[Printable version]
[Also published in Nuggets for the Needy]
Omega Message – December 1982
Mavis M. duCille
Job 42:5-6 “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Recent thoughts and observations of the Christian walk, beget questions, demanding answers which throw some light on Paul’s statement that, “…some walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.” (Phil. 3:13) Gradually as truth avails itself there is an unveiling of the confused state of the Christian world today.
Certain facts are indisputable: The Father and the Son existed before the beginning; then God said, “Let us make man in our own image and likeness.” Man was made in God’s image, but before he could take on His likeness, the serpent came into the picture and beguiled Eve, causing her to disobey. They did not partake of the TREE OF LIFE, and consequently were driven from the garden.
God has never fallen short in His plan for man’s redemption, and neither has Satan ceased in his endeavour to rob man of this glory.
It is abundantly clear in the scripture that when God unveils himself dispensationally to different generations, some recognize, honour and glorify him as God, giving thanks, while some reasoned, applied vain imaginations and foolish and irrational speculations, getting their minds darkened, thus missing the glory, majesty and excellency of the eternal God.
When Adam and Eve left the garden, they lost the ability to communicate with the Creator on a certain level; to enjoy good exclusively. He gave up obedience and lost the mandate to have dominion over every living thing and to subdue the earth. Because the image of Satan, who hates God and man alike, was superimposed upon man, causing him to know good and evil, hence the perversity of the human heart; then it became absolutely necessary for man to totally embrace God’s provision for deliverance from this bondage, which is Jesus Christ and all his attributes manifested through all the ages and the universe.
The man who recognizes and loves God will recognize and love his fellowman. Even as the fall overthrew the true dignity of man, so shall the other crucial event, which is the coming of Jesus Christ, redeem and save all mankind.
God has made provision for every man in every dispensation. Some recognize and accept with joy, while others reject though they prove his power and might. When man submits to god, then good is brought forth – Mercy for judgment; compassion for condemnation; joy for sorrow; love for hate; happiness for misery; life for death; peace in the midst of the storm; strength for weakness, and on and on.
Just a look at Jesus turns night to day, darkness to light.
This paradox is at the core of true Christian experience. It is invariably manifested in the course of personal trials. Just think how many times the impossible is all that is seen: A great mountain in the path, when one cries out in distress or despair, then the Captain of our soul, instead of removing the mountain, simply lifts us above the situation. Oh! Never a mountain too high or valley too deep, or any situation one can think of too dread, that is impossible for him. He specializes in things seemed impossible. The Christian walk is not for God to be continuously removing our problems as much as to teach us how to rise above them, where we can see JESUS who gives the victory.
No wonder that children of God are taught to turn the other cheek when smitten, smite not again, love them that hate you, do good to them that despitefully use you and persecute you, forgive seventy times seven and all the other seemingly impossible things – Ah yes, Paul said, “……not I but Christ,” (Gal. 2:20) – Look at Jesus.
To be reckoned righteous is to touch God when our hearts see JESUS. It is not so much the idea that we have been brought into a salvation experience by asking Jesus into our hearts; it is by far greater, it is that our hearts SEE HIM, that we can make that adequate presentation of ourselves to Him, to meet him and make personal contact. This gives inner strength, fortitude, confidence and power over the power of the enemy.
When we really see Jesus – Head of the Body – we can humbly take our place in submission, to receive as well as to contribute, that we might save and bless one another.
It is unfortunate that many hear of him but not many SEE HIM. When one sees him the inner man is illuminated with his glory and a transformation process begins.
Where there is space for hate and strife etc. it is a manifestation that the believer has not seen Jesus. When we see Him we can find our place in His Body since there is no member of the Body that is against the other. In the physical body all the members work in harmony because they are under the command of the head.
James 3:16 “Where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work.”
When one sees Jesus he is able to apply Christ-likeness to a situation rather than soulishness, as the scripture says,
I John 1:7 “If you walk in the light as He is in the light we will have fellowship one with another,….”
If we do not see Jesus as he is we frustrate God’s plan of redemption in bringing man back to the God-consciousness which Adam lost. Seeing Jesus is a consciousness, and awareness of God’s glory and righteousness in all things, and there is no space left in ones life for part time Christianity.
Paul saw Jesus and he said, “I am a prisoner of Christ”, (Eph. 3:1) not that Christ had taken him prisoner, but that he wanted nothing else in life but to be a prisoner of Christ. It is finding the pearl of greatest price, and you sell all to obtain it. It is more than just salvation. Salvation is the beginning, but this is the ultimate. The sole purpose for which Jesus came is that we might be transformed into his likeness, be made into his likeness. The only way we can be made into his likeness is when we are able to see Jesus:
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all as with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Philippians 3:21 “Who will transform and fashion anew the body of our humiliation to conform it and be like the body of his glory and majesty by exerting that power which enables him even to subject everything to himself.”
Colossians 3:10 “And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
2 Peter 1:4 (Ampl.) “By means of these he has bestowed on us his precious and exceedingly great promises so that through them you may escape by flight from the moral decay, rottenness and corruption that is in the world because of covetness and envy and become sharers or partakers of the divine nature.”
I John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
This is final, if we do not begin to see him now we will not be able to see him at all. The seeing of him in his righteousness, in his love and in all his attributes, not just looking physically at the word, but the seeing of the heart. When the heart sees Christ then the life begins to manifest. If you think that you are seeing him or say that you are seeing him and your life does not manifest his glory, his righteousness, then you are being deceived.
No form, no creed, no regimentation, no discipling will cause you to manifest his glory. It is basically a heart condition, a heart going after that which it has seen in Christ, determined to bring forth that Christ in the earth.
I John 3:3 “Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure.”
A very important thought is in the 6th verse:
I John 3:6 “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not SEEN HIM, neither knoweth him.”
I John 3:6 (Ampl.) “No one who abides in Him – who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him, (deliberately and knowingly) habitually commits (practices) sin. No one who habitually sins has either SEEN or KNOWN Him – recognized, perceived or understood Him, or has had an experimental acquaintance with Him.”
