“WE WILL SHINE LIKE THE STARS FOR EVER AND EVER” (DAN.12:3) BY KIANG P. LEE

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Greetings once more friends! The Bible is self-evident in its declaration that God’s purpose for creating man is to bless him with immortality so man can enter His divine presence and become His eternal children.

The Most Important Question About Life

Is the belief in eternal life something viable for mortal humans, or is it just imagining a fool’s paradise? Why do millions believe death is not the end of our existence? Most religions have some form of belief in life after death. The ancient Egyptians practiced elaborate ceremonies to prepare the pharaohs for their next life. On the other hand, many more believe that like animals, once we die that is the end of everything, there is no afterlife. Someone said everyone is afraid to die, so this is how we deal with this fear through belief that there is a magical realm in which you will forever be reunited with your loved ones, and above all experience complete bliss for all eternity. Of course belief in immortality goes with the belief in the existence of a God who has the power to give immortal life to man. It is not my purpose to discuss the pros and cons of this topic which has been subject of debate for centuries, but to provide the Christian view of immortality which millions claim to believe, which same belief is revealed in the book of the Christian faith, the Bible.

Fountain of Eternal Life, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA (Wiki Commons)

Christian View of Eternal Life

Though religions have different forms of belief about eternal life, they are not all identical with the Christian belief. The Christian concept of immortal life, based upon Bible revelation, is that eternal life is attained through belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and by a resurrection from the dead to immortal life. (John 3:16-17; 1Thes. 4:16-17; 1Cor.15:12-58) Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lay down His life for the sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:7, 11, 27-28) The hope of the dead is the resurrection to immortality.

Bible ‘Silent’ about Afterlife

The Bible is virtually silent about the afterlife or what we will be doing there, but what is revealed is brief and magnificent in its splendor. We read this in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. The Bible has much to say about what we ought to be doing here and now in this earthly life. For what we do on earth will ultimately determine our eternal future. Jesus said as much as we extend a hand of Love to our fellow humans, or lack of it, we are in reality doing it to Him. (Matt. 25:31-46) In other words, our actions have eternal consequences. In fact the entire Bible is about how to live life on earth, not the afterlife. If there’s an afterlife whether in heaven or hell after death as many presume, what then is the purpose of the resurrection which is clearly revealed in the Bible? The Bible teaches that the resurrection is man’s entry point into immortal life, not at death. (1 Cor. 15) It says prior to this we were all ‘asleep’ – for those who are dead – “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of the eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. For the perishable must 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. 15:51-54). Sleep is the symbol of death. (1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; Job 14;12; Psa.13:3; Act.7:60)

Resurrection at The ‘Last Day’

Whether we believe someone is in heaven or hell, it presupposes the judgment has taken place. But the Bible speaks of the judgment of all humanity in the last day – yet future. The resurrection presupposes the dead will be raised in the future to be judged. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:44) Martha spoke to Jesus about the resurrection as it concerns Lazarus, “I know he (Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:24; also, Rev.20:4-6, 11-13) There is no hint of a life after death until the resurrection. Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (V.25) The Hebrew thought on the other hand, predating the Greeks, is based upon scripture (Bible) which upholds the dead to be in their graves awaiting the resurrection. (Eccl.9:10; Psa.6:5; 16:8-11) The New Testament speaks eloquently about the resurrection to immortality. (1Cor.15:12-58; 1Thess.4:13-18)

Immortal Soul” Originated in Greek Philosophy

The common teaching in Western thought about the afterlife actually originated in Greek philosophy. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were prime proponents of the concept of the “immortal soul” which predated Christianity. Socrates explains death saying, “Is it not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion of this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and body is released from the soul, what is this but death.”** These are not words from the Bible, but by pagan philosophers. Socrates explained that the immortal soul, once freed from the body, is rewarded according to good deeds or punished for evil acts. The term “immortal soul” appears nowhere in the Bible. By presupposing the afterlife, and thereafter reward the good and punish evildoers, it follows that Western thought have the afterlife presented in two broad concepts: heaven for the good, and hell for the evildoers. This is not of Hebrew or biblical origin, but Greek philosophical thought.

Greek Paradigm

As a blogger claims, existence of a “immortal soul” (or immortal life), if it were assumed to be true would mean that death, the greatest absolution known – become suddenly meaningless. And that’s just the point, Jesus said, ”I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die.” (John 11:25) Jesus was not affirming the “immortal soul” concept, He qualified the afterlife by a resurrection. In Western thought, we have used Greek philosophy as the paradigm to filter and interpret the Bible, at least on this subject. Yet, the Bible warns us about adding to, or taking away, from the truth it reveals. (Rev.22:18-19) This passage from scripture was spoken in the context of mankind’s eternal inheritance (immortality) which God gives to mankind.

Pope’s View on “Hell”

The Catholic Church has changed its teaching about a literal hell, when Pope John Paul II said, “Hell is symbolic and figurative of the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the Source of life and joy. Hell is a condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life.” Hell is not some place where evil doers are made to suffer in torment in an undead (everlasting) condition. Life on earth is a ‘hell’ for many. Only the fallen angels exist in an undead state for they were created spirits, man was made of the dust of the ground. As another blogger says, if we spent our mental and physical effort in consideration of future generations like we spend it on a form of afterlife, the world would be a better place to live. If the concept of the afterlife inherently demands of a judgment, then morality will be one’s compass in life, because handing judgment to a higher power forms part of moral consciousness.

Fountain of Eternal Life, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA (Wiki Commons)

“Hell” – Hard Concept to Stomach

Hell is a difficult concept to stomach with a God who openly declares Himself a God who is Love in His Triune nature. He is not made of Love, He is Love. (1John 4:8) I don’t believe as humans we would want such a fate on another even if we have only an ounce of God’s Love in us. To suffer in hell fire in an undead state for eternity is unimaginable. So, are we suggesting man who is intrinsically evil, is more compassionate than God? God forbid! There is something amiss with this worldview as it contradicts God’s very basic nature of Love. God did say He made man from the dust, and to the dust he is to return. (Gen.3:19; also, Eccl.3:19-20; Psa.146:4; 115:17) That’s about a death as eternal as any if you think about it; but existing in an eternal undead state is not biblical. (Eccl.9:5; also, Job 14:12) Hell is the grave (sheol) where man return to dust, not some unknown place where evil-doers suffer in an undead state. In Hebrew thought, to be ‘alseep’ is the symbol of death. If I believe in the immortality of the soul the Greeks believe, then I’m expected to believe in a hell for the undead.

“I Am The Resurrection And The Life!”

Immortal life in the Bible cannot be stated more clearly, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25a) Paul says, “There shall be a resurrection (future) of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” (Act.25:15) We are not judged immediately after death, there’s a future judgment day coming for all in the last day. The resurrection to immortality presupposes the existence of an eternal God who confers immortal life to man. Like all life forms which produce after their kind, the Creator God is no different. He is Creator of the universe and this earth which He made specifically for humans, and for man’s grand purpose. This demonstrates His sovereignty over all creation. The scripture reveals His purpose of creating mankind is to form man ultimately in His immortal image and likeness. At creation God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, so they may rule…So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Gen.1:26-27) This raises an obvious and legitimate question, what is God’s image? God is immortal in His Tri-Personal Being as Father, Son, and Spirit.

Why Jesus?

Why is Jesus central to man’s destiny to immortality? Now, consider that Jesus was the only human to ever have been begotten by the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus is eternally of one indivisible substance (homoousios***) in the Triune Godhead, He could not stop being God when He took upon Himself His human form through Mary His human mother. He was fully God and fully man. In other words, God and man are made one in Christ. The divine and the mortal become one in Christ. Hence, the prophet Isaiah was inspired to state a unique name for Jesus: Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23). Faith in this revelation about Jesus’ origin makes our faith in God’s purpose for man possible for He has given Himself as a ransom for our salvation.

It is logical to conclude that the Spirit, who is of and from the same homoousios*** union with the Son in the Triune Godhead, was instrumental and responsible for the human conception of Jesus. For how else could the Son have sprang but from an eternal home. Micah spoke of Jesus’ coming and origin, saying, “His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Mic.5:2, NASB). As a man, Jesus voluntarily suspended the exercise of certain prerogatives of His divine attributes in order to assume our humanity through Mary. (Phil.2:7; Heb.4:15; Matt.26:51-54)

He lived a perfect life, was crucified as mankind’s Savior, was resurrected and ascended back to God and back to the glory He had with His Father in the Triune Godhead. By His bodily resurrection, He glorified our humanity in Himself and joined it to the Triune Life of God forever. He is the true and worthy human substitute doing the work of humanity’s High Priest from within the Triune Being of God for man’s physical and spiritual salvation.

Jesus – Only Human to Attain Immortality

Only one human has so far attained to the resurrection to immortality: He is Jesus, the Savior of mankind. This is the Gospel account of it, “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He is risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.” (Matt.28:6) Here, we have an angelic messenger testifying to Jesus’ resurrection and by extension God’s plan to resurrect humans to immortality like Jesus’ own resurrection. Jesus paved the way for man’s immortal life by His own human resurrection to immortality. Paul gives the answer to man’s immortality, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (human made immortal), that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Rom.8:29, emphasis added)

So, human immortality is to resemble Jesus’ own immortality when He was resurrected from the dead. Jesus is the firstborn human made immortal, among the many that will follow in the future resurrection to immortality. He is the “firstborn” and only human who has attained human immortality. The “many” to follow awaits His second coming, Paul comforts the church with this hope, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1Thes. 4:16-17) This is man’s only hope for immortality!

Man’s Destiny-To Shine Like Stars In the Nebulas (Pic: North American Nebula, NASA, Wiki Commons)

Man’s Purpose To Reign With Christ

Immortality is the heart and core of the Gospel message. It is the basis of man’s eternal reign on earth. (Gen.1:26b, 28). Man is to rule the earth in Love according to God’s image. Rulership is the prerogative of the Creator God He shares with man. So though we may deny man’s potential for eternal life, we cannot deny the human essence to reign because we exercise dominion everyday over this earth. Please note, it is not dominion over another human which is precluded in the Genesis dominion mandate. (Gen.1:26b, 28) As far as humans are concerned, we do not exercise rulership but relationship with people. Human relationship is governed by a continuous fulfillment of the “debt of Love” because we are all made in His image of Love. (Rom.13:8) Man was made to have dominion over all creation with the exception of man. How can the ruler be ruled? God made all humans to be co-equal heirs of the divine destiny we have in His Son. Jesus washed His disciples feet to show the humility needed to relate with our fellowmen as co-heirs of the gift of immortality. Jesus did not ‘rule’ His disciples, He served them, so ought we to do likewise.

