INTERLUDE: FINAL FLESH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6l1kpJ0x5k
[Verse 1]
I'm trying hard not to think you unkind
But Heavenly Father
If you know my heart
Maybe you can read my mind
Good people underneath the sea of grief
Some get up and walk away
Some will find ultimate relief
[Chorus]
Home free
Eventually
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
Home free
Oh, I gotta feeling
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
[Verse 2]
Out in the corridors we pray for life
A mother for her baby, A husband for his wife
Sometimes the good die young
It's sad but true
Though we pray for one more heartbeat
The real comfort is with you
They say pain has little mercy
And suffering's no respecter of age or religion
I know every prayer gets answered
But the hardest one to pray is slow to come
Oh Lord, not mine, but Thy will be done
Let it be...
[Chorus]
Home free
Eventually
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
Home free
Oh, I gotta feeling
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
At the Rapture, whether we call it that or the Second Coming or anything in any language we happen on, we achieve the great hope of the Church, we are changed, in the twinkling of an eye:
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? {grave: or, hell}
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
(KJV)
These verses form the basis of this post.
First, we spent time in this blog discussing the marvel of this device called the human body and the ways we are trying to improve it with medicines and scientific devising like CrispR genetic research which we discussed roughly a year ago and just got mentioned on CBS This Morning this week. The nature of the first couples genetics and how they could easily have had all the genetic makeup that we all share and how Jesus' mother Mary could have had all those elements in her body even as science suggests a modern Puerto Rican woman could have that makeup, that genetic composite of all humanity. Our human way of combating the corrupted nature of our flesh.
We know every day and in everything we do that this body IS corrupted. We can forget it when we move easily and when we watch the professional athletes of any sport run, field, bat, catch a ball, kick one. So we can believe in youth and in good health that the body is in fact already eternal and indestructible.
But that is in the nature of the corrupt mind.
Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. {soberly: Gr. to sobriety}
(KJV)
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-renewed-mind-and-how-to-have-it
The mind can begin the transfiguration even before we will be physically changed to be like Him.
1Jo 3:1 See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was.
2 My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself holy, even as he is holy.
(BBE)
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
(KJV)
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free.
18 But we all, with unveiled face giving back as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit.
(BBE)
Ro 8:28 And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.
29 Because those of whom he had knowledge before they came into existence, were marked out by him to be made like his Son, so that he might be the first among a band of brothers:
30 And those who were marked out by him were named; and those who were named were given righteousness; and to those to whom he gave righteousness, in the same way he gave glory.
(BBE)
I include that last to let us see that that "band of brothers" arrives AFTER the Rapture and to emphasize that we need to be taught correctly to actually have our minds transformed by the spirit, not by us no matter how much our corrupt minds might tell us that. We need to recall also that our corrupt minds can take a seemingly Christian teaching and misuse it as we've already discussed in detail concerning the "Sons of God" movement.
Let John Stott clarify this teaching on transformation of the mind:
https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/july-august-2010/becoming-like-christ/
I remember vividly the major question that perplexed me (and my friends) as a young Christian. It was this: What is God’s purpose for His people? Granted we had been converted, but what next?
Of course we knew the famous statement of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, that “man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” We also toyed with a yet briefer statement of only five words such as “love God, love your neighbor.”
But neither seemed wholly satisfactory. So I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth. It is this: God wants His people to become like Christ, for Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.
The Biblical Basis of the Call to Christlikeness
The biblical basis for the call to Christlikeness consists of three texts which we will do well to hold together: Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 1 John 3:2.
The first is Romans 8:29: God has “predestined [His people] to be conformed to the image of his Son.” When Adam fell, he lost much, though not all, of the divine image in which he had been created. But God has restored it in Christ. Conformity to the image of God means to be like Jesus, and Christlikeness is the eternal predestinating purpose of God.
The second text is 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate [or reflect] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed [or changed] into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The perspective has changed—from the past to the present; from God’s eternal predestination to His present transformation of us by His Holy Spirit; from God’s eternal purpose to make us like Christ, to His historical work by His Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ.
The third text is 1 John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” And if God is working to this end, it is no wonder He calls us to cooperate with Him. “Follow me,” He says. “Imitate me.”
We don’t know in any detail what we shall be, but we do know that we will be like Christ. And there’s really no need for us to know any more. We are content with the glorious truth that we will be with Christ and like Christ.
