Divine Ecstacy and the Ecstatic Life

Before I started learning about divine ecstacy, and the ecstatic life, I wouldn't have thought of ecstacy when thinking about God, or the new creation life that we've been given as a gift. However, now that I've learned more about the trinitarian life, I can't stop thinking about divine ecstacy.  For whenever I hear someone talking about union, or oneness, I immediately think of the ecstacy of God. For the gift that we've been given from God is this ecstatic life in Christ.¹ So let me define what this ecstatic life is. The ecstatic life is the intense pleasure of knowing that God loves us, and the intense pleasure we receive from loving God. It is knowing that being united to God, one with God in Christ, is way more than knowledge; it is an ecstatic union that we have with God, and with one another. God is an ecstatic. John Crowder says the source of all pleasure is Ecstacy Incarnate.²

God is love. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have for all eternity, lived in unity. One God, but in three "persons." God has always lived  a life of cruciform love. Everything that God has done, does, and will do, is because of love. Love is not something we work up. Love is aroused within us - because God lives in us. When love is aroused in us, we experience intense pleasure and sometimes uncontrollable joy. This ecstatic love is active. It's present within us, and contagious. Because of what God has done in Christ, we have been re-created to experience God, and to share in the divine life. 

The Great Awakening is now! In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you (John 14:20 NASB). God is opening our eyes to see who he is - who he has always been. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. Jesus has revealed the Father to us. Through Christ we have been enabled to share in the ecstatic union - the life and love of God. 

Watch my video, "Divine Ecstacy, and the Ecstatic Life."

 

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1. We can't talk about union without recognizing that the life of God is a life of divine ecstacy. It's not a boring religious life that God lives, or gives. 

2. John Crowder, The Ecstacy of Loving God (Shippensburg: Destiny Image, 2009), 23.

The Spirit of Jubilee

Jubilee in the Old Testament

In ancient Israel, every seventh year the people celebrated the land rest. They did not sow, nor reap a harvest from the land. God provided three years worth of harvest in the sixth year;¹ so the people ate the harvest of the sixth year; in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years (Lev. 25:20-22). 

The Jubilee was celebrated in the fiftieth year, starting on the seventh day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement (Lev.  25:8-12). It was the year of release. Debts were released and everyone returned to his inheritance. God made a promise to Abraham - I will make you many nations and your descendants will be like the stars of heaven, and like the sand on the seashore (Gen. 17:4-6; Gen. 22:17). Abraham's descendants were to inherit all the land of Canaan (Gen. 17:8). The land brought stability for the people, and kept families together (Lev. 25:10). Every one of the twelve tribes had an inheritance of land. Jubilee was a reminder of who Israel was - God's chosen people.  

In Jubilee, in the fiftieth year, the people that had sold themselves or their land, returned to their eternal inheritance. Israel was God's possession. They were not to be hired hands. The land given to them by God provided their freedom, sustenance, livelihood, and relationships. The land is God's and if someone had sold his land, and neither he nor his relatives were able to redeem it, then in the Jubilee he who sold his land returned to it (Lev. 25:25-28). No one could take away the inheritance that God had given them.

The spirit of Jubilee has come to us in atonement (at-one-ment).

In the spirit of Jubilee, our debts, all of our burdens have been taken off our shoulders. Jesus tells us, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle, and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls " (Mat. 11:28-30 NASB). Whereas Jubilee in the Old Testament was once every fifty years; the spirit of Jubilee, is a life of eternal rest given to us as a free gift by God (Rom. 6:23). In the New Testament our inheritance is Jesus himself. We are being called to an awakening - a call to return to our inheritance - our authentic life in Christ.  

New Testament Parallels 

Whereas in the Old Testament God worked exclusively through the nation of Israel. In the New Testament God works exclusively through the true Israelite, Jesus. The greater promise of inheritance is for everyone, and it is fulfilled in Christ Jesus (Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:3-4; 1 John 2:2). Our at-one-ment, our oneness, our union, in Jesus is based on who Jesus is, and what he has done for humanity. We are forever one with God in Christ. 

Jesus is our life. He is our inheritance. Jesus is the basis of all relationships. This is what the good news is all about. It is the promise of sharing in the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jubilee is a proclamation of liberty. Because of the Spirit of Jubilee, we are free to participate in Jesus' ecstatic relationship with the Father (John 14:20). Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always enjoyed a loving relationship. This relationship is called perichoresis.² God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are united in love, but distinct. In the Spirit of Jubilee, we share in Jesus' relationship with the Father through the Spirit. But we also share in Jesus' relationship with our neighbor - other divine children of God. In the Spirit of Jubilee, I share in Jesus' relationship with you, and you share in Jesus' relationship with me.  We don't have a relationship with one another apart from Jesus' relationship (John 14:20; Eph. 4:6; Col. 3:11). The Spirit of Jubilee also means that we share in Jesus' unique relationship with creation. As the last Adam, Jesus is the keeper of the garden of life. He tends, keeps, and beautifies the entire cosmos. He has recreated all things in himself (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 1:16; Rev. 21:5).   

Watch my latest video.

 

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1. The increase is an additional two years worth of harvest for the seventh and eighth years. See Leviticus 25:12 (KJV).

2. See Dr. C Baxter Kruger's website, https://perichoresis.org/.

Does God Have Form?

