus and the Love of God. Jesus also said we are to “take up our cross daily and follow Him” (Luk.9:23). It means this death of the false self becomes a daily exercise in repentance and forgiveness symbolized by the cross of Jesus we carry. The false self does not just ride away in the sunset, never to be seen again, no, he has to be exorcized daily. Paul said, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom.8:36).

I believe the secret key to understanding the Bible is revealed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Jesus said this about God’s will for each us and the role of the Spirit in it, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you” (John 16:13-15). We read this passage with an obvious detached manner and miss its substance and meaning. But let us take a closer look. It is clear the Spirit cannot act independently but interdependently as He is essentially and intrinsically part of the Triune Godhead with the Father and the Son.

Here, Jesus explains the role of the Spirit within and as an integral part of the Tri-Personal Being of God – He hears the Father and Son in Loving discourse and makes it known to the believer. What does the Spirit hears in heaven and makes known to the human believer? The Spirit, in fellowship with the Father and the Son, is hearing their Love discourse about you the believer. It is obvious the Spirit can only communicate matters concerning what the believer can comprehend and understand. Or, how else would you know let alone understand what is being communicated unless it is a personalized message intended for you? The Father and Son is not discussing some future world shaking events of this world which you may be totally oblivious to and with which you are unacquainted. Rather, it is about your personal spiritual well-being which you can totally relate with and understand. It is about your place in their Life as the Triune God.

The Father and Son’s discourse about you is being relayed down the line through the Spirit as He helps you respond to the Father’s wish and will for your life. It is important to understand the Spirit is revealing personal messages concerning “what is yet to come” as it concerns your personal future which is near and dear to the Father and the Son. In all of their discourses about you,  your personal freedom is of paramount importance. For Love is exercised with freedom, for without it Love is hardly legitimate. Note that even in our Bible reading and study we are called upon to live the “Triune Life”* where the Father, Son, and Spirit participate in our salvation. In the final analysis, the Bible can be made relevant to each of us only when we see ourselves as part and parcel of its fabric.

And here we read the first step in communication of living the “Triune Life”*. This is a two-way communication that takes place through Bible reading and study under the Spirit’s guidance and power. The second is like it – prayer. We pray to God and He answers through His Son and the work and Love of the Spirit in our lives. Jesus is the Personified Word of God, while the Bible is the literal Word of God, and the Spirit makes Jesus known to us on an individual, personal, and relational level. (John 16:12-15) Then communication is further enhanced through meditation and in the form of art as in songs and praises. Then there is the art of occasional fasting. We will cover each in detail another time.

Jesus, The “Personified” Word of God, Teaching His Followers (By James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

“Studying to show yourself approved to God” is not about selective reading and hearing of God’s Word. Because our fallen rebellious nature is not subjected to God’s Love and can’t be, most times His Word stands up to our selfish attitudes, listen, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Heb.4:12; Jer.17:9). But in the midst of what can be described as a seemingly compulsive bumpy human existence, the Spirit’s presence brings deliverance, stability, and peace of mind, listen, “For it is God (the Holy Spirit) who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His (and your) good purpose. Therefore, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation” (Phi.2:12-15, emphasis added).

The believer is given power to live the miraculous life within the “Triune Life,”* for in the final analysis Paul reveals the hidden secret of His Word, “The Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Cor.4:20). For it is not the literal meaning of God’s Word which fundamentally counts, but the Personified Word who is Jesus Christ Himself. The literal Bible exists to point us to the Personified Jesus. The Bible’s literal form cannot be given an autonomous position of authority apart from the Person of Jesus, the Personified Word of God. He is the Personal and undeniable reflection of the literal Word of God we see in print. Ultimately only the resurrected Jesus, not the printed word, who brings God’s power by walking in us as His disciples.

The purpose of reading and studying our Bibles is one, and one only. Likewise, Adam and Eve were sustained by the fruits of the “tree of life” for a singular purpose. It was to feed the divine Love God had deposited in the human heart to reflect the essence of His Own Being in them. (Gen.1:27) In these two equivalent experiences, being sustained by the “tree of life” and drinking in God’s Word through reading and study, both are intended to inspire us to Love God first, and Love Him above all else. To Love God preeminently is to reflect our whole existence in Him and His Love-Being in us, for we were created in His likeness.

To “Love God (the Father) with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind” is plainly not humanly possible to do in our fallen state of being. But there is One who has done it as a human, and has been doing it for eternity – Jesus, the Son of God! We step into His life and He in us and through the Spirit’s Love we can be made to truly Love God as He Loves us. (Luke 10:27; John 17:20-25; Rom.5:5) That is the one sole purpose of His Word, and the reason we read and study the Bible.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.com. Thank you for visiting.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* as a Bulamanriver.**  Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang, (Your Servant In Christ)                                                                     

* Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036                      

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

Note: All information is copy-write material. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information. Thank you.