Immortality and Reign – Flipside of the Same Life

Rulership and immortality are prerogatives of God and are flipsides of the sole expression of God’s Being. To reign means one has the ability to sustain his reign into eternity. A mortal human’s reign cannot constitute true rulership because it ends in the grave. When it comes to God, you cannot accept one and deny the other – that’s His image. God rules eternally in Love. If you accept one, you accept both. Otherwise, what’s the point of dominion and reign if death is the end-all. Humans like to express this bent to rule in his makeup by building monuments and legacies for themselves to be preserved for posterity. Humans think this way because he is made in the divine immortal likeness of the Creator. This poses a dilemma for those who don’t believe in man’s future immortal life. Man has exercised dominion over this earth, but the earth has remained while man has returned to its ashes from whence he was taken. Yet, the earth exists solely for man’s divine purpose. The Scripture says the earth groans and waits in eager expectation for the manifestation of man’s immortality as children of God. Why, because the earth’s abiding meaning for existence in the universe is forever tied to God’s and man’s future upon it. “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.” Yes, they will dwell in the new earth and in the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming from heaven as God’s gift. (Rom.8:18-23; Rev.21:1-4)

All human dynasties and legacies die eventually, only Jesus’ dynasty and legacy is eternal and lives on forever. Paul enlightens us, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (kingdom/dominion), if indeed we suffer in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory (immortality).” (Rom.8:17, emphasis added) So we see rulership and immortality are the single expression of God which He shares with those who become His children by faith. As the scripture say, “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (1Cor.15:44) If there is to be reign, then there must of necessity be immortal life to eternalize man’s reign. He said this about man’s reign, “I appoint to you a kingdom, as My Father has appointed to Me.” (Luk.22:29)

Man’s Potential

Though man’s existence is temporary and ends in death, he has the potential for eternal life in the resurrection to reign in God’s eternal kingdom. Jesus said, “The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die.” (John 11:25b) Man’s immortality is secured in Jesus who, in Himself is the Personification of the resurrection. He said, “I AM the resurrection and the (true) life.” (John 11:25a) All life in the universe and this earth springs from, and is sustained by God, who is the Fountain of life, both physical and spiritual life. No human dies without His knowledge, not even a bird falls to the ground without His knowing, for all life springs from Him. He is omnipresent as He is omniscient. (Matt.10:29-31) Nothing created has life of its own, not even man. Only God is immortal and occupies true life. Life oozes out from Him, from whom all life forms are beneficiaries by His grace. Man is mortal, not immortal. Only the “uncreated” possesses immortality, the created possess mortality. Paul said to Timothy, “Who (God) alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Tim.6:6) Concerning man’s existence, the Scripture says, “For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same. As one dies, so does the other. They all have the same breadth, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.” (Eccl.3:19-20) Yes, we are all mortal and subject to death, unless and until we are imparted immortality through Jesus.

What Happens at Death

The Spirit of God is the life-energy which envelopes our universe and all life forms upon this earth. Nothing can exist outside of God’s life-giving energy. The Spirit is the ‘divine spark’ which give the human mind its intellectual and spiritual faculties. Man has no self-sustaining immortality in him. Of all creatures, only man was blessed with the ‘divine spark’ which give him the human mind to keep him connected to his Creator. This was God’s way of fulfilling His purpose of remaking man in His image. Because man was formed in His image, the ‘divine spark’ (mind) enables him to live inter-dependently with his Creator, not independently apart from Him as some self-sustaining entity. (Gen.1:26-27) But man, through Adam, has chosen that path of life by eating the forbidden fruit. To the Greeks, belief in the “immortal soul” essentially means “uncreated” – not created. (“The immortality of the soul: a protest,” – #46 – Immortality) According to Scripture, man became a “living soul” after God breathed life into man (Adam) and human existence came into being. (Gen.2:7, KJV) The word for soul is from the Hebrew nephesh, which means “the natural life of animals and men, maintained by breathing, or in some way extracting oxygen from the atmospheric air” (Ellicott’s Commentary). So, the “living soul” or ‘living being’ in other translations, is a living, mortal, human being – not immortal. The Spirit gives humans the faculty of the human mind (‘divine spark’) differentiating man from other life forms.

How man uses his thoughts ultimately forms his subconscious mind which controls his life, whether for good or evil. Love is freedom, so man has to choose his thought process and thought forms which will shape his attitude to life. (read my blog post, “Penny for Your Thoughts” @ http://bulamanriver.net/2275) Also, this spiritual union show the vitality of the “Triune Life” whose underlying motivation is the collaborative, humble, inter-personal, and mutual way of life of the Trinitarian God. An independent self-sustaining life is non-existent in the “Triune Life.” Upon death, man returns to the earth from whence he was taken, and the ‘divine spark’ returns to the Spirit who gave it. (Eccl.12:6-7; 9:5; Gen.3:19; Psa.146:4; John 3:13; Psa.115:17; 89:48) At the return of Jesus, man is raised to give account in the judgment. (1 Thes.4:13-18; 2 Cor.5:10; Matt.12:36)

Fountain of Eternal Life, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA (Wiki Commons)

It All Comes Down to ‘Faith’

There is so much that can be said about this topic. It must be said the subject of man’s immortality has been debated for centuries, and will continue to be debated for a long time to come. Be that as it may, I have tried to expound its salient features as it concerns the Christian faith as revealed in the Bible. I realize people will say they don’t believe the Bible is the last word on the subject. That may be so, but whatever position a person may take, they do express faith like Christians do. His faith rest upon the authority he has chosen to support and uphold on the subject. It is for us to question the validity and integrity of the authority we believe in and uphold. For Christians, it is the inspired word of the Bible, which they believe is authored by God Himself. (2 Tim.3:16; 2 Pet.1:21) It has survived for centuries, despite attempts to destroy it. When all is said and done, it is about our faith, isn’t it? For example, atheism is a faith which expresses disbelief in the existence of God and the supernatural. So accusing one’s faith in God as a ‘crutch,’ while expressing faith in the god of atheism, is hypocrisy usually found in the blind. As for belief in the immortal soul or the resurrection to immortality, both express faith in God. What do you believe? What you believe affects your life today in your journey upon this earth which the Bibles speaks so much about.

The Biblical Account of Resurrection to Immortal Life

I close with this passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, “If the dead are not raised then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ is not raised your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive…The body that is sown perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” (1Cor.15:16-18, 22, 42-44)

Paul goes on to tell us of that miraculous moment of truth when suddenly, like being awakened from a deep slumber, we find ourselves in an indescribable and transformed state of existence. What does it feels like to be an immortalized human and be profusely alive and not dependent on our humanity for existence? No one knows how that feels like, but here’s how Paul describes it, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Cor.15:51-57) The weight and credence of the Christian faith rests upon the promise of immortal life.

What was the Question?

Let’s pose the question we asked at first, is immortal life viable? Paul said if there is no resurrection to eternal life, then what is the point of it all? “If Christ is not raised then your faith is futile (empty). If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (Vs.17, 16, 32) But if there is a Higher Power, who calls man to a higher calling by making man in His Loving image, and who judges mankind, and confers immortality, then there is moral palpability in the way we live and in all we do in this earthly life.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you today and give you strength for authentic creative “Triune Living” as a Bula man-river.*

If you wish to read more, please obtain a copy of my book, “Bula Man-River – The Miracle of Triune Living,” from my web site: www.bulamanriver.com. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Kiang

*The “Bula man-river” 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. Man is the “riverbed” and the Spirit is the “living waters” that cover him and flows to all in his valley (destiny). (John 7:37-39) To read the many facets of life of the “Bula man-river,” go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book. Remember, when you purchase my book you lend a hand in Jesus’s Work, for all the proceeds go towards dispensing the Gospel worldwide. (Mark 9:41; Matt.28:28:18-20; Eph.2:10). Thank you for your support.

**Five Great Dialogues, 1969 P.93

*** Homoousias (Gk.ὁμοούσιος) means “of the same substance,” “of the same essence.” Homo means “same” and ousia means “essence.” The term was used by Athanasius in his correct teaching of the oneness of the Father and the Son in that they are the same substance, the same essence of divinity. The term was used in the Nicene Creed (and creeds thereafter) when it described Jesus as being of the same substance as the Father in its affirmation of the Trinity. (Matt Slick, carm.org)

NOTE: All information from this website is copyrighted. Any use of its content should be acknowledged by citing the website, address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship.

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

“COUNT YOURSELF DEAD TO SIN” BY KIANG P LEE

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“You too must continuously consider yourselves dead as far as sin is concerned, but living for God through the Messiah Jesus” (Rom.6:11)

Greetings Friends!

What does “Counting yourself dead to sin…” mean? This statement is a declaration of faith of the Christian which is taken from Romans 6:11. The verse has a second part to it which is utterly profound for it ends this way, “but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” It is an interesting and deeply profound statement of faith for the believer. It is telling the believer to conceptualize and live the reality of his/her present life for trusting in God’s provision for the Redeemer in His Son. “Dead to sin” means sin has no power over you, because you now stand under the cross of Jesus which has power over sin. The verse tells you to accept this as the truth of your present condition because of your faith in Jesus. Everything hinges on the person’s faith. If you do not believe, you remain in your sin, meaning, sin’s power still holds you in its clasp. You are not free, but remain a spiritual slave to sin.

Faith is a powerful motivator in human life. Every human endeavor you can think of in the wide historical spectrum of man’s achievements could not have been possible without faith. Think about it, would man have landed on the moon if the people involved with that endeavor did not believe it can be done? No, if there was no faith, they would not have started to begin with. Faith is the first step towards any endeavor. Faith opens the door of reality to enter and change our lives. This is more so true in the spiritual sense because faith is what keeps the spiritual world alive and in motion. How else can one experience the unseen (spirit) except through faith? Hence, the Bible states emphatically, “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” (Heb.11:6).

Let’s come back to the passage we are discussing in Romans 6:11. It is interesting that Paul uses the word “dead” and “death” in the verses surrounding this passage to convey a vital truth about human spirituality. Earlier he said, “For 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). From this we understand what it means to be “dead to sin.” Jesus’ death on the cross as the perfect, sinless, sacrifice was the price God paid to save man from the human sin condition. For Paul later said that “The wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:33).

So, Jesus died to sin, or sin took Jesus’ life, so sin will lose its grip and death has no power over man. To be “united with Him in death like His” is to vicariously die His death with Him, so that just as God resurrected Him to glory, “we are certainly united with Him in His resurrection.” That is to say, if in Jesus’ resurrection He is perfect and sinless (and He is), then we are too, because we stand vicariously with Him in His glory. He embraced our humanity and glorified it in His eternal deity (Immanuel). Here is the real issue, where the rubber meets the road, do we believe what the scriptures say? It takes a living faith, not an ordinary vacillating human faith, to live in this reality Paul speaks of in Romans.

Thus, Paul speaks of living faith in this way, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal.2:20). Obviously, there are two faiths, our human faith which is inept in the spiritual world, and the faith of Jesus which brings God’s reality into our mundane human life. Both are essential, for we use our human faith to trust in the living faith of Jesus.