While reading through the gospel of John, I came across John 5:37, which I've probably read hundreds of times. I was prodded to stop, and think about it more deeply. The scripture reads as follows: "And the Father who sent Me, He has testified about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form" (John 5:37 NASB). Well, God is Spirit (John 4:34), and doesn't have form. Or does he? 

In the Old Testament, we read that Moses saw the back of God (Ex. 33:20-23), and Jacob encountered and wrestled with God (Gen. 32:24-30). Jacob struggled with God, and saw him face to face. "Face to face" is a metaphor. It's a better, deeper, and more authentic relationship. Moses, and Jacob had a revelation of what was to come in Jesus. They saw shadows that point us to Christ; when God would come to us in Jesus - Emmanuel, God with us. As John the Baptist said, "No human eye has ever seen God: the only Son, who is in the Father's bosom - He has made him known (John 1:18 WEY). Brad Jersak tells us that "Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and the exact likeness of God's nature."¹ God is invisible, except that he is revealed in Jesus (Col. 1:15). As I like to say, the only true God is revealed in Jesus Christ. There is no other God, but the God revealed in Jesus. Yes, God is triune, but Jesus is the only revelation of God. We can't find God. God has chosen to reveal himself in Jesus.² 

When Philip asked Jesus to show them (the disciples) the Father, Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father" (John 14:7-9). When Jesus told his contemporaries that he was one with the Father (John 10:30), they picked up stones to stone him. Most of the people of Jesus' day rejected Jesus; who is the "face to face' encounter with God. We do too, when we replace the God of love revealed in Christ with a more "holy" God, an angry God, and a God of vengeance. The true God is revealed and encountered "face to face" only in Christ. He is the [true] image of the invisible God.  

Watch my latest video on You Tube: 

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1. Brad Jersak, "Of Heretics, Kings & Foxes," CWR Magazine, October 2021.

2. John Crowder often talks about this in his "Inner Sanctum" webcasts, https://www.thenewmystics.tv/.

Redeem the Time

Redeeming the time is living in the Reality of God. As his divine children we live, move, and exist in him (Acts 17:28-29). God stands outside of time and space. Time and space is God's creation. Yes, we exist inside of God's created world because we are part of his creation. But the greater Reality is that we live, move, and exist in him. In him we too stand outside of time and space - we are seated with him in the heavenly realm (Eph. 2:5-6). This is the great Reality. I know I talk, and write about the great Reality all the time, but it is very important that we understand what this means. Redeeming the time helps us to focus on the great Reality of who God is, and what it means for his children. Human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, and whether we act like his children or not, we are his children. So the gospel is awakening to this Reality - knowing who God is, and living in that Reality as his divine children. 

If all that matters is faith expressed through love (Gal. 5:6), then redeeming the time is making a conscious effort to meditate, and think about Jesus living his live of love within us. Redeeming the time is living in the love of Christ Jesus. He is our life, and by faith he lives his life of love in and through us.  

All That Matters

According to the Apostle Paul, all that matters is faith expressed through love (Gal. 5:16 Berean Study Bible). If our faith is genuine, it must lead to love. For after all, it's Christ's faith in us, and we know that God is love (1 John 4:16). We know that Jesus entered this world to give us life (John 10:10). He willingly gave his life so that we can share in the life of God. I've heard Dr. Steve McVey call it the exchange life. In other words, Jesus exchanged his life for our life, and in so doing, he took on our sufferings, grieving, pain, and death. Jesus taught his disciples to lay down their lives for others (John 15:13). In essence, Jesus continues to live his life in his followers - those who are living in the greater Reality of the new world pioneered by Jesus. This new world is based on the cruciform love of God. Cruciform means cross-shaped, and the cross symbolizes the greatest expression of God's love. Everything that God has ever done, and will do, as he works in and through his followers, is based on cruciform love.   

Now we might think that our faith should lead to mighty works, or miracles. However, there is no work that is a good work, unless it is a work of love. The fruit of our faith is love, and always will be love. There is no exception. True faith - is the faith of Christ, and his faith is always performing acts of love because love is the life of God. God has called us to awaken to the new creation Reality, and to live out our faith. Faith is more than a belief system. Faith is the life of God, and his life is love. So as the Apostle Paul proclaims, I proclaim to you, "All that matters is faith expressed through love!

Watch my latest video, "All That Matters." 

To Be Absent From the Body is to Be Present with the Lord - 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord…

If we try to squeeze what the apostle Paul was saying into our religious paradigm, we will automatically think that Paul is saying that when we die we leave our sinful human body behind and our spirit goes to heaven to be with the Lord.

But that’s not what Paul was saying. The Apostle Paul was not a Gnostic. This is the same Paul that said: to whom God willed to make known what is riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory (Col. 1:27 NASB 1995). Here again:   I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20 KJV). 

It is obvious that Paul didn’t have a Gnostic mindset. He didn’t believe that the human body is evil. He didn’t believe that the physical realm is evil. He didn’t have a dualistic mindset. He didn’t believe that the physical world is separate from the spiritual world. But this is the paradigm on which many believers base their faith.  

Paul is saying that at the resurrection of the dead our body will be changed from mortal to immortal, and we will experience the full manifestation of the glory of God. God’s glory will be made fully manifested to us, while at the present time, while living in this tent, it is hidden (Col 3:3-4). 

In this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven (the resurrected body) (2 Cor. 5:2 NASB see the notes for vs 2 in NASB). 