Here then are three perspectives (past, present and future) that are all pointing in the same direction: God’s eternal purpose (we have been predestined), God’s historical purpose (we are being changed, transformed by the Holy Spirit), and God’s final eschatological purpose (we will be like Him). These all combine toward the same end—Christlikeness, for Christlikeness is the purpose of God for the people of God.
I want now to move on to illustrate this truth with a number of New Testament examples. But first, a general statement from 1 John 2:6: “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” If we claim to be Christian, we must be like Christ.
(Then Stott goes on to pursue how we are to be like Him, Please note that he quotes from Philippians and we'll get back to that. I include so much of this because it is the most precise telling I could find. W )
We are to be like Christ in His incarnation. Some may immediately recoil with horror from such an idea. “Surely,” you may say, “the incarnation was an altogether unique event and cannot be imitated.”
The answer is yes and no. It is yes in the sense that the Son of God took our humanity to Himself in Jesus of Nazareth, once and for all and never to be repeated, but no in the sense that we are all called to follow the example of His great humanity. So Paul could write in Philippians 2:5-8:
“Have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
We are to be like Christ in His service. Come with me to the upper room where He spent His last evening with His disciples. During supper He took off His outer garments, tied a towel around Him, poured water into a basin and washed His disciples’ feet. When He had finished, He resumed His place and said: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).
Just as Jesus performed what in His culture was the work of a slave, so we in our cultures must regard no task too menial or degrading to undertake.
We are to be like Christ in His love. As Paul wrote: “Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2, NIV). To “live a life of love” is a command that all our behavior should be characterized by love, but “gave himself” for us is a clear reference to the cross. So Paul is urging us to be like Christ in His death, to love with Calvary love.
Do you see what is happening? Paul is urging us to be like the Christ of the incarnation, the Christ of the foot washing and the Christ of the cross. These events in the life of Christ indicate clearly what Christlikeness means in practice.
We are to be like Christ in His patient endurance. In this next example we consider the teaching of Peter. Every chapter of Peter’s first letter contains an allusion to suffering for Christ, for the background of the letter is the beginnings of persecution. In chapter two, in particular, Peter urges Christian slaves—if punished unjustly—to bear it, not to repay evil for evil (1 Peter 2:18).
We have been called to suffering because Christ also suffered, leaving us an example so that we may follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). This call to Christlikeness in suffering unjustly may well become increasingly relevant as persecution increases in many cultures today.
We are to be like Christ in His mission. In prayer, Jesus said to His Father, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18); and in commissioning, He said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).
These words are immensely significant. This is not just the version of the Great Commission recorded in John’s Gospel, it is also an instruction that their mission in the world was to resemble Christ’s. In what respect? The key words are “sent into the world.” That is, as Christ had to enter our world, so we are to enter other people’s worlds.
It was eloquently explained by Archbishop Michael Ramsey when he said: “We state and commend the faith only in so far as we go out and put ourselves inside the doubts of the doubters, the questions of the questioners and the loneliness of those who have lost their way.”
This entering into other people’s worlds is exactly what we mean by incarnational mission, and all authentic mission is incarnational. We are to be like Christ in His mission.
Here then are perhaps the five main ways in which we are to be Christlike: we are to be like Christ in His incarnation, in His service, in His love, in His endurance and in His mission.
You may rightfully say to me, "But this is supposed to be about our Final Flesh, about the Rapture, what has all this being mentally transformed now have to do with that?
1) The transformation here is the beginning process of what is to be later. We are preparing ourselves for the life that is to come living with God mentally as well as in that new body.
2) We are commanded to do it and we are enabled by the Spirit to do it so we should do it in obedience, acting as the slave of God as Christ did. I taught on all those fruit and gifts of the Spirit to help prepare you for the use of the gifts and the production of fruit. Some churches seem to teach those things to get their congregations to work on the church committees. Really most are teaching them to get their people to use those gifts. Many are also not always prepared for those gifts to lead people into the field for evangelizing if that act doesn't fill their pews.
3) We learn to be like Christ NOW, in this proving ground of sin, against the odds of success and every success PROVES God to those around us, lures them to follow Him by the transformation they see in us. Philippians stresses the change into a slave, a total follower of God. Philippians 2:1-11
Php 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. {fashion: or habit}
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(KJV)
We become the living examples to draw people to the magnet of Christ, the majesty of Christ. And salvation. And THEIR part in the Rapture. I have found the more I conform to the world an any way, at those points at which I fail, the more I don't lure people to Christ. We miss out on the mission by not following our leader. The more we reach for false goals, the more we fall short of HIS goals.
