sinners made sons of God

we are now one with Christ and part of the corporate Servant of Jehovah(as typified by Israel)

February 24, 2011 by aGodMan · 11 Comments

As we saw previously, in the book of Isaiah there are at least three persons that typify Christ and also typify us – Cyrus the king, Isaiah the prophet, and the people of Israel. Even though Cyrus was a Gentile king, God chose Him, formed him, prepared him, and strengthened him to do His will – to release the people of Israel and captivity and send them back to their home land to build up the city of Jerusalem and the temple of God! Just like Cyrus, we also need to be those today that go out “as birds of prey” to look for sinners and save them for God’s kingdom! Cyrus is likened to a bird of prey – and so are we, one with Christ, looking for the captives that are prepared and ready to receive salvation! We work together with the Lord in seeking the lost sinners and bringing them to the Lord, bringing them to salvation – and offering them to God! These saved sinners become sons of God and members of Christ – thus making God happy! Such a pleasant work for God and with God is so sweet and is never tiring us out…. we are happy and God is happy – His kingdom is enlarged and His Body is increased – God’s good pleasure is satisfied!

On the other hand, the people of Israel typifying Christ as the Servant of Jehovah also typifies us – in a deeper and more subjective sense and experience. We don’t just “do things for God” but we are one with God and God is working Himself into us to make us His people! In Isaiah there are some specific things that are mentioned in relation to Israel, and these things are also applied to us as the people of God:

Israel typifies Christ for the carrying out of the kind word of comfort spoken by Jehovah(Isa. 40:1-2) – God is the One who comforts us and speaks a word to our heart, and then we can do something for Him to carry out His word.
Israel was chosen by Jehovah and upheld with the right hand of His righteousness(Isa. 41:10) – God chose us and He upholds us, supports us, and takes an all-inclusive care of us – by keeping us in His hand of righteousness.
Israel overcame the enemies by Jehovah and rejoiced and gloried in Him, the Holy One of Israel(Isa. 41:8-16) – We also overcome the enemy in Christ and with Christ, and we rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory – we rejoice in Him!
Israel was the witness of Jehovah(Isa. 43:10) – Christ is also the witness of God(Rev. 1:5), and we are witnesses of Christ, reporting to others what we have seen and heard regarding Christ as the word of life(1 John 1:1-4).
The Spirit of Jehovah was poured out on Israel for the bessing of his offspring(Isa. 44:1-5) – God poured out the Spirit upon Christ in His baptism, and He poured out His Spirit on us as the all-inclusive blessing of the gospel.
Jehovah was glorified in Israel(Isa. 44:1-5) – God was glorified in Christ, He was fully expressed and delighted in His Son. Now we are also becoming His expression on the earth, gloryfying God by expressing Him to the entire universe!

These are just some of the words God spoke concerning Israel typifying Christ, which are also true concerning us as the people of God! The believers in Christ, those regenerated by God with the divine life and now in the process of transformation daily, are today the people of God, expressing God to the entire universe. Now there is a corporate servant of Jehovah, the church, the Body of Christ, and we are part of it! Today the church is the testimony of God and the expression of God in the sense of being one with Christ as the testimony of God! The One who expresses God in the entire universe is Christ – and by being put into Christ in our regeneration and through our baptism, we are now part of God’s corporate expression in the universe! The highest service we can render to God as His servants is to express God in His glory! All of God’s children, His elect, are the servants of God with Christ for the expression of God’s glory! [sharing inspired by some portions of the life-study of Isaiah, as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2)]

Amen, Lord, thank You for these types in the Old Testament and the fulfillment in the New Testament! Thank You Lord for regenerating us and making us a part of Christ! We are now part of the corporate Servant of God in the universe! Lord, make us Your expression in full! Thank You for choosing us and upholding us! Thank You for being the Overcoming One in us – overcoming the enemy! Thank You for the Spirit who was poured out upon us as the blessing of the gospel! Lord, we are Your witnesses in the universe, testifying concerning You and what we have seen of You! Make us Your full expression! Be glorified in us today!

Filed Under: Christ lives in me, Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, God's economy, His heart's desire, love the Lord, our birthright, serving the saints, the Body of Christ, the gospel, the Lord's recovery · Tagged With: be comforted by the Lord, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah, crystallization study of Isaiah, express God, express God in His glory, for God's good pleasure, God is glorified, God is working Himself into us, king Cyrus typifies Christ, life study of Isaiah, release God's people, save sinners, sinners made sons of God, the highest service to God, the people of Israel typifies Christ, we are servants of Jehovah, we are the people of God, work together with God, working together with Him

Two Fathers in John 8 – The Father of Truth and The Father of Lies(light shining in the home meeting!)