Crucifixion of Jesus by Eugene Delacroix (Wiki Commons)

Paul goes on to say, and note how often the word ‘death’ is repeated, “For we know our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should be no longer slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God” (Rom.6:5-10). What a life we are given to have in Jesus – perfect and holy like His Son so we can enter into the presence of the Father and share in their relationship of Love they had from eternity. (John 17:24b)

One might say, but how can this glorious life be my reality when I am a human and a sinner. Here is the issue: there is a human way of looking at ourselves, and there is the way that God looks at us through His Son whom He has surrendered for our everlasting redemption. God says to us, “You are complete through your union with Christ” (Phi.2:10). So, now it comes to a matter of faith if we will believe God’s word for us, or we believe our own words over His.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to write to 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” as a Bulamanriver.* Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,

* 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: All information is copy-write. 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.

GOD’S LOVE-PROTOCOL, BY KIANG P LEE

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“God is Love. Whoever lives in Love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16, 8)

Greetings again Friends!

Whoever we are, and wherever we come from, we all observe a basic conduct or etiquette of behavior we would expect from people which governs our relationship with them. From a personal level where we develop friendships to a complex level between people and nations, this custom or conduct is called “protocol.” The dictionary defines the word as a code of correct conduct. You might say, it’s a right of passage to something or someone. On a personal level, it may not be so legalistic, but on a level involving organizations, companies, and nations, protocols are more detailed and procedural.

On a personal relationship level, the basic protocol would be a person’s basis for association with another. That’s to say, the next person regards you as a person with the inviolable right to life, self-determination, the pursuit of happiness, where you are an individual worthy of love, respect, and honor. This is the basis for genuine protocol for person-to-person relationships. You can say they are sacrosanct. If a person does not believe you are unquestionably entitled to these qualities of life, or thinks you do not deserve one or more of them, then your relationship with such a person will be problematic. Every wrongdoing or criminal act committed on a person is a violation against one or more of these human values and rights.

Many people are not what you may think they are, and you’ll find genuine friends through experience and observation as it relates to these basic personal values (protocol). For Americans, these are values enshrined in the nation’s constitution. That’s not to say the constitution is perfect. There’s more to God’s purpose than what any human hand can pen. Be that as it may, we can say there’s no national document (constitution) which lifts the aspirations of its people closer to biblical principles as the American one.

This is no different from our relationship with God. There is a basic protocol to be observed if our relationship with God is to be genuine and true, so the divine can respond to our plea for interfacing with it. There is a vital difference though, in human relationships we are relating with people who are all God’s human creation, whereas with God there is a divine/human, Creator/created, Father/child, relationship.

So what is this protocol which governs our relationship with God? The protocol answers the question of why God made humans in the first place, and to never deviate from His express divine purpose for human existence. What is that purpose? The Genesis account of creation says God made humans to reflect Himself in character and composition: “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them” (Gen1:27). That means man’s destiny is to become Love as “God is Love,” and to inherit immortality as He is eternal, and to share His dominion over the earth forever. (Gen.1:26-27; 1 John 4:8, 16; John 3:16) God Himself is the mold and purpose for human creation: yes, He is Love, He is eternal, and He is the sovereign Ruler of all creation. Humans were created to become God’s children. Yes, He deals with each one of us as His own child with whom He can have personal, individual, relationship.

The protocol calls upon man to respond to His divine purpose in faith, and express a living faith through our actions. First, it requires we look to God as a Father who has begotten us because of His deep, abiding Love for us, who is in the process of bringing us into His eternal reigning family. Paul said, “There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him” (1 Cor.8:6). He expects us to live expressing His Love for all humans. Paul said it like this, “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 (or, to conform to His purpose for human life)” (Rom.13:8, NLT).

It sounds simplistic, but it is not as easy as it seems. It is difficult to “Love neighbor as you Love yourself” (Mark 12:31). And I will share with you why and how it is possible to make His Love a way of life, and how we can know we have eternal life in us.

Let’s begin with immortality. This is what the Bible says about it, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:16, NASB). When you will have taken on immortality, you naturally would have Love as an intrinsic part of your being. In other words, they are one and the same expression of God-life which can’t be separated.

This passage asks man to believe in simple faith in Jesus who has Himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26). You see, central to the issue of immortality is the prerequisite of faith… “do you believe this?” we are asked. That’s all… it is quite straight forward and is as simple as a child can know.

Do you think when God made mankind to become His immortal children, He would make it an overwhelmingly demanding task, (as some believers postulate), or an easy task that’s as simple as believing, to become His children? Yes, God has said it is as easy as believing in His Son, period! John can’t be more clear and simple when God inspired him to write, “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” (John 3:16). Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life.” (John 6:47). Further, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36).

But we know that simple believing has become just as hard because of confusion. Confusion breeds doubt, the reverse of faith. When you think about it, doubt tells of a vital aspect of our humanity, it means you have a choice. And choice means you have more than one option. This is not altogether a bad thing. Since having a choice means you have FREEDOM! Why is this important? Because Love and freedom originate from the same place – God’s very divine Being. You cannot have Love without freedom, nor freedom without Love. In other words, God wants for man to freely choose to Love Him. Love and freedom is an intrinsic part of His nature. “God is Love” (John 3:16). Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal.5:1).

God could well have made us like the other life forms so that we will respond to His purpose instinctively and automatically. But then, we would not be His children. We would be like beasts, fowls, marine life, and other kinds of life, but not children. So God gave His human children minds, which other life forms don’t have, so man can freely choose to Love Him.

So, God’s offer to be part of His eternal divine family is open to all mankind regardless of race, nationality, color, language, or whatever barrier we like to conjure. It is as simple as believing in what God has designed to accomplish in us through His own Son.

Why Jesus? Why is He central in God’s purpose of bringing humans into His divine family and imbuing man with Love and the gift of immortality? Is Jesus the only Savior of mankind? Is He the only one capable of undertaking the act of atonement for the sin of the world? Why is man’s faith in Jesus will bring to reality what God had set out to do when He first created humans in His likeness? Let’s dissect this…

First, God is offering something to man which only He can give: Love, immortality, and reign (Gen.1: 26-27; John 3:16; 1 John 4:8, 16). These are divine attributes which only God can confer upon humans. And amazingly, that was God’s singular purpose for making man. He created man for the purpose of being vessels of His Love, to be inheritors of immortality, and to be given reign with His Son over this earth. (2 Tim.2:11-13; Rev.5:10) Man cannot achieve his God-given destiny without God Himself being part and parcel of it. Thereby, only He knows the way to man’s destiny, and has made it abundantly clear to us in His word, the Bible.

Now, consider that Jesus was the only human to ever have been begotten by the Holy Spirit. There is an obvious reason why God did this, and it has everything to do with His Love for mankind. I will quote from Dr. Bruce Ware, an esteemed theologian and author in the evangelical tradition, “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)

Jesus, who proceeded from the Triune Godhead of the Father, the Logos (Son), and the Spirit, became a human without ceasing to be God. (John 1:14; 1 John 5:7) Because Jesus is eternally of one indivisible substance in the Triune Godhead, He could not stop being God when He took upon Himself His human form through Mary His human mother. He was fully God and fully man. In other words, God and man are made one in Christ. Hence, the prophet Isaiah was inspired to state a unique name for Jesus: Immanuel, which means “God with us”, or “God in humans” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23). Faith in this revelation about Jesus’ origin makes our faith in God’s purpose for man possible for He has given Himself as a ransom for our salvation.

It is logical to conclude that the Spirit, who is of and from the same hypostatic union with the Father and Son in the Triune Godhead, was instrumental and responsible for the human conception of Jesus. For how else could the Son have sprang but from an eternal home. Micah spoke of Jesus’ coming and origin, saying, “His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Mic.5:2, NASB). As a man, Jesus voluntarily suspended the exercise of certain prerogatives of His divine attributes in order to assume our humanity through Mary. (Phi.2:7; Heb.4:15; Matt.26:51-54)

Jesus proceeded from the Triune Godhead of the Father, the Logos, and the Spirit (Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity, Wiki Commons)

So we saw that divine Love is God’s protocol which man must receive and accept in order to relate with God. That Love is expressed to man through His Son, Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the protocol man assumes which gives him the right of passage to enter into Loving relationship with God the Father. This is made possible through the power of the Spirit. Jesus told the disciples, “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). 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). In this we see man living the “Triune Life” in Christ instead of the “solitary life” in himself. Here we see the very Love of God being made part of man through the infusion of His Spirit in man. Jesus said, “You must be born again of the Spirit” (John 3:6-7).

Paul said this, “He (God) predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29). God has conformed Himself to us by becoming human, now man must conform himself to God by becoming like Jesus through faith. Remember, faith is an attribute which only a human can activate through his decisions and actions. No other living species has this ability to express the attribute of faith. Even an atheist lives by faith believing there is no God. Atheists have been judgmental of Christians for their ‘blind’ faith yet are themselves guity of the same. By conforming to the image of His Son through faith, we receive the protocol to enter into the very presence of the Almighty Father.

What this says is we are made children of God only by conforming to Jesus’ likeness, who is God’s Son, and we are made brothers and sisters of Jesus. The mold of God’s “image and likeness” which man must conform is seen plainly and unmistakably in His Son. The scriptures tell us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (“image and likeness”), sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Heb.1:3; Gen.1:26-27).

What exactly does this conformation mean? Jesus explains it in His prayer to the Father before He was crucified, “…That the Love You (Father) have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26). Do we see that? Moments before, Jesus said in prayer, “You (Father) have Loved Me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24). There’s only one divine activity of the Father and the Son from eternity – they each glorified one another in perfect Love! So, to conform to Jesus image means we step into His life, and He into ours, so the same Love the Father has for the Son from eternity is something we can apprehend and enjoy through Jesus. Jesus is the only human who knows how to Love the Father perfectly and completely. And the only way the Father Loves us perfectly is the way He has Loved His Son from eternity. And that is how Love enters a human life when we conform to Jesus’ life. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal.2:20). Yes, we have been reborn and given new life in Christ by the Spirit’s power. (John 3:3, 5-7)

Listen, unless we see and believe Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God who existed with Him in His Triune Being from eternity, and that He is the expression of God’s Love to man, yes, Jesus the Love protocol we must utilize to enter into relationship with God, we have not taken the first step of faith in life’s journey of transformation to God’s “image and likeness” by becoming Love as He is Love, and inheriting immortality as He is immortal. Jesus has eternally existed in the Triune Godhead with the Father and the Spirit. Before His death on Calvary, Jesus prayed to the Father these words, “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began” (John 17:5: also see Micah 5:2; Heb.7:3). So, Jesus was fully aware of His own deity while in His human form.

Paul said to the Colossians that Jesus is the only One who makes us complete before Almighty God, the Father. (Col.2:10) You may Go to our “Mission Statement” at this link and find out more about the meaning of “Triune Life”: http://bulamanriver.net/?page_id=3381

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Kiang,

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

GOD’S PROTOCOL (PART 2) BY KIANG P LEE

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“For the child within her (Mary) was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20)

Greetings friends!