4) But now we arrive at the simple truth of this life: we are here to ready ourselves and the rest around us for the transformation. Every second we live for Him is meant as prep for our eternal existence with Him. We are to be living for the time we will live forever with Him, not for the time we rule but when He rules: "THY Kingdom come, THY will be done." We are to exist now for the way we will exist then. With total love for Him expressed by total obedience to Him. Saying simply, "I have only done what I was supposed to do."
Now consider why God would welcome other Kings when he is King, his Son is King?
However He will welcome Princes:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/revelation/related-topics/millennial-reign-of-the-saints.html
As we saw above, Revelation Rev. 20:4+ mentions resurrected saints who rule and reign with Christ. Many other passages, both in the OT and NT, indicate the saints will co-rule with their Lord. Isaiah indicates a coming righteous reign where princes will rule with Messiah:
Daniel received detailed revelation concerning the timing and reality of the rule of the saints. It does not occur until after the Beast is destroyed, just as the book of Revelation records (Rev. Rev. 19:20+). We know from Revelation Rev. 19:1+ that the Beast is destroyed at the Second Coming of Christ, therefore the reign of the saints has not yet come:
Our reign is beside Him, as the bride. Drawing our rights and power based on relationship. Another reason relationships matter so much in His commands to us. He will rule for the Millennium as a separate part of the Godhead.
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (Rev. Rev. 3:21+)
This particular verse is very important because it shows the high degree of authority believers will have with Jesus. It also indicates that in approximately A.D. 95, when Jesus spoke these words, He was not on His own throne! This is a very important point to understand: the throne He will be taking is the throne of David (Mtt. Mat. 25:31) and it is on earth. Although we have been made kings and priests (or a kingdom, priests to God—see commentary on Revelation 5:10), our reign is future and initially upon the earth:
Stott, in the end of his article above quotes William Temple:
“It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t. And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like his. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like His.”
And concludes: "God’s purpose is to make us like Christ, and God’s way is to fill us with His Holy Spirit."
All that life we have lived is to be given to Christ to use as He chooses and to His ends. The seeking after other things is merely a reflection of the corruption still abounding in us.
But I want you to truly consider this for the first time, perhaps. We do have some few examples of what Christ is like in his transformed body.
https://bible.org/seriespage/15-christ-his-resurrection
The resurrection body of Christ changed. After His resurrection Christ manifested certain characteristics which were not seen before His death. Though there seems to be little question in the Bible of the identity of the resurrection body, new qualities were added which distinguished it from the body laid in the tomb.
1. Christ in His resurrection body had a newness of life and a deliverance from the sufferings of His death to such an extent that on several occasions His recognition was somewhat delayed as in the case of Mary Magdalene who mistook Him for the gardener and the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:31; John 20:15). The delay in recognition, however, is explained by other factors and is no greater than one would naturally expect considering the tremendous transformation of resurrection.
2. The ordinary limitations of transportation and distance did not seem to restrict Christ after His resurrection. Though before His death He would become weary from long journeys, there is no evidence that His various appearances to His disciples required such ordinary means of transportation. He apparently was delivered from many of the limitations of time and space.
3. The resurrection body of Christ was characterized as having flesh and bones, but He did not seem to be restricted by physical barriers. This is evident in the fact that He could enter closed rooms without apparent difficulty (Luke 24:36; John 20:19).
4. Christ was able to appear and disappear at will after His resurrection (Luke 24:17; John 20:19).
5. No proof is offered in the Scriptures that the resurrection body of Christ required either rest or food to sustain it. Though He could eat, there is no evidence that He needed food to supply nourishment, and there is no mention of Christ sleeping after His resurrection. In so far as Christ’s resurrection body accommodated itself to the conditions of time and space, it was in keeping with the evident purpose of Christ to minister to His disciples prior to His ascension. Some of the features of a resurrection body which were ultimately His such as the glory of heaven were delayed in manifestation.
