(Edited by Noah Pinson on April 25, 2020)
Diamonds are formed in the midst of intense heat and pressure. They never desire to be released or put in a place where man can call them specimens of beauty.
A son of God is not one who is always seeking the fulfillment of a prophecy or revelation, regardless of the age he is set in. He lives out God’s eternity in time. He is the “prophecy”, the word in flesh, and the revelation; the very manifestation of the life of God, revealed in the Father, unknown to man, but known by God and His holy ones.
Unguided zeal and passion for God, when not directed into the “mystery of Godliness”, will enable some to splash in the river, but never become its source. It can, however, produce Ishmaels of a life remaining to be transformed into true sons. The refusal of man to bid what God the Father desires can prove detrimental, for this is a false idea of belonging. It will always dishonor His peace and disregard His dispensation. It is still in the realm of the flesh, even if it is entitled to and enrolled in many good and spiritual things.
If God is truly good to us, He will have us raised up into the fuller stature of His Son. He will have to deprive us of the freedom of merely playing with the water, however fresh, life-giving, and pure it may be. He will create in us an awareness to discern the difference between receiving the water and becoming one with it. We will not be satisfied by the lesser things of His life. The ministry of angels is great, but greater is the ministry of His Son, from which we derive our name as His Church, the first-borns of the Life of God. Reserved for the ages to come? Yes, but also to be fulfilled and perfected in this lifetime for His good pleasure and approval. A life of abundance, indeed!
The greatest ministries among men, like John the Baptist before Christ, can only baptize man out of the age (spiritual existence) of waters; or like Pentecost after Christ, baptize some with fire and spirit (gifts and power; the anointing). But The Lord desires that His own would be baptized into the fullness of Himself, the Anointed One, and the life of a true son of God. The three are meant to be one, that they might produce and glorify a life that God delights to bestow upon a man when he becomes His perfect son. This man, having now received the Gift, becomes the Gift itself, and will again be offered by his Lord as poured out wine and broken bread to His brothers that they might be established as sons of God. Here, a true son is to empty himself as Christ did, for the sake of others, and to fill up the sufferings of Christ, just as a seed would die to itself in order to produce many more. Here, the greatest transformation happens: God the Father’s love is translated into our love unto our brothers. Brotherly love helps us to know His love, where it might eventually express itself through us. In this, one can truly say one is the life of God in display; not by gifts, nor by miracles, not even by sacrificial acts or attitude, but by the wisdom of His Word and our obedience to it. Paul referred to it as a spiritual law and order, the principle of the life of the Son of God, and the righteousness that comes down from above.
Some of those called by God are chosen by Him to be transformed from “sons taught by God” into “sons that serve their Father”. Without this holiness that is to be set apart in Christ, there will be no engagement in His Priesthood or the business of the Father. The washing water (where we are clothed with a new garment), the purging fire (where our flesh is done away with as a willing sacrifice upon the altar), and the sprinkling of the blood of His life (where the veil of the Holy of Holies is opened so we can draw boldly to the throne of God because of the finished work of Christ) will only lead us to His Ark. Upon the Ark is the eternal enthronement of God, the Father and the Son. We are His footstool where He rests, where angels have to serve, guard, and give honor and praise; and in the Ark (our heart and spiritual being), He will deposit His testimonies.
Even so, we are to ascend to where He is, that we might become co-heirs with Christ Jesus as He sits down at the right hand of the Father. If we have this faith, we are to be glorified in Christ, and as we encompass Him, He will overshadow us and we will become ONE. We will dwell in Him and He will dwell in us.
This perfection can only come when lesser things are done away with. Not by knowledge, nor even through spiritual revelations and heavenly visitations, but by the power of the life of Christ itself. The resurrection power must be exercised in us as His holy ones who will not see decay, as Paul so longed for even unto his last days. May no man imagine that this perfection of holiness and glory can come without His righteousness. Its fulfillment, through the wisdom and faith found in us, is of a divine order of life that comes down from above. With it, He divinely rules in us and in all creation as we live unto His divine nature and learn to rule with Him in ourselves and in His Kingdom. This is what it means to “reign” over the earthly makeups of our natural man and to overcome all authorities and powers in heaven and on earth. The natural shall be transformed into the spiritual. Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Living God.
Angels shall have no part in the ministry of this life, for it is reserved for the sons of God. Prophecies will cease, or rather be fulfilled, for the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy. That is, it will not tend to the needs of man or dictate the events of the age of man, which will pass away; rather, it will disclose the powers for the ages to come, the realities that are hidden in Christ Jesus as the Son of God. He is the first-born of the lineage of God, the first-fruit among many of His brothers who are to be revealed in Him and with Him in the ages to come. Who are the ones that the Lord Jesus calls His brothers? Those who do the will of His Father. In this, we shall call no one Father but our God, receive no one as Teacher but our Lord, be named by no other name but the name of a son of God, put on no titles or honors from below, but be officiated from the Highest as sons who serve the Father in Heaven under in the priesthood of Christ Jesus–the ministry of the Word of Eternal Life.
So what are we becoming if the newness of Christ in our time is being fulfilled in us? We are being matured as the sons of God. No more, no less. And let us pray that we will desire no more and no less. In Him, we live, move, and exist. We do not serve the interests of man, but the interests of God our Father.
In this, the good will be changed into the BEST, which is already in our midst if we believe. Therefore, we become His people, as He is our God.
