“A Voice for the Gathering Saints”
Duane Stewart
God’s Created Man
“Part seven of ten”In the processes of God in maturing His created man, that man is being justified through his faith in God. To become “justified” means to be set forth as righteous. It is a legal term signifying to acquit. This means that we have been set free from the bondage of our former fallen nature life, to be birthed again into a standing of righteousness before God, which is the enabling principle that causes us to desire to obey Him in all things. Not to remain just a desire only, but bringing forth a manifestation of obedience that brings forth reality in that person’s life. These truths bring believers to that place of genuine freedom, where we are now free to obey God. Not to obtain His favor only, because He has already given us His favor. Remember, justification is ours because of what Christ has done, being loosed into the joy of knowing His friendship and Kingship. It is God’s truth that brings change, not by threatening us, but by lavishing His love upon us. Being justified releases us, to allow the Holy Spirit within to will and do God’s good pleasure. Phil. 2:13 says, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure“.
Mankind then is being justified by faith, a “faith” in the living, and divinely implanted principle of God, which then enables God in the fulfilling of His divine purpose in us. Rom. 5:1-5 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” The just, those being justified, live a life of faith, wherein righteousness reveals the Christ-life in us. This Christ-life manifests and reveals the nature of God that He might appear through His receiving sons. “Reveal” means “to unveil so as to be visible to the eye”. Thus, Christ shall appear in the earth again. Rom. 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for every one who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith“.
Herein, the law of love, that which God is, when received, it becomes the law which transforms every condition and all things of the carnal mind. Wherein we once stood in the sinfulness of the self life, love begins and continues, until it is finished, to transform our nature as we partake of the fruit of the tree of life. Rev. 2:4 & 7, “Nevertheless I have this against you that you have left your first love …He, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God“. The word “overcome” is military terminology, suggesting combat against the forces of an evil one. To those who remain faithful in the midst of persecution and the many doctrinal errors of today’s religions, these give proof to their faith. The “tree of life” symbolizes spiritual sustenance given to maintain the God life within. Again, love is the enabler, the door opener that enables us to eat the fruit of the tree of life. Rev. 22:14, “Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city“. The direct translation of “do His commandments” is “wash their robes”. This is speaking of the process and the finishing up of the act of being completely sanctified. (Read Rev. 7:9-17).
Let us remember, that man is spirit. We are spirit placed within a body of flesh. Our spirit remains in this body of flesh until the time of death, at which time the body and spirit separate. Ecclesiastes 12:7 states, “Then the dust (body) will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it“. Yes, the body dies and the spirit returns to God with one exception. Unto that one who is truly born of the Spirit, he can experience and achieve an inseparable condition. There is a natural birth and there is a spiritual birth. This spiritual birth enables us to enter into a new realm, a realm where God’s new kingdom order can be realized. In this realm, the things of the earth can no longer make us prisoners or hold us in bondage. Herein, we are free to manifest that which is of God’s new kingdom order. II Cor. 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new“. This new creation man is more than simply being saved, the forgiveness of sins. It is a qualifying experience, opening up the possibilities of our whole being to the supernatural dimension of life and fitting us for a beginning in God’s kingdom order. For this cause, we must be born of the Spirit. John 3:5-8, “Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit“. This Spiritual birth is a birth that affects the spirit, soul and body. Enabling the vessel to, like the wind, move from place to place as God sends them.
When God breathed into man and he became a living soul, man received from God, in the beginning, the truth which God is. Before the fall, the truth was the foundation of mans being and existence. In the fall, man separated from God and lost the knowledge of who he really was. Darkness began to cover him, as he lost sight of the glorious light of God’s truth, to become ignorant and unaware of his own divine nature. But a new birth awakens this man to the freedom of a spiritual life, as truth stands the man up to be renewed in the supernatural realm, which is God dwelling in him. John 8:31-32, “….If you abide in my word (truth), you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“. Sin, the separator of body and spirit shall be disannulled. Deliverance is come and our bodies shall be redeemed. Rom. 8:21-23, “Because the creature itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption (decay) into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body“.
How shall these things be? Through obedience, the power of God gives unto us all the things that pertain to godliness. The promises have been given, the Holy Spirit is the teacher to lead and guide us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is the teacher given to awaken in us the truth as to who we are in God that Christ might come forth and manifest Himself through the body of His people, the body of Christ. II Peter 1:3-4 confirms this truth, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Amen and amen, according to your Word O Lord, let it be. As this new man stands forth in his new creation, the truth of God is manifested as His nature comes forth through this new created man. God is thus revealed throughout the earth. Is it not first God revealing the Christ in us, then maturity places us in Christ, that we all might manifest the Christ unto all we come into contact with. In this, the body of Christ, the coming forth of the man-child shall, with Christ the Head, establish the kingdom of God unto the entire world.