While we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord [from the fullness of the glory of God – because we live in the tent or the temporary dwelling and not in the house – the immortal glorified body] (2 Cor. 5:6 NASB with my clarification). Obviously, Paul can't be talking about absent in the sense of our oneness. Go back and reread Col. 1:27, and Gal. 2:20.

For we walk by faith not by sight [believing that the gift of life will be fully manifested in us even though at the moment we don’t see it. Because we are still in this tent or the physical mortal body]  (2 Cor 5:7). 

But we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body [having already been changed from mortal to immortal and living in the glorious new body - God being fully manifested in us.] and to be at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8 NASB).  

Even though the abundant life is a present reality, it will be fully manifested when we go through our metamorphosis - when we are changed from mortal to immortal. “I have come that they might have life, and life more abundantly” (John 10:10). 

The time will come when we experience the fullness of life in our immortal, imperishable, body. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).  

Watch the video on You Tube: 

Love Never Fails

Light of the world shine on me, love is the answer. Shine on us all, set us free, love is the answer.¹ 

I do believe love is "the" answer. For the Apostle Paul tells us that love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8 NIV). Now think about that for a moment. Love.... never.....fails!  That means in every situation where there is a disagreement between neighbors, or between nations; love is "the" answer. God in Christ Jesus showed us what that love looks like.  Jesus is love personified.  He said, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13 ASV). Then he proceeded to do just that. He laid down his life not only for his close friends, but for his enemies as well. Jesus' followers are known by this love (John 13:35). This love is not just a cure for the world's problems. This love is a way of life.  

For God himself is love. God has always existed in other-centered love.  Love is the truth of our being. It's who we are in Christ. We are his divine children (Acts 17:28-29 AMP). The apostle John writes, Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7). John tells us that love is the identifying trademark of those who live in this reality.  

We were created in love, and because of love. God became man in Christ Jesus because of love. He lived his life for us, and as us, because of love. He went to the cross because of love. He rose from the dead because of love. He is seated in the heavenly realm because of love. He sent the Holy Spirit because of love. He shares his life with us because of love. He will come again, and his kingdom will have no end, because of love. 

But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13 NASB).

Watch my video, "Love Never Fails."

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1. Todd Rundgren and his band Utopia, "Love One Another" (music video, REDUX, Live at the Gotanda Kani Hoken Hall, Tokyo, Japan 1992), posted July 6, 2011, accessed April 3, 2021,  https://youtu.be/uSOaLugmdSY. 

A Call To Lament

The Bible tells us there were periods of time when the nation of Israel lamented. Jesus and his disciples lamented.  The scriptures instruct us to lament, mourn, and grieve. We as human beings make poor decisions that lead to sin, suffering, and death for ourselves and for our neighbors. At other times we are apathetic, and people suffer because of our absence. We experience pain, and we lament. 

Joseph lamented for his father, Jacob, with a great and grievous lamentation, and mourned for his father seven days (Gen. 50:10 ESV). Joseph authentically expressed the pain that he felt when his father died. 

To Ezekiel, God said, mourn for Egypt (Ezek. 32:18 GNT).

After Herod had all the young boys killed in and around Bethlehem, the people lamented as the prophet Jeremiah had foretold. "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more" (Mat. 2:18 NASB).

Jesus said, "Blessed are you who weep" (Luke 6:21 NKJV also see Mat. 5:4). Jesus lamented - "Jerusalem, Jerusalem" (Mat. 23:37-39 New Heart English Bible), because he saw the hardness of heart of the religious leaders, and the people's rejection of the prophets, and himself. 

Jesus wept because he felt the pain of those around him (John 11:35). 

Jesus prophesied that his disciples would lament after he was murdered. "you will weep and lament... You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turned into joy" (John 16:20 New Heart English Bible).

Mary wept at Jesus' grave (John 20:11-15).

As Jesus foretold, his disciples mourned and wept for him after he was murdered (Mark 16:10 ESV).

Disciples wept when Paul was preparing to leave them for Jerusalem (Acts 21:13).

The Apostle Paul instructed us to: Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15 NASB). 

James instructed us to: Grieve, mourn, and wail (James 4:9-10 NIV). 

Ask yourself, how does Jesus feel about people being exploited, oppressed, enslaved, and censored? 

We are made in the image and likeness of God. God created us to experience love, and joy; but also  pain, suffering, and grief. We lament because we see people being exploited. We mourn because we see people suffer. When we are apathetic, we become guilty of the sin of omission. We lack compassion, and concern for others. When we lament, and experience grief, we are participating in Jesus' emotions. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away" (Rev. 21:3-4 NASB).

Jesus came that we may have life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10). The abundant life is our, everyone's, authentic life; and no one can take away what God in Christ has given us. 

Parousia

Parousia (para - beside; ousia - being) refers to much more than the second coming of Christ. God has come to us in the person of Jesus, and "as creature within our creaturely being," says Thomas F. Torrance.¹ 

Even though hidden from sight, Jesus is still Jesus. God became flesh. He became a human being in Christ Jesus. He went to the cross with the same human body, and still lives in his resurrected, and ascended body. Yes, his body was changed from "perishable" to "imperishable."² Jesus is no longer flesh, and blood,  "for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;"³ but he is still human. His body has gone through some sort of metamorphosis. The human body isn't sinful. God in Christ has sanctified our human bodies. Yes, God is holy; so that says a great deal about what God believes about being human. After all, he became human - one of us - to give us life,⁴ and so that we may share in his eternal kingdom of love. 