In my last post I explained the term protocol as it relates to human personal affiliation and our relationship with God. We saw protocol as a code of conduct which gives one the right of passage, so to speak, to something or someone. We saw that the protocol between God and man is His divine Love. Love gives us right of passage to the conviction that all His actions are done for our ultimate good and welfare in mind. It began with human creation when He made man in His own image of Love and likeness in immortality. (Gen.1:26-27) We must never doubt His Love for us. So we read, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (Love), and that He is a rewarder (of immortality to) those who diligently seek Him” (Heb.11:6).

We saw that man was given a mind capable of expressing faith and making choices one way or another between two divergent pathways: the “tree of life” (Love/other-centeredness); the “tree of of the knowledge of good and evil” (fear/self-centeredness). We read that man was given the freedom to choose. This was necessary for Love to grow between man and his God – through choices based upon Love or fear and sin. God desires that we freely Love Him as He has chosen to do likewise toward man. God did not have to create man. Man was not made to complete God in any way, shape, and form. God could have lived well alone in His Triune Being as He has from eternity. But it was simply out of His overflowing and unfathomable Love that He freely chose to create humans after His likeness. Do you think God relishes in witnessing all the aggravation, suffering and pain man has upon this earth? But He knows His Love will ultimately triumph over all, and our God-given freedom plays an all-important part in the human state of affairs.

In the previous post, we read this passage of scripture which reveals how God plans to bring us into His eternal family forever, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:16, NASB; also John 3:16-17). In other words, we see the depth of His Love by the way He sacrificed His Son so He can fulfill His purpose of making us into His likeness, which is the likeness of His Son.

Let’s continue from where we left off. We ended asking…why Jesus? Why is He central in God’s purpose of bringing humans into His divine family and imbuing man with Love and the gift of immortality? Is Jesus the only Savior of mankind? Is He the only one capable of undertaking the act of atonement for the sin of the world? Let’s dissect this…

First, God is offering something to man which only He can give: Love, immortality, and reign (Gen.1: 26-27). These are divine attributes which only God can confer upon another. And amazingly, that was God’s singular purpose for making man. He created man for the purpose of being vessels of His Love, to inherit immortality, and to reign with His Son. Man cannot achieve his God-given destiny without God Himself being part and parcel of it. Thereby, only He knows the way to man’s destiny, and has made it abundantly clear to us in His word, the Bible.

Jesus, who proceeded from the Triune Godhead of the Father, the Logos (Son), and the Spirit, became a human without ceasing to be God. (John 1:14; 1 John 5:7) Because Jesus is eternally of one indivisible substance with the Triune Godhead, He could not stop being God when He took upon Himself His human form through Mary His human mother. He was fully God and fully man. In other words, God and man are made one in Christ. Hence, the prophet Isaiah was inspired to state a unique name: Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23).

It is logical to conclude that the Spirit, who is of and from the same hypostatic union with the Son in the Triune Godhead, was instrumental and responsible for the human conception of Jesus. Micah spoke of Jesus’ coming and origin, saying, “His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Mic.5:2, NASB). As a man, Jesus voluntarily abandoned the exercise of certain prerogatives of His divine attributes in order to assume our humanity through Mary. (Phi.2:7; Heb.4:15)

File:Holy Trinity Icon.jpg

Jesus proceeded from the Triune Godhead of the Father, the Logos, and the Spirit (Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity, Wiki Commons)

Paul said this, “He (God) predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom.8:29). God has conformed Himself to us by becoming human, now man must conform himself to God by becoming like Jesus through faith. Remember, faith is an attribute which only a human can activate through his decisions and actions. No other living species has this ability to express the attribute of faith. Even and atheist lives by faith believing there is no God. By conforming to the image of His Son through faith, we receive the protocol to enter into the very presence of the Almighty Father.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Kiang,

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

GOD’S PROTOCOL FOR RELATIONSHIP WITH MAN, BY KIANG P LEE

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“God is Love. Whoever lives in Love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16, 8)

Greetings again Friends!

On a personal relationship level, the basic protocol would be a person’s basis for association with another. That’s to say, the next person regards you as a person with the inviolable right to life, self-determination, the pursuit of happiness, and you are an individual worthy of love, respect, and honor. This is the basis for genuine protocol for person-to-person relationships. You can say they are sacrosanct. If a person does not believe you are unquestionably entitled to these qualities of life, or thinks you do not deserve one or more of them, then your relationship with such a person will be problematic. Every wrongdoing or criminal act committed on a person is a violation against one or more of these human values and rights.

(For example, those who hate and despise others for whatever assumed reasoning or bias, think happiness is reserved only for those who merit such a state of existence. Yet, the abiding principle of ‘golden rule’ applies to all, both to friend and foe alike. If one sows the seeds of unhappiness and discord in others (hatred and division), it is because he already has it first before he can sow it in others – what goes around, comes around! Jesus clarifies this, saying, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”)

So what is this protocol which governs our relationship with God? The protocol answers the question of why God made humans in the first place, and to never deviate from His express divine purpose for human existence. What is that purpose? The Genesis account of creation says God made humans to reflect Himself in character and composition: “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them” (Gen1:27). That means man’s destiny is to become Love as “God is Love,” and to inherit immortality and rule the earth forever. (Gen.1:26-27; 1 John 4:8, 16; John 3:16) God Himself is the mold and purpose for human creation. Humans were created to become God’s children. Yes, He deals with each one of us as His own child with whom He can have personal, individual, relationship.

The protocol calls upon man to respond to His divine purpose in faith, and express a living faith through our actions. First, it requires we look to God as a Father who has begotten us because of His deep, abiding Love for us, and is in the process of bringing us into His eternal reigning family. He expects us to live expressing His Love for all humans. Paul said it like this, “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 (or, to conform to His purpose for human life)” (Rom.13:8, NLT).

Do you think when God made mankind to become His immortal children, He would make it as difficult as possible (as some believers postulate), or as easy as possible, to become His children? Yes, God has said it is as easy as believing in His Son, period! John can’t be more clear and simple when God inspired him to write, “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” (John 3:16).

But we know that simple believing has become just as hard because of confusion. Confusion breeds doubt, the reverse of faith. When you think about it, doubt means you have a choice. And choice means you have to choose between two opposites. This is not altogether a bad thing. Since having an option means you are living freely – you have FREEDOM! Why is this important? Because Love and freedom originate from the same place – God’s very divine Being. You cannot have Love without freedom, nor freedom without Love. In other words, God wants for man to freely choose to Love Him. Love and freedom is an intrinsic part of His nature. “God is Love” (John 3:16). Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal.5:1).

God could well have made us like the other life forms so that we will respond to His purpose instinctively and automatically. But then, we would not be children, we would be like beasts, fowls, marine life, and other kinds of life. So God gave His human children minds, which other life forms don’t have, to freely choose to Love Him.

However, when I said “confusion” it means there is a deliberate force at work which exists to derail God’s purpose in mankind. Why, so man may not reach his destiny of becoming God’s children inheriting His Love and immortality. So, it is not as simplistic as a choice between two opposites, but we are speaking of two “ways of life.” One is based upon Love and freedom, while the other is centered on fear and captivity (slavery).

In my next segment, I will explain Jesus, and why He is central in God’s purpose to bring humans into His divine family.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Kiang,

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

WHAT DOES THE “VICTORIOUS LIFE” IN JESUS MEAN? BY KIANG P LEE

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“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor.1:30)

Greetings Friends!

You may have read me mention this term, victorious life in Jesus, or, living victoriously in Jesus. What does the term mean? I will answer that in this post.

Victorious life in Christ means the righteous, sinless, conquering, life He lived when He was in His human form, which He continues to now live in the life of the believer through the power of the Holy Spirit. But one may say, how is that possible, I live a sinful life. Even when I try my best to live uprightly, I still sin. I sin inadvertently, and the Bible speaks of secret sins I am not even aware I have. (Psa.19:12) How then is it possible for the victorious life of Jesus to become reality in me? Yet, the very contradictory circumstance of Jesus’ perfect life and man’s imperfect existence, is the very rationale for a worthy substitute to stand in our defense – that, gives credence to our argument.

One reason we fail to see the truth of the victorious life of Jesus is because we place Jesus into the mold of our fallen, depraved, and evil existence looking out, instead of the other way round. We are seeing Jesus through the pair of eyes of our human frailties and shortcomings instead of the eyes of the Holy Spirit whose purpose is to sanctify man. We ought to be exchanging His life for ours. And the power of the Holy Spirit makes this happen, Jesus said, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father–the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father–He will testify about Me. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you” (John 15:26; 16:14). The role of the Holy Spirit is to sanctify the believer by realizing the victorious life of Jesus in the believer. Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20).

Another reason we cannot see the reality of living the victorious life of Jesus is because we fail to understand the full effect of what the saving role and work of Savior entails in its scope and meaning. It means Jesus not only saves believers from past sins, but from present and future sins as well. In order to do that, Jesus is not a Savior who remains dead on the cross, but was resurrected and ascended to God the Father’s right hand, and lives as man’s High Priest in order to mediate continuously in every second of man’s existence to make His victorious life possible. Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Cor.15:14). Jesus’ mediation for sinful man in heaven “completes” man. (Col.2:10)

Yet another reason is we fail to fully grasp the victorious life is because we fail to fully grasp the truth of Jesus existence and Being. When Jesus became human, He was also God in the human flesh. This makes Him the only human qualified to be Savior and Mediator of man. In other words, it has to take God Himself to save man, for man is a fallen being, and cannot save himself. Jesus came forth from His eternal existence in the Triune Godhead – the Trinity, as it is commonly called. He was no ordinary human, yet, He was human in every way, shape, and form, and knew what it was like to be a human. The Bible tells us, “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet He did not sin” (Heb.4;5). Man cannot say God does not know what it is like to be human. He was human like us, yet sinless. As God, He took our imperfect humanity, warts and all, and sanctified us in Himself, and brought humanity into God’s presence forever.

The Bible gives a unique name to reflect Jesus’ existence as God who took our human form: Immanuel, which means “God with us.” (Matt.1:23: Isa.7:14). This unique name reveals where He came from and that He existed eternally in the Triune Godhead. By taking man’s fallen, sinful, immoral and corrupt humanity into Himself, He effectively cancelled all human failings, sins, and depravity, in Himself through His perfect life and death on the cross. And by His resurrection and ascension, He glorified our humanity and took it into the very Being of God the Father. So, in a genuine vicarious sense, in Jesus man now exists in the perfect life within the divine Godhead in heaven in Christ. He is our elder Brother. It is from this vantage point that the victorious life is lived and experienced by the believer. It is a life of faith which gives us the confidence to live victoriously in Jesus through the divine Spirit.