The glory of the resurrection body. Although many of the features of the resurrection body of Christ are revealed in the Scriptures immediately after His resurrection, it is evident that some aspects are delayed in manifestation until after His ascension. During the forty days of His ministry between the resurrection and His ascension, there was no unusual outward appearance of glory such as had occurred prior to His death on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is evident that His ultimate glory is veiled in order to make possible a ministry to His disciples in scenes of earth. After His ascension into heaven, Christ never appears again apart from His glory. In Acts 7:56, Phillip saw Christ standing at the right hand of the Father in the midst of the glory of God. In the appearance of Christ to Paul recorded in Acts 9:3-6, the glory of Christ was such that Paul was blinded. A similar experience befell the Apostle John in Revelation 1:12-20, where John fell at the feet of Christ as one dead when He beheld the glory of Christ in His resurrection. From these indications, it is safe to conclude that the resurrection body of Christ possesses an intrinsic glory which mortal man cannot behold under ordinary circumstances. This glory was temporarily veiled until the time of Christ’s ascension, but is now a permanent aspect of His resurrection body. The hope of believers for a resurrection body includes not only the features of the resurrection body manifested in Christ prior to the ascension, but also that our resurrection bodies will be glorious and suited for the glorious presence of God. In the case of believers the resurrection body not only includes the physical and visible aspects attributed to Christ but also that our resurrection body will be similar (Eph 5:27; Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
Eph 5:26 So that he might make it holy, having made it clean with the washing of water by the word,
27 And might take it for himself, a church full of glory, not having one mark or fold or any such thing; but that it might be holy and complete.
(BBE)
Php 3:20 For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 By whom this poor body of ours will be changed into the image of the body of his glory, in the measure of the working by which he is able to put all things under himself.
(BBE)
1Jo 3:1 See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was.
2 My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.
(BBE)
All of that said, I want you to ponder: we will have reflective glory like the moon and some sort of power over time and space. No need of the physical though apparently able to share that physical satisfaction of eating and other senses. We will be perfect in our fullness of God's blessing.
What is to keep us from using that power to go back in time and witness directly to those we lost? I ache when I think of my father, lost forever despite all his friends and neighbors being saved and blessed forever. I would love to go back and persuade him in my perfect body to come to Christ. Yet, there seems to be no mention of any such thing in the End. None of the saved will do that because, for whatever reason, it is not the will of God. but it may be in our power and that element of Satan, of temptation to do what WE think is best, even as Satan convinced himself it was best to overthrow God, to rule in His place, could overpower any but the obedient, any but those who have chosen a path to not seek their way their personal desires over His own designs.
All of this life is meant to shape us to spend an eternity using the power Christ has bestowed on us to serve and to follow, to praise and obey. We are in the warm up act because the greatness of what he means to bestow upon us is so powerful we must be taught NOW how to approach it, how to act in His will, to know it every second of eternity as we allow him to train us to know it every second of living here. For those who teach the notions of dominion, they need to learn who really has Dominion. And how He gave us this training ground to spare us the Tribulation training grounds which will be much harder and perhaps impossible for all.
Time to take seriously what so many of us, myself included, so often think of as optional.
So we may grasp and live in His glory, made over like Him to serve whatever is God's eventual purpose. I have said we live in THE TWO TOWERS not completely informed of what went before or knowing in too much detail what is to come. We perceive the shadows "through a glass darkly." THEN we shall see clearly. NOW we are to prepare the eyes to see, not think we see all the plan.
So at the Rapture, we will be changed, we will be with Him, set apart from the coming Tribulation. I will spend some time making that term, all the terms we are about to discuss clearer, from Antichirst to whore of Babylon as we examine the gleaning, the bringing in of the final sheafs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6l1kpJ0x5k
[Verse 1]
I'm trying hard not to think you unkind
But Heavenly Father
If you know my heart
Maybe you can read my mind
Good people underneath the sea of grief
Some get up and walk away
Some will find ultimate relief
[Chorus]
Home free
Eventually
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
Home free
Oh, I gotta feeling
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
[Verse 2]
Out in the corridors we pray for life
A mother for her baby, A husband for his wife
Sometimes the good die young
It's sad but true
Though we pray for one more heartbeat
The real comfort is with you
They say pain has little mercy
And suffering's no respecter of age or religion
I know every prayer gets answered
But the hardest one to pray is slow to come
Oh Lord, not mine, but Thy will be done
Let it be...
[Chorus]
Home free
Eventually
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
Home free
Oh, I gotta feeling
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free
At the Rapture, whether we call it that or the Second Coming or anything in any language we happen on, we achieve the great hope of the Church, we are changed, in the twinkling of an eye:
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? {grave: or, hell}
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
(KJV)
These verses form the basis of this post.
First, we spent time in this blog discussing the marvel of this device called the human body and the ways we are trying to improve it with medicines and scientific devising like CrispR genetic research which we discussed roughly a year ago and just got mentioned on CBS This Morning this week. The nature of the first couples genetics and how they could easily have had all the genetic makeup that we all share and how Jesus' mother Mary could have had all those elements in her body even as science suggests a modern Puerto Rican woman could have that makeup, that genetic composite of all humanity. Our human way of combating the corrupted nature of our flesh.