The REALITY is that the kingdom of God has been fully inaugurated, but like Jesus, it's veiled. It's not fully manifested. In Jesus' person and work, he has accomplished salvation for us. He is our salvation. When he comes again, or when he manifests himself, salvation shall be unveiled. Then we shall be like him; changed from perishable to imperishable - glorified! 

Without this understanding of parousia, we would continue to reach for a distant god, and continue to strive to draw closer to this god; not comprehending that the only true God that is revealed in Jesus is present within us. Many believe that this distant god is coming with vengeance to destroy, and or torture human beings that are made in God's image and likeness - his own children. But this god that comes at the end of the age looks much different from the God that came in the incarnation.  That's the beauty of parousia, because instead of two different gods, we have one God - the only true God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. The God that said, "Love your enemies," is the same God throughout parousia - the first and second coming. This God is a present REALITY, and he will be unveiled, fully manifested, at his return. 

Watch my video on Parousia: 

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1. Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, ed. Robert T. Walker (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 301-302.

2. 1 Cor. 15:42, 50-54  We will become like Jesus, raised to immortality. Our bodies will be changed so that we can live in the new creation - the heavenly realm - with God. 

3. 1 Cor. 15:50

4. John 10:10

Go Ahead Make My Day

No, Jesus isn't Dirty Harry. Clint Eastwood does well in Hollywood because we as human beings often like to see the bad guy get what's coming to him. However, in Jesus' upside down cruciform world, justice is mercy!

Jesus said, "Go ahead and make my day," by forgiving us of our sins; by entering into our darkness; by becoming one of us; taking on our vengeful, hateful, get the bad guy nature, and recreating us to be what we were meant to be - God's divine children. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of God's mercy, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, that is based on who God is. God is love. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always lived in other-centered-love, because that's God's nature. The true God is revealed only in Jesus Christ. There isn't another God that looks something like Dirty Harry. God is not vengeful. God is not angry. God is not a psychopath. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit look, just like Jesus. They are all one, but distinct. The great mystery of God is revealed in Jesus. God is not defined by our favorite scripture. True knowledge of God is revealed only in the person of Jesus Christ. 

The gospel is both a proclamation, an announcement of what has already been accomplished in Christ, and it is also an  invitation to participate in the life of God. Yes, it is finished! In Jesus' person and work, salvation for humanity is completed! However, we are invited to share in this relationship of other centered love. We are invited to celebrate the good news, which is sharing in the resurrection life of Christ! He is risen, and so have we! He is seated in the heavenly realm above all, and so are we! It's not an obscure religious life that we've been invited to share; it's the Reality of a new life in Christ Jesus!  Although we are one in Christ Jesus, we are distinct from Jesus. 

In Jesus' heavenly realm, there is no need for Dirty Harry. Jesus has conquered all his enemies not by blowing them all away, but by surrendering to them. "Them" is us!   For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God, through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life (Rom. 5:10 NASB). God loves everyone, including his enemies. That's why he taught us to do the same (Mat. 5:44). 

What Jesus Accomplished Outside of the Cross

So often we talk about what Jesus accomplished at the cross, but what about what Jesus accomplished outside of the cross? 

For some time I've been preaching that the "finished work of Jesus," is much more than what Jesus did. When we speak of "the cross," we're talking about much more than Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). But salvation was accomplished because of who Jesus is, as much as it was accomplished by what Jesus did. In other words, we can't separate Jesus' work from Jesus' person. Salvation is a person named Jesus. The incarnation, and atonement go together. We don't have salvation without the incarnation, and the atonement. As I've said so many times, and I will continue to emphasize, that salvation was accomplished in Jesus life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit. 

God became man so that he could live out the God-life of other-centered-love, as us, and share with us the abundant life (John 10:10; 17:3). God became man so that he could die our death. God became man so that he could be raised to new life, as us (Col. 3:3-4). God became man so that he could offer himself anew to God, as us. God became man so that he could forever be at rest in the heavenly realm, as us (Eph. 2:5-6). God sent the Holy Spirit so that we would be awakened to the reality that has been pioneered in Christ Jesus.

So the Reality of salvation is  found in Jesus' person and work. Salvation is realized in Jesus' person and work. The cross symbolizes who God is, as well as what he has accomplished in the person of Jesus.  

Experiencing God

Experiencing God is experiencing Reality. For God is the ultimate Reality. The true God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is love, and has always lived the life of love. It would be silly to say that God is love, and then believe that God would live some other way. If God is love, he can never be hateful. He can never live in opposition to who he is. He would be a hypocrite if he did that. 

The only true God is revealed in Jesus (Col. 1:15). There is no other God but the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Any thought that we have of God that doesn't look like Jesus, we need to discard (John 10:30; John 14:9). God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, look like Jesus. This is Reality!

What God has accomplished in Jesus Christ, he has accomplished for all. When God became man in Jesus, he brought human beings back to their rightful place. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27). We are God-like because we are God's divine children (Ps. 82:6; John 10:34; Acts 17:28-29). 