The final reason I would like to share is we fail to understand the work of the Spirit in bringing about the victorious life of Jesus in the believer. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing” (John 6:63). By “flesh” it means the fallen “condition” of man, not the human body per se. Jesus glorified His, and by extension our human body, in His resurrection from the dead. The Spirit proceeds from Jesus in heaven and brings the victorious life into the life of the believer. Paul said man becomes God’s temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, “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).

Imagine this for a moment, if the Spirit dwells in you, while He simultaneously dwells in the Triune Godhead in heaven (for He cannot be separate from but is one substance in the Triune Godhead) then in reality the believer dwells in heaven with God through the Spirit, although bodily he walks the earth. In effect, this means the believer is in a saved “condition” in the Spirit, as opposed to an unsaved condition in his fallen flesh. As we read, the flesh profits nothing, it is the Spirit who saves. If the Spirit lives in man as a temple, then no sin can enter the life of man, for the Spirit is Holy and sinless. The Spirit is applying the eternal sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf through the surrendered life to keep us in the Father’s presence forever. Yes, sometimes we overtly give the body more credence than it deserves, when we ought to afford much more credit to the work of the Spirit in sanctifying us in Christ.

If we were to re-read the above quote of Jesus, it would say, “The Spirit brings the victorious life, the flesh counts for nothing.” What you experience in your fleshly life amounts to nothing, it’s the life we live in the Spirit in heaven that counts, and He now lives on earth in His temple – the life of the believer. Paul’s words sums up the victorious life, “But by His (the Father) doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor.1:30-31). Effectively it means if we do not have a complete Savior in Jesus, then He is no Savior. That is the essence of the victorious life we have in Christ. (Col.2:10)

When our faith is founded upon the “Triune Life” we will better understand the victorious life of Jesus because all three Persons of the Triune Godhead are involved in human salvation. Hence, this ministry has adamantly advocated the “Triune Life” so we’ll always have our spiritual bearings right. Go to our “Mission Statement” at this link and find out more about the meaning of “Triune Life”: http://bulamanriver.net/?page_id=3381

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Kiang,

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

“TRUE SELF” AND “FALSE SELF” BY KIANG P LEE

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“Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life…Put on your new nature, created to be like God” Eph. 4:22,24

Greetings Friends! What do I mean by “true self” and “false self”? Does the Bible speak about the subject? I hope I can clarify what the terms mean, and show how the Bible speaks about the topic, and help us understand what it teaches.

Statue of Liberty – Depicting Freedom in the New World of the United States (Wiki Commons)

Every person possesses dual personalities. One is true to who he or she is as a person created in God’s image and likeness, I call that personality the “true self.” While the second personality works against and dehumanizes the person based upon self-determination, whom I call the “false self.” One brings joy and true success, while the other brings stress, frustration, and defeat. One empowers a person, while the other incapacitates and weakens. These two personalities can exist side by side, so the person can be in a state of friction and constant tension, depending on the circumstance, hence the person can be compelled to make hard choices to resist the opposing personality. Although every person is gifted differently, yet each of the dual personality expresses itself depending on who decides to show up to confront the issue at hand.

Let me give you the background how these two personalities came to be, and how they affect our relationship with others and the world around us. Hopefully, this explanation will help us deal with the seeming contradictory life choices we face every day. You are left with a choice between two divergent paths, taking a right one will lead to good, while the other leads to ruin. I hope it will help lead us to a more productive life.

When God created humans, he made man in His own Love-image. (Gen.1:26-25) Because Adam and Eve lived in God’s presence in the Garden of Eden, God’s Love was an intrinsic part of their personality, and this reflected their “true self.” The “true self” made it possible for our first parents to live and commune with God in their Love relationship. Adam and Eve had everything they could ever desired which God supplied and provided them. They lived with absolutely nothing they lack, most of all joy was their reflection of life. They lived and remained faithful to God in Eden.

But Adam’s “true self” was not founded upon God’s Love alone. Love must of necessity be vibrant, revitalizing, and motivating, in order for the Love relationship to flourish. Hence, Love has a dynamic element which engenders goodwill, respect, honor, integrity, patience and humility, so the Love relationship can grow. It is called freedom. Freedom is the lifeblood of God’s Love which flows like a river endlessly with its energizing qualities. In order for Love to have meaning and relevance there must of necessity be freedom. You can say the two elements are the dynamic duo of God’s divine nature. Without freedom there is no Love, and without Love there is no freedom. The Bible says, “God is Love,” and the flipside of Love is freedom. (1 John 4:8) Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal.5:1) Love cannot thrive and be allowed to grow without the freedom of choice to Love.

By its very nature freedom brings the dynamic of choice into the picture. Hence, when God made humans He gave him a mind with the ability to discern and make choices. This means Love is the divine life that’s made to flourish by the exercise of one’s freedom through decision-making. Therefore, freedom by its very definition engages the mind to assess the circumstance at hand, discern and distinguish, and through effort and sometimes struggle, make the right choices based upon Love. It is a choice made by one with the welfare of another in mind, in order that the Love relationship may grow and be magnified between them. That is the dynamism in which Love is nurtured and made to flourish, thus reflecting the “true self.”

Much Like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde a Person exists with Dual Personalities in His “True Self” and “False Self” (Wiki Commons)

But freedom is not just an empty word. God Himself gives it the substance it warrants so we can experience freedom for real and authentically. Freedom is something tangible which our God-given minds can understand and make a choice to freely believe and accept or disbelieve and ignore. So, the substance of freedom is the ‘covenant promise’ God offers man. Thus the covenant becomes the lifeblood of God’s Love relationship where man can exercise his freedom about what God is offering him. Man’s part is to freely choose to believe or disbelieve what is offered. God could have made man like the many beasts and creatures He created having preset instincts so humans can automatically choose His covenant. But that would defeat His purpose of creating human children in His likeness. Freedom involves the exercise of the mind and will to voluntarily choose to Love. God wants the believer to freely Love Him – that takes true freedom!

The promise contained in His covenant with man is essentially the heart of what freedom means. We see this covenant spoken and articulated by God through His Prophet in the Old Testament and repeated by His Apostles in the New Testament. (read Jer. 31:33-34; Heb.8:10-12; 10:15-17) The contents of God’s covenant promise is the basis upon which man freely enter the Love relationship with God. So, for Christians the Love relationship with God (“true self”) finds its basis and underpinning upon the New Covenant.

The New Covenant can be encapsulated in the phrase from the Genesis account of man’s creation, “Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image and let them have dominion over the earth and all living things.” (Gen.1:26-27, paraphrased). Therefore, the covenant is the pathway to and reflects the “true self” who exists in God’s likeness. All God’s activity on earth since Adam’s fall has been to fulfill His original mandate for human creation proclaimed in Genesis, period. God’s image is immortality, so the New Covenant promises man to be part of God’s family living eternally with Him. God’s image is Love, so He made man to become Love as He is Love. God’s image is He is Creator and possesses all dominion and power, so He promises man creativity and reign over the earth. Most of all, God promises a life where death does not exist, with unbound joy and fulfillment without lack or suffering. It is a life we were created to experience in His presence.

In addition, there is a vital proviso to the covenant which underpins its miraculous function and value – it is the provision of a Savior and Mediator. The New Covenant requires the role of a Savior who mediates between God and man in order for the terms of the covenant to be faithfully dispensed. In other words, the covenant is ineffectual without a Mediator, or High Priest. He is the go-between who constantly mediates God’s Love relationship with fallen man. However, at present man is under the rule of the devil who holds him incarcerated so he cannot enter into this covenant relationship with God…enter the Savior.

The Savior and Mediator of the New Covenant is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who existed with the Father and the Spirit in the One Triune Godhead from eternity. He was the prophesied Messiah, the Emmanuel, (God with us), who was promised after Adam’s fall in Eden. (Gen.3:14-15; Matt.1;23; read all of Isaiah 53) The New Covenant was ratified by Jesus’ blood through His death on the cross. (Matt.26:28) I would like to encourage you to go to a previous post on this subject of the New Covenant at this link: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=2993. It explains the Covenant in detail.

“National Covenant.” Believed to be the original from which copies were made for distribution of the fifty-two words long Preamble to the Constitution of the United States (1787) echoes phrases in the National Covenant – “We the People…” Photographed in subdued light. (Wiki Commons)

Recall, God had planted and gave Adam and Eve a garden called Eden where both Love and freedom was the essential part to their existence. We see the dynamic of freedom being introduced to make Love grow and flourish in Eden. God made a covenant with our first parents saying in effect they will live joyfully forever in His presence and have life to the fullest when they exercised their freedom in Love. He told them He planted numerous fruit-bearing trees for food to sustain them. He told them there was a special tree which produced marvelous and exquisite tasteful fruit, called the “tree of life.” He told them they should eat its fruits daily so they can replenish His Love in them. But they are to exercise their freedom and choose to eat from the “tree of life” and they did. The “tree of life” is the metaphor for His Spirit of Love. Also, there was another tree in Eden called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God told them they must never go near it, nor touch it, and never eat of its fruit.

So, here we see an environment of Love in Eden where the relationship is made to grow and flourish through the freedom of choice where man makes the deliberate decision to honor each other’s best interest through Love and freedom. One cannot be forced to Love someone. Love can be given only out of one’s freewill and own conscious choice based upon their covenant relationship. Love has to be a genuine free choice. One cannot give Love if he is incarcerated, he must be free. The story of Israel’s slavery and exodus from Egypt was a monumental account about freedom supported by God’s Love in His covenant promise to bring Israel to their own “land flowing with milk and honey” – the Promise Land. It was based upon the covenant God made with Abraham, from whom the Israelites descended. God wanted Israel free so He may Love Israel totally, and vice versa (covenant). Love is contingent upon the free choice of one person for another so Love may grow. Adam and Eve’s relationship with God in Eden comes with the dynamic of freedom which is the lifeblood of Love itself. So, Adam and Eve had life in Eden based upon their “true self” founded upon Love and freedom.

It is vital to understand that God was not testing Adam through temptations to see if he will be obedient as many believe. God tempts no one. Rather, they were living in the dynamic of God’s Love and how Love is made to grow and flourish through freedom and one’s free will to choose, based upon the covenant God offers man. This is the nature of Love, and how it works. We are to take responsibility for Love with our freedoms because of the impossibility of Love to remain static and passive. “God is Love” and Love must be nurtured to flourish and is eternal which can never fade and die. (1 John 4:8, 16) Yes, Love must grow and increase, and the only element which establishes Love to thrive is freedom through the dynamic of a covenant relationship between two parties.

Man has taken his God-given freedom for granted not knowing why this gift was bestowed, nor realizing it’s purpose and place in life. He has misunderstood and abused the gift of freedom for self-interest (“false self”). He forgets the basis of freedom is so man may freely receive God’s grace and relate with Him in Love and fulfill man’s reason for being (“true self”). Yes, man is free to assess what God offers him, and determine if there is anything better than what He offers. I repeat, freedom is the lifeblood of Love, and the covenant is the lifeblood of freedom – this is the essence of the “true self.”