We know every day and in everything we do that this body IS corrupted. We can forget it when we move easily and when we watch the professional athletes of any sport run, field, bat, catch a ball, kick one. So we can believe in youth and in good health that the body is in fact already eternal and indestructible.
But that is in the nature of the corrupt mind.
Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. {soberly: Gr. to sobriety}
(KJV)
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-renewed-mind-and-how-to-have-it
But today I want to focus on the phrase in Romans 12:2, “by the renewal of your mind.” Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We are perfectly useless as Christ-exalting Christians if all we do is conform to the world around us. And the key to not wasting our lives with this kind of success and prosperity, Paul says, is being transformed. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.”
That word is used one time in all the gospels, namely, about Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration (the mountain of “transformation” — same word, metemorphōthē): “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2).
The Transformation Is Not Just External
I point this out for one reason: to make the point that the nonconformity to the world does not primarily mean the external avoidance of worldly behaviors. That’s included. But you can avoid all kinds of worldly behaviors and not be transformed. “His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became white as light!” Something like that happens to us spiritually and morally. Mentally, first on the inside and then, later at the resurrection on the outside. So Jesus says of us, at the resurrection: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43).
Transformation is not switching from the to-do list of the flesh to the to-do list of the law. When Paul replaces the list — the works — of the flesh, he does not replace it with the works of the law, but the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19–22).
The Christian alternative to immoral behaviors is not a new list of moral behaviors. It is the triumphant power and transformation of the Holy Spirit.
The mind can begin the transfiguration even before we will be physically changed to be like Him.
1Jo 3:1 See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was.
2 My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself holy, even as he is holy.
(BBE)
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
(KJV)
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free.
18 But we all, with unveiled face giving back as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit.
(BBE)
Ro 8:28 And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.
29 Because those of whom he had knowledge before they came into existence, were marked out by him to be made like his Son, so that he might be the first among a band of brothers:
30 And those who were marked out by him were named; and those who were named were given righteousness; and to those to whom he gave righteousness, in the same way he gave glory.
(BBE)
I include that last to let us see that that "band of brothers" arrives AFTER the Rapture and to emphasize that we need to be taught correctly to actually have our minds transformed by the spirit, not by us no matter how much our corrupt minds might tell us that. We need to recall also that our corrupt minds can take a seemingly Christian teaching and misuse it as we've already discussed in detail concerning the "Sons of God" movement.
Let John Stott clarify this teaching on transformation of the mind:
https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/july-august-2010/becoming-like-christ/
I remember vividly the major question that perplexed me (and my friends) as a young Christian. It was this: What is God’s purpose for His people? Granted we had been converted, but what next?
Of course we knew the famous statement of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, that “man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” We also toyed with a yet briefer statement of only five words such as “love God, love your neighbor.”
But neither seemed wholly satisfactory. So I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth. It is this: God wants His people to become like Christ, for Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.
The Biblical Basis of the Call to Christlikeness
The biblical basis for the call to Christlikeness consists of three texts which we will do well to hold together: Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 1 John 3:2.
The first is Romans 8:29: God has “predestined [His people] to be conformed to the image of his Son.” When Adam fell, he lost much, though not all, of the divine image in which he had been created. But God has restored it in Christ. Conformity to the image of God means to be like Jesus, and Christlikeness is the eternal predestinating purpose of God.
The second text is 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate [or reflect] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed [or changed] into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The perspective has changed—from the past to the present; from God’s eternal predestination to His present transformation of us by His Holy Spirit; from God’s eternal purpose to make us like Christ, to His historical work by His Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ.
The third text is 1 John 3:2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” And if God is working to this end, it is no wonder He calls us to cooperate with Him. “Follow me,” He says. “Imitate me.”
We don’t know in any detail what we shall be, but we do know that we will be like Christ. And there’s really no need for us to know any more. We are content with the glorious truth that we will be with Christ and like Christ.
Here then are three perspectives (past, present and future) that are all pointing in the same direction: God’s eternal purpose (we have been predestined), God’s historical purpose (we are being changed, transformed by the Holy Spirit), and God’s final eschatological purpose (we will be like Him). These all combine toward the same end—Christlikeness, for Christlikeness is the purpose of God for the people of God.