Jesus said, "The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them" (¹Luke 9:56). He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:34). Jesus came and did the Father's will. He said, I have finished the work that you have given me to do (John 17:4). The Father's will is to save all men. In Jesus' person, and work, Jesus did the Father's will in saving all men. When we experience God, we experience God's love for humanity. When we experience God, we experience love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). When we experience hatred, strife, anger, and envy, we are not experiencing God, we are experiencing the desires of the old, crucified nature (Gal. 5:19-21). 

So how do we experience God? First, we change our mind about God. We get to know the true God revealed in Jesus, and abandon the false god(s) that do not look like Jesus. Then, we change our mind about ourselves, and about other human beings. We know, and believe that God loves us, and has saved us. We know, and believe that we are divine children of God created in God's image, and likeness. We live in the Reality of the true God, and in the Reality of our true, authentic, self. Then we will experience God. We will experience love, joy, peace, and all the fruit of the Spirit. We will no longer experience anger, hatred, bitterness, and resentment toward others. If these thoughts, and feelings become present again, we simply remind ourselves that we are divine children of God, and that we look like God. We remind ourselves that we live, move and exist in God (Acts 17:28-29). We remind ourselves that we died with Christ Jesus, and that we were made new creations in him (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3-4). It's not somehow that we must get ourselves into God, or that we must somehow strive to get God to come into us. The gospel is the good news that in Jesus, God has found his way into us, and that he has brought us into himself. 


¹All scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

The Result of A Non Inclusive Mindset

The result of a non-inclusive mindset is division. We see it in religion, politics, and the world. The tribal mindset is a result of a non-inclusive mentality. Jesus has come that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This abundant life that Jesus speaks of is the life of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's a life of other-centered-love; and other-centered-love, is inclusive love.

Christendom is guilty of this non-inclusive mindset. In Christendom, bad theology is prevalent. The bad theology that results from a non-inclusive mindset includes these two religious ideas: "I do it with God's help."  "I do my part, and God does his part." These are bad ideas, that lead to a non-inclusive mindset, and division. 

Let's look at the first phrase, "I do it with God's help." The "I do it" part, involves things that one must do to add to what  God has accomplished in Christ Jesus. This mentality comes from not understanding what the incarnation means. Many believe that after they do whatever it is they must do, then they are included; and since their inclusion is based on what they do, they can easily become excluded if they fail to do whatever it is they're told they must do perfectly enough. Different tribes say there are different things you must do if you want to be included, and stay included. This concept says that God wasn't God enough to do what he did - finish the job. It also denies that the incarnation is the union of God and man in one person. It denies that Jesus isn't really God in the flesh. Jesus is only an example that one must follow. It's Gnosticism, which says the holy God can never be united to man! So man must strive to reach the elusive God who continues to live in heaven; at a very great distance from human beings. 

Now let's examine the second phrase, "I do my part, and God does his part." This religious idea says that salvation is a fifty-fifty deal. God made a deal that you can "get to heaven" if you fulfill your part of the bargain. This is another bad idea. Again, Christendom determines what your part of the bargain is, and every denomination has different ideas. Again, this mentality denies what God completed in the incarnation, and atonement (at-one-ment). Salvation isn't a deal, it's a free gift (Rom. 6:23).

So what does inclusion really mean? We are included in the life of the Trinity, by what God has done in Jesus, the Christ. Jesus is the God-man. He is perfect theology. He is God's yes to man, and man's yes to God. Jesus is Reality! He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6 KJV¹). "For in him we live and move and exist." We are his children (Acts 17:28-29). There is no Reality outside of this. Everything that is real, is based on this Reality! As God's divine children, we're called to live in this reality. "This is eternal life," Jesus said, "that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). Only in your own mind can you live outside of Reality, because God's love for us is greater than our denial or ignorance of him. God has included you and me because he is other-centered-love; that's who he is. He's made himself one of us, and he will never change his mind. 

_______________________________

1. Scripture references are in NASB, except where noted. 

Inclusion

In October, I attended "The Creed" conference hosted by John Crowder, and  C. Baxter Kruger. I'll sum up the conference in one quote by Dr. Kruger, who said, "The true hermeneutic is the Light of the World."  For me that means all Scripture is interpreted in Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit. Scripture doesn't interpret Scripture. Jesus interprets Scripture. Jesus is the Light of the World, the Light that shines in our darkness!

We read in Genesis 1:26-27, that God created human beings in his own image, and likeness. We are created in the image and likeness of God, after the God-kind. This makes us unique. We are different from any other creature that God has made. But in Genesis 6-7, the writer of Genesis tells us that the whole earth was filled with violence. Human beings had departed from who they were created to be, as God's children, made in his image and likeness. We're told that God brought a flood on the earth to destroy all that had breath; except for Noah, and those that went with him into the ark. However, when we read these passages through the true hermeneutic, Jesus, the Light of the World, we see much more. We see Noah, as a shadow of Christ, coming up out of the watery grave. Noah is a shadow of the new creation in Christ Jesus. The new creation that has been raised up with Christ. The new creation that is presently seated in the heavenly realm with Jesus. As the Apostle Paul tells us in ¹Ephesians 2:5-6,  For even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This means that even those who perished in the flood, have been raised up with Christ. We like them, were dead in our transgressions, but made alive in Christ.

There are no obstacles to keep us from being included in Christ. Evil, sin, and death, have all been defeated in Christ. Even our rejection of God has been defeated. God in Christ has said yes, even when we said no, and he continues to say yes when we say no. God's work in Christ is ongoing but completed in Christ. As we read in Revelation 13:8, last part (KJV), the Lamb slain from the  foundation of the world. 