The Bible says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting (testing) me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (Jam.1:13-14). It is much like taking care of the baby’s dirty diaper, which many a person considers a huge test. Yet, you can’t blame the bundle of joy before you. But you can understand why the whole dynamics of babies and diapers has a natural and inherent part in the manifestation of your joy (promise/covenant) which brings freedom – the baby! It is foolish to “throw the baby out with the bath water” simply by reason of dirty diapers. Likewise, when given unavoidable choices (“tests”) to enable Love to grow through freedom, we can inadvertently get into the blame game like Adam and Eve. But I hope the light of His Love, His covenant promise, and the continuing unfolding of our “true self” through freedom, will guide us to see the big picture in a given situation.

In fact, James tells us to “consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds” (Jam.1:2). Why, because you are not in God’s test tube, you are in the middle of the dynamics of His Love and your Love relationship with God your Father that’s made to flourish with joyous outcome in the discovery of your “true self” which brings freedom. So, it is not so much about God testing you, as much as it is about God’s way of Loving you deeper, which leads to a more profound discovery of the joys of your “true self.” (Heb.12:4-8)

Tomb at St. Chad, England with the Inscription “WHAT WILL SURVIVE ALL OF US IS LOVE” (Wiki Commons)

But here was the turning point for Adam and Eve where their choice became a hard struggle, as they most times do, when the devil enters the scene and tempts them to go in the opposite direction God had taught them. Satan told them to disregard God’s word saying He was lying to them. Unfortunately, they believed the devil and succumbed to his deception and ate the fruit they were forbidden to even touch. In effect, they covenanted with the devil and forsook God’s covenant with them. We know the story. God had no choice but expel them from Eden for their misguided decision. Adam and Eve exercised their freedom and made a choice which banished them from the magical land of Eden. They did not choose the way of God’s Love which reflected their “true self.” Instead, they chose the way of fear and self-determination, and from then on the “false self” was born.

Here is what happened. In a moment in time, the “true self” disappeared from the life of man, and the “false self” began its reign over Adam and his children. The “true self” needed to be nourished with the fruit of the “tree of life” (Holy Spirit) which was in the Garden of Eden from which they were now banished. Now they have taken ownership of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Whereas in Eden they were guided by the Spirit (tree of life) in Love, now they were left to the whims of their own self-determination to decide for themselves what is good and evil, under the influence of the devil. And that is the choice man continues to have today, will man sit under the “tree of life” with the Spirit; or, under the “tree of good and evil” with the devil.

But God is the embodiment of Love in His Being, and could not forsake His disobedient human children to the enemy. He promised to send a second Adam, His Son Jesus Christ, to correct the colossal blunder of the first Adam, and bring man back to Eden and the “tree of life” and restore man to his first estate in his “true self.” In a period of four thousand years of human history, man lived under the shadow of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and exercised his freedom through his “false self.” The “false self,” motivated by Satan, has brought untold suffering, misery, and death upon humanity. True to God’s indictment upon Adam, “In the day you shall eat it (forbidden fruit) you will certainly die.” (Gen.2:17) The foundation of the “true self” is God’s outgoing Love, whereas the basis of the “false self” is fear and self-centered living.

So much foul and deathly waters have passed under the bridge of time and history – 4000 years! When Jesus Christ appeared on the scene to ratify a New Covenant with mankind based upon God’s original mandate at creation, He began His ministry by taking care of the first things by correcting the consequence of Adam’s fall. (Heb.8:10-12; Gen.1:26-27) His mission was to bring back the “true self” which was lost in Eden and return man to his lawful birthright. This was good news (Gospel) for man, at long last Someone worthy has come to take man by the hand and guide him back to the promise land – Eden! (John 3:16) After His baptism at John’s hand in the Jordan, the first order of things was to set the record straight and defeat the arch-enemy, Satan. (Matt.4:1-12) Having defeated Satan in His titanic battle in the Judean wilderness, He spent three and half years raising a ministry to carry on His work and the work of the Father of restoring man back to his “true self.” Jesus’ final act of completing His mission was to die on the cross as a worthy sacrifice for the forgiveness and absolution of all human sin. The work of rehabilitating man is, as Jesus said on the cross before breathing His last, “It is finished!”

A Depiction of the “Tree of Life” – Source of the “True Self” (Wiki Commons)

Now the consciousness of man can enter a door which heretofore was closed to him since Adam. It is the door to finding his “true self” that’s the embodiment of true Love and freedom that was lost from Eden. Remember, since Adam’s fall man was bound to his “false self” as it were a prison, and the prison warden is Satan. Love cannot thrive when man is incarcerated in the devil’s prison. How does man enter this door of discovery of his “true self” and leave behind everything about himself that’s a mask of deception of himself in the “false self”? Man must be unmasked to see himself for who he truly is before His Maker, and freely choose the path to his “true self.”

Jesus answers this human dilemma, “You must be born again,” He said. (John 3:7). This new birth is essentially the heart of the provision of the New Covenant. Man needs to experience an incarnation from the “old self” to the “new self.” Man has to be completely transformed from his “false self” to his “true self.” Jesus explains the process of change further, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit…everyone must be born of the Spirit” (John 3:6, 8b). Jesus later affirmed this, saying, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh counts for nothing” (John 6:63). Recall, the Spirit was pictured in Eden as the “tree of life” from which Adam and Eve ate of its fruits and was sustained in God’s Love giving life and energy in their “true self.” On the day of Pentecost, which commemorates the day the Spirit (tree of life) was made available again to humanity, Peter stood before the crowd in the town square and announced to the people, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Act.2:38). There we have the mechanics if you like, of how to step out of the “false self” and step into the “true self.” It takes repentance and baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is vital to understand this incarnation is not something we can do on our own, as if by human volition alone. Some have advocated a so-called ‘surrendered life’ as the way to discover the “true self,” even though the surrendered life is necessary within the proper context. Let’s get our orientation right. A perceptive reading of the New Covenant will make us realize one vital aspect; not a single one of the provisions of the covenant can be executed successfully to its desired end without the direct infusion of God’s miraculous act to make the covenant reality. That’s to say, in man’s covenant relationship with God, the believer is constantly living the miraculous life in order to make covenant promise become reality.

Recall, Jesus went into the Jordan and was baptized by John the Baptist. John’s mission was to “preach the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). His mission was specifically to baptize Jesus. But the question remains, why was it necessary for John to baptize Jesus “for the forgiveness of sins,” when He had not sin to repent of? The answer to that is the answer to our own “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus took upon Him all the sins of mankind and was baptized for our repentance and forgiveness. Remember Jesus words to John after he hesitated baptizing Jesus, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Yes, He was baptized for our righteousness. Paul affirms this, “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor.1:30).

Ultimately, He was crucified as the perfect sacrifice for human sins. But the reason we can repent and be baptized and forgiven is because Christ has already done it for us. Not because we can do it on our own – although we have the freedom to make that choice. But let’s not confuse personal freedom with an act that requires a miraculous intervention from God. Just as we invoke Jesus’ cross for our forgiveness, likewise, we invoke His baptism for our repentance. It takes a miracle from God to bring man to repentance and forgiveness and so experience the incarnation to the “true self” through Jesus in the Spirit’s power.

Origin of the “False Self” the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” (Wiki Commons)

Recall, when Jesus came out of the waters of Jordan, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, and the voice of the Father proclaimed the encouraging words, “You are My Son whom I Love; with You I am well pleased” (Mark :1:11). Here we see Jesus inaugurating the coming of the Spirit into human life. It was later poured out upon man on the day of Pentecost (Joel 2:28; Act.2:1-4). Again, the giving of the Spirit has nothing to do with man’s doing, rather, it is because Jesus ushered the Spirit’s coming that we become privileged recipients. Jesus went on to defeat Satan in the wilderness of Judea and reversed Adam’s mistake and place mankind back on tract in God’s human enterprise. In place of Adam’s fall, we live the victorious life of Christ in the Spirit. These are three monumental things which Jesus did for man in the Jordan setting the stage for man to retake his rightful place upon this earth and in God’s scheme of things: the gift of repentance, the gift of forgiveness, and the gift of the Holy Spirit which brings the victorious life of Jesus – the true self!

Paul speaks eloquently of how this process takes place in a believer, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live (false self), but Christ lives in me (true self). The life I now live, I live by the faith of Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20). Further he said, “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception (“false self”). Put on your new nature, created to be like God–truly righteous and holy (“true self”)” (Eph.4:22-23). This is a fundamental statement which defines the “true self.” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:16). Jesus is the way who leads man to the truth which leads life, and life brings the “true self.” Then Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47). So, the identity of the “true self” is hardwired to Jesus, who is the immortal Son of God.

Paul said, “Christ Jesus has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality through the gospel” (2 Tim.1:10). The “false self” on the other hand carries this indictment from the Creator, “You were made from the dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen.3:19). Note, God said this after Adam had discarded his “true self” and taken on the mantle of the “false self” by obeying the devil. But Jesus, the second Adam, came as was promised by the Father, and rescued man by restoring him to his first estate in his “true self” in Christ.

Jesus, the Second Adam, Defeating Satan where the first Adam failed, Making the Victorious Life in the “True Self” Possible (Wiki Commons)

The basic identity of a person existing in his “true self” is manifested by living the “Triune Life.” The “Triune Life” means a person who lives the 3-dimensional life of the Triune God in the Father, Son, and Spirit. It means all three Persons in the Trinity are involved with the salvation of the believer. Then, there is the “solitary life” where man lives the 1-dimensional life in himself under the influence of the devil. Jesus became human fulfilling His prophesied identity as the Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God with us.’ (Matt.1:23) When He was resurrected from His ignominious death on the cross and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, He was raised bodily taking our humanity and glorifying it by inducting man into the very Being of the Triune God, as Christ Himself is One in substance and reality in the Triune Godhead. Therein is the identity of the “true self” living the “Triune Life” in Christ by the power of the Spirit who lives in man as His temple. (1 Cor.6:19) (You may read the “Mission Statement” explaining the “Triune Life” by clicking on the appropriate directory banner above. Or, go to: http://bulamanriver.net/?page_id=3381)

As the Triune God exists in their Love for each other eternally, likewise, Love is the underlying motivation of the “Triune Life” we are privileged to live through Christ. God makes this possible by depositing His Spirit in each of us, as 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; also Rom.8:9). When the Spirit enters the life of the believer and lives in him as a temple, He manifests the various shades and color of Love that Paul spoke so eloquently to the Corinthians (read 1 Cor.13).

To be patient, kind, generous, not envious and boastful, to be humble and not proud, to not be greedy or easily angered, to live in faith with hope, etc, are virtues we live by through freedom of choice from the opposite of these attributes. For every divine work of the Spirit (“true self”), there’s a competing work of the flesh that’s from the devil (“false self”). (Ga.5:13-26) The fruits of Love of the Spirit are not legalistic “tools” to make us better people, it comes naturally as a the result of living in the dynamics of God’s Love. It is how God, in His Triune Being, has lived in relational Love from eternity. What a privilege and blessing to be living in our “true self” through the “Triune Life.”