I want now to move on to illustrate this truth with a number of New Testament examples. But first, a general statement from 1 John 2:6: “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” If we claim to be Christian, we must be like Christ.
(Then Stott goes on to pursue how we are to be like Him, Please note that he quotes from Philippians and we'll get back to that. I include so much of this because it is the most precise telling I could find. W )
We are to be like Christ in His incarnation. Some may immediately recoil with horror from such an idea. “Surely,” you may say, “the incarnation was an altogether unique event and cannot be imitated.”
The answer is yes and no. It is yes in the sense that the Son of God took our humanity to Himself in Jesus of Nazareth, once and for all and never to be repeated, but no in the sense that we are all called to follow the example of His great humanity. So Paul could write in Philippians 2:5-8:
“Have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
We are to be like Christ in His service. Come with me to the upper room where He spent His last evening with His disciples. During supper He took off His outer garments, tied a towel around Him, poured water into a basin and washed His disciples’ feet. When He had finished, He resumed His place and said: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).
Just as Jesus performed what in His culture was the work of a slave, so we in our cultures must regard no task too menial or degrading to undertake.
We are to be like Christ in His love. As Paul wrote: “Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2, NIV). To “live a life of love” is a command that all our behavior should be characterized by love, but “gave himself” for us is a clear reference to the cross. So Paul is urging us to be like Christ in His death, to love with Calvary love.
Do you see what is happening? Paul is urging us to be like the Christ of the incarnation, the Christ of the foot washing and the Christ of the cross. These events in the life of Christ indicate clearly what Christlikeness means in practice.
We are to be like Christ in His patient endurance. In this next example we consider the teaching of Peter. Every chapter of Peter’s first letter contains an allusion to suffering for Christ, for the background of the letter is the beginnings of persecution. In chapter two, in particular, Peter urges Christian slaves—if punished unjustly—to bear it, not to repay evil for evil (1 Peter 2:18).
We have been called to suffering because Christ also suffered, leaving us an example so that we may follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). This call to Christlikeness in suffering unjustly may well become increasingly relevant as persecution increases in many cultures today.
We are to be like Christ in His mission. In prayer, Jesus said to His Father, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18); and in commissioning, He said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).
These words are immensely significant. This is not just the version of the Great Commission recorded in John’s Gospel, it is also an instruction that their mission in the world was to resemble Christ’s. In what respect? The key words are “sent into the world.” That is, as Christ had to enter our world, so we are to enter other people’s worlds.
It was eloquently explained by Archbishop Michael Ramsey when he said: “We state and commend the faith only in so far as we go out and put ourselves inside the doubts of the doubters, the questions of the questioners and the loneliness of those who have lost their way.”
This entering into other people’s worlds is exactly what we mean by incarnational mission, and all authentic mission is incarnational. We are to be like Christ in His mission.
Here then are perhaps the five main ways in which we are to be Christlike: we are to be like Christ in His incarnation, in His service, in His love, in His endurance and in His mission.
You may rightfully say to me, "But this is supposed to be about our Final Flesh, about the Rapture, what has all this being mentally transformed now have to do with that?
1) The transformation here is the beginning process of what is to be later. We are preparing ourselves for the life that is to come living with God mentally as well as in that new body.
2) We are commanded to do it and we are enabled by the Spirit to do it so we should do it in obedience, acting as the slave of God as Christ did. I taught on all those fruit and gifts of the Spirit to help prepare you for the use of the gifts and the production of fruit. Some churches seem to teach those things to get their congregations to work on the church committees. Really most are teaching them to get their people to use those gifts. Many are also not always prepared for those gifts to lead people into the field for evangelizing if that act doesn't fill their pews.
3) We learn to be like Christ NOW, in this proving ground of sin, against the odds of success and every success PROVES God to those around us, lures them to follow Him by the transformation they see in us. Philippians stresses the change into a slave, a total follower of God. Philippians 2:1-11
Php 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. {fashion: or habit}
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(KJV)
We become the living examples to draw people to the magnet of Christ, the majesty of Christ. And salvation. And THEIR part in the Rapture. I have found the more I conform to the world an any way, at those points at which I fail, the more I don't lure people to Christ. We miss out on the mission by not following our leader. The more we reach for false goals, the more we fall short of HIS goals.
4) But now we arrive at the simple truth of this life: we are here to ready ourselves and the rest around us for the transformation. Every second we live for Him is meant as prep for our eternal existence with Him. We are to be living for the time we will live forever with Him, not for the time we rule but when He rules: "THY Kingdom come, THY will be done." We are to exist now for the way we will exist then. With total love for Him expressed by total obedience to Him. Saying simply, "I have only done what I was supposed to do."