So rejoice in the salvation of the Lord, as the Psalmist says: Psalm 96:1-3, Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; Proclaim good tidings of his salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 

¹All Scripture references in red, are NASB, except where noted.

This Is Eternal Life - Part 3

Not knowing the true God of John 17:3, and not knowing Jesus leads to a murderous spirit. Notice what Jesus said, "...the hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or me (John 16:2-3). 

Sometime later, Stephen was murdered. Stephen saw heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). This so upset the religious paradigms of their day, that the Jews, drove him out of the city, and stoned him to death. Saul had consented to his murder (Acts 7:58). 

Saul obtained approval from the religious elite to continue persecuting the church. He was on his way to Damascus with the mission of arresting believers in Jesus, and bringing them back to Jerusalem to have them put in prison, and or killed. Along the way, he saw a light from heaven, and heard someone say, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). Saul replied, "Who are you Lord?" (Acts 9:5). He responded, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:5). Saul did not know the God revealed in Jesus; distinct from Jesus; and at one with Jesus; the true God of John 17:3. Saul was blind for three days, and during that time, he neither ate nor drank. He had a great awakening, and became the Apostle Paul. He was sent by the risen, and ascended Lord, to the Gentiles, Kings, and the sons of Israel (Acts 9:15). 

The Apostle Paul, being filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed the true God of John 17:3 to the men of Athens. He said to them, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, "To An Unknown God." Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you (Acts 17:22-23). The true God revealed in Jesus, distinct from Jesus, and at one with Jesus, was unknown to these people. Paul wanted them to know this God, that they may experience eternal life. Paul goes on to proclaim, "for in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are his children.' Being then the children of God..." (Acts 17:28-29). Paul tells these people who did not know the only true God, that they lived and moved and existed in him. He then called on these people to have an awakening. To wake up to the reality of what is already true. We live move and exist in God. We are his children. Even though they did not yet know the only true God, he did not exclude them from being God's children. He called upon them to wake up.

God is the lover of humanity. He is the lover of the human race. We are his children. We are made in his image, after the God-kind. Human beings are made after the God-kind. We are being wooed by the lover of the human race, the Holy Spirit, the "other member" of the trinity, so that we would experience eternal life in him. The apostle John writes, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us, God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16). "For God so loved the world [the entire human race] that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17). 

The prophet Jeremiah foretells about the awakening that was to come. He tells us, "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jer. 31:34). They will all know the true God of John 17:3. So they will all experience eternal life!

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the Jeremiah's prophecy. He tells us, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. "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. "For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more" (Heb. 8:10-12).

The Great Awakening is happening before our very eyes. Like the apostle Paul experienced on the road to Damascus, the scales are falling from our eyes. We have been anointed to see again, and to know...

"This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent (John 17:3).


 

This Is Eternal Life - Part 2

At the Last Supper, before Jesus was crucified, he was gathered with the twelve disciples. Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him. After he had dipped the morsel, and gave it to Judas, Satan entered Judas. Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly" (John 13:27).  After Judas departed, Jesus told the eleven disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me (John 14:6). There it is again, life. Jesus is life. Remember John 17:3, "This is eternal life." Jesus is real life. The bread of life (John 6:35). The resurrection, and the life (John 11:25). There's no substitute. He is the reality of everlasting life. Jesus is speaking about both, quality of life, and never-ending, everlasting life. Jesus goes on to say, "If you would have known me you would have known my Father also; from now on you know him and have seen him" (John 14:7). Philip confused by what Jesus said replies, "Lord show us the Father and it is sufficient for us" (John 14:8 NKJV).

In the last post we learned that the sheep know Jesus, and Jesus knows his sheep. The Father and Jesus are one (John 10:30).  The Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father (John 10:38). So where was Philip when Jesus spoke these words? Jesus responds, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, how can you say show us the Father" (John 14:9). Knowing Jesus is knowing the Father. Seeing Jesus is seeing the Father. The Father is revealed in Jesus. Jesus reveals the Father in his person, and in his work. Jesus continues, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me (John 14:11).

Here we see that the eleven disciples also know Jesus, and Jesus said that they know the Father, and have seen him. Remember this is before Pentecost, and before Peter denies Jesus three times; and before the other disciples abandon Jesus. The eleven disciples know Jesus, and the Father. They have seen Jesus, and the Father. According to what Jesus told us in John 17:3, they have eternal life.

The disciples, Peter, James, and John, have a closer relationship to Jesus than the remaining eight. Jesus had  brought the three up into a mountain (Mat. 17:1-9). While they were there they saw a vision of Jesus in his resurrected body. His face shone like the sun, and his garments were as white as light. He appeared with Elijah, and Moses. Peter wanted to build tabernacles for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. Evidently, Peter saw Jesus as an equal to these prophets. Then they heard the Father's voice from heaven declare, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him! (Mat. 17:5). Peter, James, and John had fallen to the ground because they were terrified. When they looked up, they saw only Jesus. Moses, represents the Law, and Elijah the prophets. All the Law, and prophets point to Jesus, and are fulfilled in Jesus. Essentially, the Law and the Prophets tell us what Jesus and the Father tell us. Hear Jesus!