I hope this post has encouraged you, as much as it has done for me, penning it. I pray that your Love relationship with God your Father may flourish with joyous outcome in the discovery of your “true self” which brings freedom. Yes, true freedom enters the human heart in the discovery of the “true self.” If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Kiang,

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

THE “TRIUNE LIFE” BY KIANG P LEE

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“Go and tell the world about this wonderful Gospel, and induct (baptize) them into the name of the Triune God of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”

Greetings Friends!

The command to not worship other gods apart from the true God, is directly connected to our conception of Him – that He is a “Trinitarian” and not a “solitary” God. By being Triune in nature, He essentially is relational and lives as ONE in Love, for “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). The practical meaning of Love means to be diverse yet unified in ONE. God is three persons, yet ONE God.

Man was created to live the “Triune Life” because he is a Triune being. What do I mean? It means man was made in the image of the Triune God, who is in substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen.1:26-27; Matt.28:18-20) Therefore, man was made to enter the Loving relationship the Triune God and become ONE in substance and reality with the Triune God.

Whenever the name of God is mentioned, it always means He is “Triune” in His Being yet ONE. The name of God never means He is one in a “solitary” sense. Recall Jesus parting words to His disciples: “Go and tell the world about this wonderful Gospel, and unify (baptize) them into the name of the Triune God of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matt.28:19, emphasis mine). In other words, we are commanded to induct believers into the unified “Triune Life” of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The reason is obvious, it is the most natural state of existence man can have because he is made in God’s likeness.

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Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity (Wiki Commons)

Jesus’ final prayer with His disciples to the Father before He was crucified was framed in God’s Trinitarian reality. God inhabits eternity in His Triune Being, and is the Source of the Love which envelopes all of creation, and is expressed to man in His 3-dimensional reality. Man, in his fallen self, exists in his 1-dimensional reality.

“I do not pray for these (disciples) alone, but also those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be ONE just as We are ONE: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in ONE” (John 17: 20-23, emphasis added). Jesus told His disciples, “On that day you will realize that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). Every word is uttered in its Trinitarian context of who God is in His Triune nature of Love.

Obviously, His prayer was intended to enlighten both the disciples and His followers about His mission, and to bring to reality the will of the Father in Jesus’ purpose in the Gospel. That is, to do the work of the prophesied Immanuel – “God with us”: to join man to the God who is Triune in His Being. (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23) So, the name Immanuel is essentially Trinitarian in its meaning. Also notice, God’s manifested glory become man’s when he is unified to God’s Triune Life in Christ. Primarily, His glory is manifested in the miraculous life we are privileged to live in the power of the Spirit, who is given to be with us “forever.” (John 14:16) This is what brings power to the Christian life, but for most, the Christian life is without the miraculous life or glory that comes from the Triune life of God. Are Christians still living the “solitary” life? Is this why they live powerless lives? So, there is always this three-fold involvement of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the life of the believer.

Jesus’ Death Makes the “Triune Life” Possible (Eugene Delacroix, Wiki Commons)

It is entirely feasible for man to take this “unity prayer” of Jesus and apply it to his “solitary” human perspective of life and misses the Trinitarian point of His prayer altogether. It is so easy and natural for man to live the “solitary life” because he exists in his fallen state of being from Adam. It takes a miracle to live the “Triune Life.” Unfortunately, man has been relating with God on his “solitary” footing which is why his life has been powerless. With the “solitary life” man has develop a religion rather than a “relationship” with God. The essence of the “Triune Life” is triune living. Triune living is living in the power of the Spirit. Jesus, by stating, “By Myself I can do nothing” revealed He was indivisibly and inseparably unified to the Father and the Spirit, as ONE Triune Being in substance and reality. (John 5:30) Jesus goes on to say, “Rather, it is the Father living in Me who is doing His work. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me?” (John 14:10).

God’s promise to man is to give him a new heart to end his suffering from living a ‘solitary life’ through a newborn “unified life” in His Son, who in turn takes man into the “Triune Life” of God (Ezek. 11:19; Heb. 8:10, 10:22; John 3:1-8). He will remove the heart of fear and give him the heart of Love. In becoming a mortal human, Jesus vicariously assumed man’s sinful life in His perfect being. In doing so, He destroyed fear and replaced it with God’s Love. Finally, man can reciprocate with the same Love with which God Loves man. Only One from the Godhead is capable of Loving another God alike and perfectly. Man doesn’t have that Love. Only One from within the Triune Godhead can become the Mediator for all of humanity’s inadequate responses and transform them from fear to Love in Himself (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:15). That is why He is called man’s High Priest and Mediator in heaven, who forever intercedes for man. This is what Jesus brought and made possible for man. Hence Paul said, “You are complete in Him (Jesus)” (Heb.7:25-26; Col.2:10).

Living this “Triune Life” with and in God is as natural as He is Love for man was made in God’s Love image. God accepts His Son in our place as our vicarious defense against the law which defines sin and demands our life. Sin is the condition of living the “solitary life” of self-determination under Satan’s influence. So when Christ died as our perfect human atonement, we died in Him (Rom. 7:4-6). When He was resurrected, we were lifted with Him. When He ascended to heaven, we relocated in Him (Eph. 2:4-6). The covenant promise God makes with man in His Son removes the heart-of-stone and replaces it with the heart-of-flesh. This is our new life in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension (Heb. 8:6-11). The heart of fear dies and reincarnates into a heart of Love (God). This is the miraculous life we have been called to live, for nothing but a miracle can make it happen.

Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)

The most basic and pivotal knowledge man can have is to understand God is Trinitarian, and to relate with Him as such. Man was born for this life. If we do not get this right the first time then everything else is based on a false premise. There are only two options: the “Triune Life,” or the “solitary life.” Christ came to open the consciousness of man to a realm unknown to man. From the Trinitarian worldview, the human mind opens vistas of perspectives he would not otherwise comprehend in his fallen “solitary” human worldview. The life of man in his fallen “solitary” human worldview is the lock which prevents him from entering door into the new world Jesus brought to man. You can say the Trinitarian worldview is the gateway to the realm of the Spirit heretofore unfamiliar and undiscovered by man. In fact, the “Triune Life” was unknown to man until Jesus came and reveal the Father and the Spirit to man. This is where God meets man, and man meets God, which is the point of the miraculous never before experienced by man. That is what Jesus brought us.

The mission statement slogan for this ministry is “Live the Triune Life…Change the World.” You may read the mission statement in the directory banner above to gain more insight of the “Triune Life.”

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

Blessing:

Kiang, (Your Servant in Christ)

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

THE INEVITABILITY OF JESUS IN HUMAN LIFE, BY KIANG P LEE

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“And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died” (1 Corinthians 15:19-20)

Greetings once again Friends!

I hope I can help you to see the inescapability of Jesus in your life. Wherever you are, whether you a king or pauper, beggar or rich man, healthy or unwell, in pain or pain-free, employed or out of a job, married or single, schooled or unschooled, a commoner or royalty, whatever ethnicity in whatever station in life, …we all need Jesus in our lives, it’s just that we lack the capacity to see that yet. We don’t yet know His utter necessity in life. We have not seen nor understood only He can make sense of all our struggles, and to matters for which we don’t have answers, and ultimately to the question of life itself.

I am not pointing you to a Jesus whom you have seen as a religious figure. He is not! For truly, He is your personal Savior – a Savior is in the work of saving, rescuing and restoration. Man has made Jesus into a religion – not God! Religion is man’s way of explaining the deity they believe in with all its appended rules. God is our “Father,” He’s not religion! Jesus is our “Brother,” He’s not religion! Herald (Holy Spirit) is our “Friendly Helper,” He’s not religion! You can relate with the Triune God intimately. You will never relate with religion in the same way. Religion demands you obey and bow to its edict, God values and Loves you as His own child He will never spare any pains to have, hold, and caress in His bosom.

Jesus Defeating Satan in The Temptations for Man (Wiki Commons)

The freedom and courage to believe would be the first place to begin. We must discard our preconceived ideas that God and religion are somehow related. They are not! Religion is the invention of man, not God. If we are going to come to a place where God can have a direct hand in our lives in a practical hands-on way, then it begins with the true concept of God. For some this can be hard because they think they can’t be anything else apart from the set of religious beliefs in which they are raised. They think, if you are Indian, then you have to be a Hindu. If you are Muslim then you are Islamic. If you are Asian, then you are born a Buddhist. If you are a Jew then your religion is Judaism. If you are a Westerner, then you are Christian, and so on. This is absurd! One of the first things we learn about being human is we are creatures with the freedom to make up our own minds. Freedom is a divine attribute given to us by the Creator to help us make good choices in life. God made beasts, fowls, marine life, and life forms to behave in a prescribed fashion through inbuilt instincts, but not so, man! Man is given a mind with the freedom of choice. Religion wants man to behave in a fixed manner they impose. The problem with religion is they hide rather than reveal the true God from our view, let alone understand His true purpose for each of us.

If religion answers to the meaning of humanity’s existence and purpose on earth, then we have to conclude they have been an utter and dismal failure. Why, because we only have to look through history and around the globe today to see religion’s utter ineffectiveness. In fact, history tells us more than anything else that religion has been the groundswell for many human conflicts, suffering, and death. The reason seems obvious – religion has been framed as part and parcel of entrenched nationalism and political aspirations of people and nations. History tells us when man mix the two we will have a recipe for a perfect storm for prejudice, intolerance, and segregation which leads to all kinds of conflict. Religion becomes the plausible and persuasive ‘face’ for people to be politically and deceptively manipulated. Today we openly decry racial segregation, yet religious segregation stands above all forms of discrimination. In the final analysis, we are all one people under God, no matter our ethnicity or nationality and religion. This is the prime reason the framers of the American constitution provides for the separation of church and state. Why? One word, history! The lesson of history proves religion otherwise. The original colonizers came to the new world (America) to escape religious persecution.

Jesus Healing the Centurion Servant and Declares Himself our Savior both Physically and Spiritually (Wiki Commons)

What we must understand as a matter of first importance is: God is in the work of saving mankind individually as persons. If He knows the stars by name, (there are 10 billion galaxies in the observable universe, and 100 billion stars in each galaxy, giving a total of 1 billion trillion stars in our observable universe), He knows each one of us likewise. (Psa.147:4; ) By that I mean He’s not in this world to build a religion or for that matter a nation. He is making children of mankind He can Love individually – person by person! It is true the Bible speaks of a “church,” but it is not by any stretch of the imagination, a religion. The word church, taken from the word “ekklesia” means people who are “the called-out ones.” It comprises those who have personally responded to God’s call of Love to have a direct relationship with Him. The church is merely the term given to the collection of people who have an intimate personal Father/son-daughter relationship with God. It is like the word family. God is a family with children He loves intimately. The church is a family, not a religion. Much like a soccer or basketball “team” – each member is personally selected to play a specific position in the family team. God is our Loving and ever-present Father and life-coach. Unfortunately, many “churches” have grown to become religious. It becomes a religion when man forgets God’s covenant and proceeds to become nothing more than a human institution. (Read Jeremiah 23) The Christian “church” is not a religion, period.