Now consider why God would welcome other Kings when he is King, his Son is King?
However He will welcome Princes:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/revelation/related-topics/millennial-reign-of-the-saints.html
As we saw above, Revelation Rev. 20:4+ mentions resurrected saints who rule and reign with Christ. Many other passages, both in the OT and NT, indicate the saints will co-rule with their Lord. Isaiah indicates a coming righteous reign where princes will rule with Messiah:
Daniel received detailed revelation concerning the timing and reality of the rule of the saints. It does not occur until after the Beast is destroyed, just as the book of Revelation records (Rev. Rev. 19:20+). We know from Revelation Rev. 19:1+ that the Beast is destroyed at the Second Coming of Christ, therefore the reign of the saints has not yet come:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (Rev. Rev. 3:21+)
This particular verse is very important because it shows the high degree of authority believers will have with Jesus. It also indicates that in approximately A.D. 95, when Jesus spoke these words, He was not on His own throne! This is a very important point to understand: the throne He will be taking is the throne of David (Mtt. Mat. 25:31) and it is on earth. Although we have been made kings and priests (or a kingdom, priests to God—see commentary on Revelation 5:10), our reign is future and initially upon the earth:
And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth. (Rev. Rev. 5:10+) [emphasis added]
One of the criticisms that has been leveled against the premillennial understanding of the Millennial Kingdom is that it only lasts 1,000 years, whereas Scripture is replete with passages indicating Christ’s kingdom will be eternal.
The amillennialist sees a conflict here and insists that the eternality of Christ’s kingdom does not permit any place for a thousand year reign on earth. Calvin’s reason for rejecting the premillennial view as his concept that the thousand year reign nullified the eternal reign of Christ. Did the premillennialist limit the reign of Christ to a thousand years, his contention that “their fiction is too puerile to require or deserve refutation” would be true. However such is not the case. An important Scripture bearing on the discussion is 1 Corinthians 1Cor. 15:24-28.2
The solution to this problem is found in recognizing the transition which Paul records in 1 Corinthians 1Cor. 15:24-28. Christ rules in the millennium until the Great White Throne Judgment, when death itself is finally vanquished (Rev. Rev. 20:14+ cf. Rev. Rev. 21:4+). Then, He places His kingdom under the Father. Yet His rule continues into the eternal state, where there is a new heavens and a new earth (Rev. Rev. 21:1+) and where the saints will continue to co-rule with Him for eternity (Rev. Rev. 22:5+).
[1Cor. 1Cor. 15:24, 1Cor. 15:28] does not mean the end of our Lord’s regal activity, but rather that from here onward in the unity of the Godhead He reigns with the Father as the eternal Son. There are no longer two thrones: one His Messianic throne and the other the Father’s throne, as our Lord indicated in Revelation Rev. 3:21+. In the final Kingdom there is but one throne, and it is “the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. Rev. 22:3+).3
Just a pause to consider the meaning of why we are changed. To serve with him.
Stott, in the end of his article above quotes William Temple:
“It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t. And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like his. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like His.”
And concludes: "God’s purpose is to make us like Christ, and God’s way is to fill us with His Holy Spirit."
All that life we have lived is to be given to Christ to use as He chooses and to His ends. The seeking after other things is merely a reflection of the corruption still abounding in us.
But I want you to truly consider this for the first time, perhaps. We do have some few examples of what Christ is like in his transformed body.
https://bible.org/seriespage/15-christ-his-resurrection
The resurrection body of Christ changed. After His resurrection Christ manifested certain characteristics which were not seen before His death. Though there seems to be little question in the Bible of the identity of the resurrection body, new qualities were added which distinguished it from the body laid in the tomb.
1. Christ in His resurrection body had a newness of life and a deliverance from the sufferings of His death to such an extent that on several occasions His recognition was somewhat delayed as in the case of Mary Magdalene who mistook Him for the gardener and the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:31; John 20:15). The delay in recognition, however, is explained by other factors and is no greater than one would naturally expect considering the tremendous transformation of resurrection.
2. The ordinary limitations of transportation and distance did not seem to restrict Christ after His resurrection. Though before His death He would become weary from long journeys, there is no evidence that His various appearances to His disciples required such ordinary means of transportation. He apparently was delivered from many of the limitations of time and space.