Before Jesus was crucified, he took his disciples with him to the Garden of Gethsemane. He went further on to pray, taking with him his closer friends, Peter, James, and John. Jesus was deeply distressed, and in this difficult time before he was betrayed, and arrested, he sought comfort. But all three of his disciples fell asleep while Jesus was praying (Mark 14:32-42).

John, the beloved disciple had a unique bond with Jesus. After Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him, it was John who leaned on Jesus' chest to ask Jesus who it was that he was referring to. Then, before Jesus died, he gave John the responsibility to care for Mary, Jesus' mother (John 19:25-27).

Mary of Bethany appears to be the only one that understood that Jesus was about to be murdered. Mary was the sister of Martha, and Lazarus. It was Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead. Before Jesus was betrayed, and crucified, Mary anointed Jesus' feet with expensive oil, and then wiped his feet with her hair, preparing Jesus for his burial (John 12:1-8).

Mary the mother of Jesus, did not know a man, but by the Holy Spirit gave birth to the Savior of the world; God incarnate. Jesus was born not from her knowing a man, but from the intimate relationship that she shared with the Holy Spirit. In giving birth to Christ, the whole creation has been made new.  So it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy, the second man is from heaven (1 Cor. 15:45-47 ). 

Mary Magdalene was the first person that witnessed the resurrected Jesus. She came to the tomb early Sunday morning, and found that the stone that was at the entrance of the tomb, had been rolled away. When she entered the tomb. She saw two angels, one at the head, and one at the feet. She was weeping because she thought that someone had taken the body of Jesus. Instead she met the risen Lord. Jesus sent her to the brethren with this announcement: "I ascend to my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God." So Mary went and proclaimed, "I have seen the Lord" (John 20:11-18).

Jesus has revealed some of the mysteries of God. Knowing the true God of John 17:3, is understanding these mysteries. In some mystical way:

                   1) Jesus and the Father are distinct from one another.
                   2) Jesus and the Father are at one.
                   3) Jesus and the Father mutually indwell one another.
                   4) Jesus is the perfect revelation of God the Father; revealing the Father in his person, and in his work.

The final post is next.

This Is Eternal Life

When Jesus came down from heaven, and became a man, he turned religious paradigms upside down. Praying to the Father before he was crucified, he said, "This is eternal life that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3¹ my emphasis²). Jesus was sent by the Father. But why? "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10 NKJV). The life that Jesus was sent to share with us, is the life of God. According to Jesus, knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, is eternal life. 

So we need to clarify two things. What does it mean to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, and secondly, who is this true God that Jesus refers to? 

Let's look at those who know the only true God, and then we can decipher what "know" means. 

In the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; (John 10:14-15). Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows his own, and his own know him. The Father knows Jesus, and Jesus knows the Father. We have a parallel relationship between Jesus, and those who know him, and Jesus and the Father. Jesus is distinct from the Father. Jesus goes on to say, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:27-28). Again, Jesus knows the sheep. In addition, the sheep follow Jesus. So knowing is more than a mind thing. Knowing is responding to Jesus. So we can conclude that the sheep know the true God of John 17:3, because eternal life is knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ. 

The Jews are already confused, and frustrated with Jesus, and his teachings, when Jesus turns all their paradigms upside down by telling them, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). It's then that the Jews pick up stones to stone Jesus. They consider it blasphemy, that Jesus, being a man also makes himself out to be God (John 10:33).  So Jesus is distinct from the Father, but also one with the Father. So far this is what we know about the true God of John 17:3. Jesus goes on to say, "the Father is in me, and I in the Father" (John 10:38). Again the Jews were offended by what Jesus said, and  tried to capture him, but he eluded them. So Jesus and the Father mutually indwell one anther. Jesus and the Father are distinct from one another; at one with one another, and also mutually indwell one another. This is what we know thus far about the true God of John 17:3. 

In the next post I'll pick up where we left off. 

¹All scripture references are New American Standard Bible, (NASB), except where noted. 

² Bold print is my emphasis throughout.

Why Did Jesus Die?

The question of why Jesus died, has everything to do with who Jesus is. Jesus asked the question, "Who do you say that I am?" It was the demons that were the first to recognize Jesus. When Jesus went to the country of the Gerasenes to heal a man who was demon possessed, upon seeing Jesus, the wicked spirits that had possessed the man cried out, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus Son of the Most High God?" (Mark 5:7). 

When Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" they responded, "John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." People in Jesus day were confused about who Jesus was. But when Jesus asked his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied,"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter knew exactly who Jesus was, and Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mat. 16: 13-17). However, after Jesus told his disciples that the Christ must suffer, be killed, and raised on the third day, Peter rebuked him, saying, "God forbid, Lord. This shall never happen to you." 

What Peter, and the disciples did not understand, is that Christ, Messiah, and Son of the Living God, includes suffering, death, and resurrection.  

But why did Jesus have to die? 

God in Christ entered into our rejection of him. He vetoed our no to him. He died our death to destroy sin, and its consequences: pain, suffering, sickness, and death. God united himself to humanity, in the incarnation, in the person of Jesus, and when he died, we died. When he was raised from the dead, we were raised with him. When he ascended to heaven, we ascended with him, and we are seated with him, in heavenly places (see Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:3-4; 1 Cor. 15:3, 13-22, 26, 42-57). 