Understand this, the beauty of the Christian message about God is He is having a personal hand in your life as a person. He is not speaking to you through the priest or minister (Christian), a pujari (Hindu), a rabbi (Jew), an imam (Muslim), a monk (Buddhist), or any other religious leader. His covenant is clear He speaks and addresses us in person as children, because He Loves each and every one of us individually. We are not objects for manipulation to Him, He Loves us and Love is never self-centered but outgoing.

In Christian belief we use these words of the New Covenant as the basis for this person-to-person activity of God in humans, “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM” (Heb.8:11). In other words, God will be their teacher in Person. Religion, which purports to be the intermediary between God and man, is effectively sidelined. Remember, this is essentially a section of the covenant which God makes with man, and part of the Christian faith. How does God do it in man? His answer is in another passage from the Bible, “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true–it is not a lie. So, just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ” (1 John 2:27). Yes, each one of us is a temple the Spirit indwells. (1 Cor.6:19) The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in man who teaches us the truth about ourselves in relation to life and God. Our identity as persons which enables us to relate with Him is our gift He confers in us through His Spirit. (1 Cor. 6:19)

Jesus Dying For Humanity’s Forgiveness (Wiki Commons)

The only way is to come out of the mold of religious tradition we have been conditioned by keeping an open mind free of prejudices and bias. Everyone has the freewill to do that at the least. God, who declares Himself to us as a caring and gracious deity wants more than anything to have a personal relationship with you and me. (John 3:16) That’s hard to comprehend if you are brought up in a religion whose view of God is a Being who is untouchable and unapproachable, and most of all not personable. No, He cares about you – personally!

So, I am going to share an important principle from the Bible which teaches that makes this belief so relevant to your life and those of your loved ones. We all face issues in life that are unique to each of us, yet, we can’t find the answers in the religion we are raised up to believe. If anything, because of religion we have been taught to have this arms-length existence with God. Religious leaders are no more helpful than their own religion. Instead, we find religion demands our support more than it provides answers to the issues that are pressing in life. Even in death the Christian message provides comfort and hope. (John 11:25-26)

There’s an important element about Jesus which answers to the covenant God makes with humans, and reveals all that we aspire Him to be for each of us, Paul said it like this in a brief but weighty declaration, “You are complete in Him” (Col.2:10). By leading with “You” God is emphasizing a personal relationship with you. He is not speaking religion to you through a pastor, priest, monk, rabbi, imam, or pujari. He is speaking to “You” directly and personally! The Greek word for complete (πληθύνω/ pléthunó ) means to fill to individual capacity, i.e. to the extent it is “meet” (appropriate). That is God’s plan for you in His Son. It expresses totality, and implies full quantity (“up to the max”).The idea God is putting across to us is His Son is your answer to life and all that life means and can be to you and your loved ones.

Why is it, that in a modern setting of the Christian faith, for example, and this goes for all religions, do we teach that the church, temple, or mosque, synagogue, is the place one goes to for direction and answers, when it is clear in the Bible that God, through the Spirit, is the guide and power in our lives? The answer is because we have been condition that way through religion. Religion reveals the motive of man – it’s sad but it is for reasons of power and financial and other forms of gain. When man stands in the place of God between man, that is called “religion.” It is a man-made institution without divine sanction.

So, in a manner of speaking, you can say Jesus is to our innermost spiritual being what air is to our outermost physical being. What am I saying? Quite simply, man has two forms of life expression – one is physical and material, while the other is spiritual and divine. A person denies this basic truth to his or her own detriment. The two are intertwined and cannot be separated. The physical is the outward expression of the spiritual, not vice versa. So, when the Bible speaks of Jesus as the total answer to life, we are speaking of the basic spiritual element which controls the physical and material outcome. Jesus said it this way, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and His righteousness, (inner spiritual life) and He will give you everything you need” (outer physical life) (Matt.6:33). Of course “kingdom” means Jesus’ reign in your life. Or, we can have religion dictate our spiritual life.

Life is like a clock, we try to meddle with the hands, without realizing the pendulum is the only thing that regulates the clock. No matter what you do in life, your inner spiritual gauge is what guides your thoughts, emotions, and actions. When your inner life is in harmony with God’s true purpose for you, your life-clock is giving the correct time. Anything else is a fabrication and deception.

I sincerely hope you will have an open mind to consider Jesus, or at least give Him a chance to show Himself and prove He is the One you have been seeking all your life and cannot do without. He is the answer for all things good in your life and those of your loved ones.

Blessing:

Until we meet again, 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.

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

Kiang,

* 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.

THE ASCENSION OF JESUS, BY KIANG P LEE

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“He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Act.1:3-11).

Ascension of Jesus, painting by Uhde, (Wiki Commons)

Greetings Friends!

Mankind’s resurrection and ascension to immortality was inaugurated by Jesus Christ in His own resurrection followed by His ascension to heaven 40 days later. The purpose of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was to return to His eternal Trinitarian existence He had with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth” (John 14:15). Jesus’ ascension made possible a momentous act never to be repeated – He took our humanity, glorified it in Himself through His bodily resurrection, and forever joined mankind to the life of the Triune Godhead. The Trinity has changed its complexion forever. (Gen.1:26-27) Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father as mankind’s eternal High Priest. Though our human resurrection and ascension is something we look forward to in a future event, the most important thing Jesus did for man is to bring the “Triune Life”** which believers can live now.

Thereby, it is logical to conclude that by joining our humanity with the Triune God, the Father and the Spirit is forever joined to humanity in a real sense through Jesus, the Immanuel, who is both God who glorified our humanity in Himself. It was for this very reason of uniting our humanity with God that Jesus made this ultimatum, “But 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). This is undoubtedly the weightiest aspect of Jesus’ mission and ascension – to join humanity to the Triune God and give passage for the Spirit to enter mankind on the day of Pentecost and carry on the work of the Father which Jesus started and commissioned His disciples to continue on earth. So, His departure was a necessary part of mankind’s initiation into the life of the Triune Godhead and the Spirit being made one with mankind.

Most of all, the Scripture is very clear about the most important aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work – it is by the Spirit’s power that humans will be sanctified and eventually resurrected to immortality. (2 Thess.2:13; Rom.8:11,13) Paul affirms this, saying, “If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you” (Rom.8:11). Human resurrection to immortality is made possible only through the Spirit’s power and presence. Paul articulates this process further by saying, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16; also John 7:37-39; 1 John 4:13; 1 Cor.6:19, NLT). While Paul is drawing attention to the issue of church unity in Corinth, he is indirectly confessing the truth about Jesus’ ascension in joining the Spirit to human life. A temple is a place of worship where God and man meet. The Bible says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). And if anyone does not belong to Christ then he cannot be conformed to Jesus’ image and likeness in His resurrection and ascension. (Rom.8:29).

Jesus promised, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you… On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (John 14:8, 20). Here again we see Jesus affirming man’s eternal unity with the Father and the Spirit which He makes possible. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20). What we see is Jesus’ life being incarnated into the life of the believer on earth to be followed by a resurrection into immortality. But how is this process of salvation done in reality? Through the Holy Spirit! Jesus tells us the role of the Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take from that which is Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14, Berean LB). So we see the purpose of the Spirit is to live and walk in the life of the believer as a temple and make Jesus’ life become a reality, thus, fulfilling the promise. Jesus said, “He (Spirit) will not speak on His own, He will guide you into all truth. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you” (John 16:13,14). Therefore, the ascension brings to reality the promise of Jesus He will personally come and live in the believer through the Holy Spirit’s power. When we think of the life of Christians living the incarnated life of Jesus today it is contingent upon His ascension to make it a reality. It is quite simple, the ascension was necessary for the Holy Spirit to come.

The account of the ascension is recorded as follows in the Book of Acts, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Act.1:3-11).

Depiction of the Two Angels of Ascension. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Pic: Wiki Commons)

What is the work of Jesus that the Spirit will articulate in the world? Jesus Himself answers, “And when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged” (John 16:8-11).

Here, Jesus explains sin very simply – it’s a person’s refusal to believe in Him as Savior. “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.” So sin has to do with faith – faith in Jesus! It’s very simple, very plain, sin is more than an individual act of sin, it is our refusal to believe in the Messiah who atones and cleanses us from sin. Sin is the condition of man’s self-determination controlled by the devil, and righteousness is the condition of the Spirit inspired by Christ. In our fallen state of existence we exist in the sin condition, and the only way out is to step out from it into the sinless and righteous condition of Jesus through the Spirit’s presence. Hence, Jesus speaks of being “born again” into a new life in the Spirit. (John 3:1-8)

Why does the passage above says, “concerning righteousness (sinlessness) because I go to the Father?” Because Jesus has ascended to the Father’s right hand and remain as man’s eternal High Priest mediating for man. The Bible says of Jesus, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 5:1, 5-7). Paul says, “There is one Mediator between God and man, the Word of God who is Himself a man, Jesus Christ” (1 Tim 2:5). A High Priest stands between sinful man and our holy God mediating on man’s behalf for all his shortcomings. Paul says, “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” (as mankind’s High Priest) (Rom.8:36, my emphasis).

Dove, Symbol of Holy Spirit and God’s Love and Power Descending upon Man on Pentecost. “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28). (Pic: Wiki Commons)

When Jesus said, “Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged” it means Christ has defeated the instigator of sin, Satan. Judgment came about when Jesus was victorious over the devil in the temptations in the Judean wilderness, and when He died upon Calvary on His cross as the final answer to sin.

So, that is the 3-fold message the Spirit brings to the world – it is about Jesus saving us from sin once for all time; Jesus becoming our righteousness through His High Priestly role in heaven; and Jesus bringing judgment by defeating the enemy the promoter of sin in mankind through the temptations and His death on the cross! This is why the ascension is of utter importance to the whole world.

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

Blessing:

Kiang,

** “Triune Life” means a believer is living his/her life in the Triune Being of God. God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in the Bulamanriver (you and me), and the believer lives in God’s presence. Man’s union with the Triune God is made possible through Jesus, Himself God who took our humanity into the Triune Godhead. Through the Spirit who lives in man as His temple makes the “Triune Life” possible. (1 Cor.3:16)

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

Triune Life – Miracle of Triune Living

"Live the Triune Life… Change the World"

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GOD’S PROTOCOL (PART 2) BY KIANG P LEE

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THE “TRIUNE LIFE” BY KIANG P LEE

THE INEVITABILITY OF JESUS IN HUMAN LIFE, BY KIANG P LEE

THE ASCENSION OF JESUS, BY KIANG P LEE