“A Voice for the Gathering Saints”
Duane Stewart
God’s Created Man
“Part eight of ten”Scripture tells us that there is a way that seems right to man but it is a way that leads to destruction. But the word of God also declares, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). How do we seek after the things of God’s Kingdom? Firstly, by recognizing that you cannot walk the kingdom way unless you determine that God’s will, purpose, and glory is your first priority as you seek Him out. This can be accomplished by turning to the truth, the word of God, which brings forth an anointing when given, the man might understand God’s will and His way’s. When having an understanding we then began to recognize God’s way and to know the hearing of His voice. The Kingdom of God is all truth and all powerful and we can enter into it by desiring, asking, and being true to God’s revealed truth. Psalms 119:17-19 reveals such an open heart, “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from your law (God’s covenant nature). I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide your commandments from me”.
It is, man himself, who has the ability to choose the level of existence that he desires to live, meaning that man is living after a death and life principle which is already at work in creation. Any seed when planted, must give itself up to a death process so that a new life can emerge in the form of fruit. Like a seed, our present physical bodies potentially contain the resurrected body that shall come forth and the resurrected body will not be subject to death. It will be beautiful and perfect. It will have unlimited capabilities as it adapts to a life in the spiritual realm. A spiritual body does not mean an immaterial body, but it does mean one that is adaptable to the realities of the kingdom. (Read I Cor. 15:35-44). Note verses 39 and 40, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another”. In this scripture we can see that there are three different bodies made available to man. That is a flesh body, the terrestrial body, and the celestial body.
The “flesh body” is that one borne unto man whose life is lived after the emotional cravings of the carnal man, consisting of his carnal flesh and all its attributes and appetites. Rom. 8:5-8, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God”. This reveals that the flesh man is a man who walks the path of pursuing his own lusts, his own physical desires and his many unproved beliefs. He walks in the realm of death, unable to obey or please God. We should understand what is always behind anything the world offers us. Recognize, that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is the basis for all sin, and sin had it’s beginning in the Garden of Eden when Eve yielded to the first temptation I John 2:15-17 declares, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever”. God created the world and Adam, but Adam, through Eve, loved the world more than God. He had a fall from God’s heavenly Eden to now know a living in a sin-cursed world. Herein, this flesh man remains unfulfilled, with a life that remains as a roller coaster ride of lusting after the outside, emotional, and a carnal level way of life.
The “terrestrial body” is that man of the earthly realm with the mentality to think and has chosen to do so. It is here, in the thinking mode, that a renewing can take place as we choose to follow after the things of God as He ministers them to us. Rom. 12:1-2 states, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. The word “world” in this verse denotes “the age”. It is by the renewing of the mind, by a renovation that results as we choose to depart from the god of this age and yield to the God of all creation. We are to present all that we are as a living sacrifice, holy to God. We are to let our life be a daily expression of worship. We are not to live according to the ways of the world, but to allow truth as revealed from God to transform our minds. We are then to think and act according to God’s will and way every day.
Thinking involves a process of choosing, eliminating and proving. As one proves or experiences the truth, he comes into a knowing as to the fulfillment and fullness of that revealed truth. Eph. 3:16-19, “that He (Christ Jesus) would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”. This scripture speaks of becoming mighty in God, according to His power, as the Holy Spirit brings the power of God to work in our lives. To “comprehend” means to receive experientially and not simply to understand intellectually. “All the fullness of God” speaks of more than one experience or one aspect of God’s truth or power. It points to a broad-based spirituality, balanced through participating in all of God’s blessings, resources, and wisdom. It is when a vessel enters into the realm of knowing God and His mercy that emotions are brought under control. While the flesh man reacts to things from the nature of a beast, God’s word again reminds us that, “If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. (John 8:31-32). God then brings the vessel from being moved by a beast-nature, the flesh man, to moving according to the mind of Christ. This terrestrial bodied man is one that is living a progressive sanctifying life.
The “celestial body” is that man of the heavenly supernatural realm whose conscious mind has joined with the super-conscious mind of God. Herein, our complete value system changes. No longer do we desire the things of this world or this age, for our mind-set is now caught up to dwell among the heavenlies. No longer are our treasures of an earth bound nature. But because our hearts, our lives are now supported and energized, only by heavenly treasures, we dwell and exist only for the heavenlies. This does not mean a people that are living in an invisible body, but they do live in that which is visible that they might glorify God in a glorified existence, a spiritual body. In Matt. 6:19-21 we are cautioned to, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Remind yourselves where the heavens are. They are living within the saved, sanctified, reborn man who lives unto God, with his complete spirit, soul, and body and it is God who dwells in His heavens. It is here that peace which passes all understanding dwells. Love goes beyond all thought and herein one knows the truth for he will experience it.
Christ declares in John 16:13-16 that, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that He will take of mine and declare it to you. A little while, and you will not see me; and again a little while, and you will see Me. because I go to the Father”. In this verse the first “see” means to “bodily behold” while the second “see” means “not so much the act of seeing, but the state and condition of the one to whose eye the object is presented. Hence, to truly comprehend”. Herein, stand the elect. Those who do not fail to yield to the light communicated from heaven to the mind. (Read II Peter 1:3-11). This is our promised land, the Holy of Holies, and the secret place of the Most High. We have been called for such a time as this. The choice for our dwelling place to live is set before us, therefore choose life in God and live. Man is being birthed again to not walk in the nature of the earth realm forever, but to dwell in the realm of a heavenly nature, the promise of a celestial body, to dwell in the presence of the Father, our God, forever.