By his death, Jesus put an end to the Old Covenant, having fulfilled it completely. He established a  better covenant, based on the promise of a new life (Heb 8). Jesus is the pioneer of this new life. Being the Godman, Jesus has fulfilled both sides of the covenant for us, and as us. As God, he says yes to humanity, and as man, he says yes to God. 

The old life in Adam is null and void. We now live in the resurrected life of Christ, participating in the trinitarian life of God, by his grace. 

Watch my video, "Why Did Jesus Die?"

The Death of Religion

The death of religion is good news for all! It was religion that killed Jesus. But God raised Jesus from the dead, and put an end to religion, and death. 

God took ancient Israel into the Promised Land despite their resistance. They refused to enter God's rest. Israel wanted to continue to labor and so does religion today. God has given us the good news of Jesus the Christ. Israel would have rather returned to Egypt (symbolic of religion ) and labor. They would have rather lived in bondage - in slavery. They died in the wilderness because they refused to rest.

God gave Israel the Sabbath. It was a shadow of what was to come in Christ. The lesson from the sabbath was rest. Israel was to rest in the provision of God. The days of their laboring, toiling, and being enslaved were over! They were to enter the Promised Land - a land flowing with milk and honey; a type of rest, or salvation, pointing us to Jesus and his finished work. Realizing that it is finished means that we can rest assured of our salvation because Jesus himself is our salvation, and "he ain't going no wheres."

He "sat down" (Heb. 1:3¹). He has "taken his seat" (Heb. 8:1). He "sat down at the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12). [Jesus] "has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2).

He's not "restless," he's "resting." Sitting is a metaphor for Jesus finishing the job (Heb.4:3,10). Even in unbelief we participate in his life, because his grace is much more than our resistance. Jesus is the meat, the solid food of the gospel. He is what the good news is all about.

Jesus has "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26). "He having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time" Heb. 10:12). "Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin" (Heb. 10:18). "I will remember their sins no more" (Heb. 8:12). "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10).  "For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14).

We are truly free! Praise God! However, our freedom was costly; it cost Jesus his life, and it cost us our life (2 Cor. 5:14-15). That's right, we died together with Christ (Col. 3:3). But the good news is, we've been raised as new creations in Christ. Now here it comes. Are you ready? We're also seated with him in the heavenly realm (Eph.2:5-6). We along with Christ are resting from our toil and labor (Mat. 11:28-30). We are called to fix our eyes on Jesus. Even though the full manifestation of our glory isn't yet visible, the apostle Paul tells us, "When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory" (Col. 3:4).

Religion died when God became man, and lived and died for us, and as us. We enter his rest when we trust in him, and what he has already accomplished. We deny him when we continue to labor, and toil for what he has given us by his grace, and kindness. God has raised us up with him, and now we are called to live in this reality.

Religion is dead because man's attempt to understand God apart from the revelation in Christ Jesus, is dead!

Religion is dead because man's attempt to to see himself apart from the revelation we have in Christ Jesus, is dead!

Religion is dead because man's attempt to draw closer to God apart from the oneness given to us in Christ Jesus, is dead!

Religion is dead because man's attempt to enter the heavenly realm apart from what Christ has already accomplished for us and as us, is dead!

Religion is dead because man's attempt to see and live in Reality apart from the revelation of the new creation  Reality in Christ Jesus, is dead!

Thank God religion is dead. But the good news of Jesus lives and has no end.



¹All scripture references are New American Standard Bible (NASB).

Free, Free, Free

The apostle Paul tells us, "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Gal. 5:1). Are we free to sin? Absolutely not! How can we who died sin any longer? (Rom. 6:1-11). The body of sin, the old man in Adam, has been (past tense), crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). The good news, or the gospel, is that we have been raised up with or in Christ, not after we figured it out, but while we were still sinners - still dead in our sins.

even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together in Christ [two early manuscripts have in Christ not with Christ] (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Eph. 2:5-6 NASB).

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses (Col. 2:13 ESV).

God didn't wait for you to say the sinners prayer!  God didn't wait for you to say the Hail Mary prayer! God didn't wait for you to have a born again experience!

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8 NIV). 

Sin no longer has any claim on us! We are free, free, free, hallelujah, amen! We have been freed from the body of sin, and therefore we are free from sin. However, we are not free to sin. How can we who died sin any longer? 

Oh sure, but you have to believe!

Did your believing have anything to do with Christ being born? Did your believing have anything to do with Christ going to the cross? Did your believing have anything to do with Christ being raised from the dead? We believe what has already happened. We believe what God has already done in Christ Jesus. We believe that what he has done, he has done for everyone.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV).  

We are dead to sin, but alive in Christ Jesus! Therefore we live, and move, and exist in him (Acts 17:28-29). Our life, and our identity is in Christ Jesus who has been raised from the dead and is seated in the heavenly realm. The heavenly realm is the reality of the new creation that exists in Christ. We have been called to live in that reality. There is no other reality. What we see around us, in this world, is a facade, and will disappear when Christ returns to make reality visible.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. 3:10-13 KJV).

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now (Rom. 8:19-22 NASB). 

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2 NASB).

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory (Col.3:4 NASB).

The good news is we are (no one is excluded) new creations in Christ Jesus. It's already done! It's already finished, because God in Christ finished it for us, and as us! We have been raised up not to die in our sins again, but raised up to victory - a brand new life in Christ! This is reality! Now we are called to live in this new creation reality, and to forsake the facade of this world which is quickly fading away, and will soon be no more!