3. The resurrection body of Christ was characterized as having flesh and bones, but He did not seem to be restricted by physical barriers. This is evident in the fact that He could enter closed rooms without apparent difficulty (Luke 24:36; John 20:19).
4. Christ was able to appear and disappear at will after His resurrection (Luke 24:17; John 20:19).
5. No proof is offered in the Scriptures that the resurrection body of Christ required either rest or food to sustain it. Though He could eat, there is no evidence that He needed food to supply nourishment, and there is no mention of Christ sleeping after His resurrection. In so far as Christ’s resurrection body accommodated itself to the conditions of time and space, it was in keeping with the evident purpose of Christ to minister to His disciples prior to His ascension. Some of the features of a resurrection body which were ultimately His such as the glory of heaven were delayed in manifestation.
The glory of the resurrection body. Although many of the features of the resurrection body of Christ are revealed in the Scriptures immediately after His resurrection, it is evident that some aspects are delayed in manifestation until after His ascension. During the forty days of His ministry between the resurrection and His ascension, there was no unusual outward appearance of glory such as had occurred prior to His death on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is evident that His ultimate glory is veiled in order to make possible a ministry to His disciples in scenes of earth. After His ascension into heaven, Christ never appears again apart from His glory. In Acts 7:56, Phillip saw Christ standing at the right hand of the Father in the midst of the glory of God. In the appearance of Christ to Paul recorded in Acts 9:3-6, the glory of Christ was such that Paul was blinded. A similar experience befell the Apostle John in Revelation 1:12-20, where John fell at the feet of Christ as one dead when He beheld the glory of Christ in His resurrection. From these indications, it is safe to conclude that the resurrection body of Christ possesses an intrinsic glory which mortal man cannot behold under ordinary circumstances. This glory was temporarily veiled until the time of Christ’s ascension, but is now a permanent aspect of His resurrection body. The hope of believers for a resurrection body includes not only the features of the resurrection body manifested in Christ prior to the ascension, but also that our resurrection bodies will be glorious and suited for the glorious presence of God. In the case of believers the resurrection body not only includes the physical and visible aspects attributed to Christ but also that our resurrection body will be similar (Eph 5:27; Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
Eph 5:26 So that he might make it holy, having made it clean with the washing of water by the word,
27 And might take it for himself, a church full of glory, not having one mark or fold or any such thing; but that it might be holy and complete.
(BBE)
Php 3:20 For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 By whom this poor body of ours will be changed into the image of the body of his glory, in the measure of the working by which he is able to put all things under himself.
(BBE)
1Jo 3:1 See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was.
2 My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.
(BBE)
All of that said, I want you to ponder: we will have reflective glory like the moon and some sort of power over time and space. No need of the physical though apparently able to share that physical satisfaction of eating and other senses. We will be perfect in our fullness of God's blessing.
What is to keep us from using that power to go back in time and witness directly to those we lost? I ache when I think of my father, lost forever despite all his friends and neighbors being saved and blessed forever. I would love to go back and persuade him in my perfect body to come to Christ. Yet, there seems to be no mention of any such thing in the End. None of the saved will do that because, for whatever reason, it is not the will of God. but it may be in our power and that element of Satan, of temptation to do what WE think is best, even as Satan convinced himself it was best to overthrow God, to rule in His place, could overpower any but the obedient, any but those who have chosen a path to not seek their way their personal desires over His own designs.
All of this life is meant to shape us to spend an eternity using the power Christ has bestowed on us to serve and to follow, to praise and obey. We are in the warm up act because the greatness of what he means to bestow upon us is so powerful we must be taught NOW how to approach it, how to act in His will, to know it every second of eternity as we allow him to train us to know it every second of living here. For those who teach the notions of dominion, they need to learn who really has Dominion. And how He gave us this training ground to spare us the Tribulation training grounds which will be much harder and perhaps impossible for all.
Time to take seriously what so many of us, myself included, so often think of as optional.
So we may grasp and live in His glory, made over like Him to serve whatever is God's eventual purpose. I have said we live in THE TWO TOWERS not completely informed of what went before or knowing in too much detail what is to come. We perceive the shadows "through a glass darkly." THEN we shall see clearly. NOW we are to prepare the eyes to see, not think we see all the plan.
So at the Rapture, we will be changed, we will be with Him, set apart from the coming Tribulation. I will spend some time making that term, all the terms we are about to discuss clearer, from Antichirst to whore of Babylon as we examine the gleaning, the bringing in of the final sheafs.
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