August 23, 2010 by aGodMan · 10 Comments

Recently in a home meeting we were joined by a new one whose concept was that God is his Father through God’s creation of humanity. To answer his question / give a Biblical approach to this, we went to John 8 and we read through the whole chapter. It is quite startling that in this chapter we see two Fathers. We see this in the the following verses:

In John 8:26-27 Jesus says I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him, these things I speak to the world. They did not understand that He was speaking to them of the Father.
In John 8:38 Jesus says I speak the things which I have seen with My Father, so then, you also do the things which you have heard from your father.
In John 8:41 Jesus says You do the works of your father…
In John 8:44 Jesus says You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father….there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks it out of his own possessions, for he is a liar and the father of it.

So the question is – biblically speaking - who is my Father? The answer to this question becomes clearer after reading John 3:16 which says:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

This verse tells us that God has an only begotten Son. So If Jesus being the Son of God is God’s only begotten Son, whose children are we by birth(spiritually speaking)? If we would be in the light we would realise that by birth we are all children of the devil because the devil is the father of all sinners. The devil is the old serpent, and sinners also are serpents, the generation of vipers. Hence we need the Lord in the form of a serpent to be lifted up for us on the cross to save us not only from sin but also from the source of sin. John 1:12-13 says

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Praise the Lord here we see that children of the devil can become children of God. Hallelujah! Only through God becoming a man and going through incarnation, human living, death, resurrection and becoming a life-giving Spirit can we now receive Him – by believing into His name! To believe is to receive, and we believe by calling on His name – O Lord Jesus. John 20:17 says:

Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

Here we see God no longer only having an only begotten Son, but through death and resurrection, many sons have been brought forth, hence the Lord saying to Mary “go to My brothers – I ascend to My Father and your Father, My God and your God“.

At the end of the meeting we were all clear that God is not our Father through creation but only through receiving His only begotten Son who was lifted up for us on the cross to shed his blood for us saving us from our sins and the source of sin. This One also went through death and resurrection becoming a life-giving Spirit to breathe Himself into us by us calling on His name. The issue is marvelous: God now has many sons who He is bringing into glory making them the same as He is in life and nature but not in His Godhead. How much we need to worship the Father for sending His only begotten Son. We love you Father. [guest post, bro. Moh's enjoyment in a recent home meeting]

Filed Under: Christ became the Spirit, contacting God, Enjoying Christ, expounding the truth, O Lord Jesus!, the Christian Life, the church life, the gospel, the Lord's recovery · Tagged With: begotten of God, believe in His name, by birth we are children of the devil, by faith we receive, call on the name of the Lord, calling on the Lord's name, delivered from the devil, give God a special worship, God is our Father, My Father and your father, My God and your God, O Lord Jesus!, receive the Only Begotten, Satan is the father of lies, sinners made sons of God, The Firstborn Son of God, The Only Begotten Son, two fathers in John 8, Who is your father?

the greatest wonder in the universe – man can be born of God and sinners can be made sons of God!

June 14, 2010 by aGodMan · 12 Comments

WOW! I love this wonderful delicious amazing and true quote from bro. Lee

Surely it is the greatest wonder in the universe that human beings could be begotten of God and sinners could be made children of God.

How can this be? What is this? We, human beings, to be born of God? Even us, the sinners, to become sons of God? YES! This is what the Bible says, and this is our reality & our experience! When we receive the Lord Jesus at the time of our regeneration, we are born of God! Just like John 1:12-13 says

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

As many as believe in the Lord, that is, receive Him as Lord by calling on His name to be saved(Acts 2:21), they are being given the right, the authority, and the priviledge to be called sons of God, children of God! At the moment of our regeneration, we were born of God – we received another life! We have been begotten of the Father, who is the source of life, to be the children of God. Surely this is the greatest wonder in the whole universe! Through such an amazing divine birth we received the divine life – this life enables us to be God’s children; this life is the authority for us to be children of God(John 1:12-13)!

Even more, Romans 8:16 says:

The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.

There is a Person in us, Christ as the Spirit, who witness not FOR us but WITH our spirit(whenever the Spirit witnesses, our spirit witnesses too; whenever we take the lead to witness that we are children of God, the Spirit witnesses with us)! Even when at times we’re weak or maybe backsliding or we do things to offend the Lord – deep within, once we are born of God, we have the deep conviction that we are children of God! Once we were born of God, we can never be un-born! We are forever Children Of God! And we have within us the divine life of God which is all-inclusive – it includes all that God is, His divine nature, His divine characteristics, His divine attributes, all the process Christ went through(incarnation, the perfect human living, His wonderful resurrection, His ascension, His enthronement, etc) – all the fullness of God is in this life that is now in us, growing day by day! We are growing daily to be Sons of God(led by the Spirit, Rom. 8:14) and eventually heirs of God with Christ(Rom. 8:17)!

One very sweet aspect of being a child of God, however initial it is in our Christian life, is that we can call God as our “Abba Father” – Dear Daddy! God is our Father, and we love Him! He has begotten us of Himself, and He poured out His love into our hearts… because we have now been born of God and are related to Him in life, it is so normal and also sweet to call Him Father. O, Father! Abba Father, we love You! Thank You Father for Your divine life in us…. Thank You we are children of God, being transformed daily to be sons of God, and eventually we will become heirs of God!