Have you ever had a Scripture that you have read a zillion times before suddenly grip you? I have been arrested by this one - "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) At a recent time of "Contemplative Praying of the Scriptures" in our local fellowship where we ask the Lord to speak to us through the Scripture (see my book on prayer - In Earth As In Heaven), we took this verse and meditated on it. Father began to open up new understanding that evening, and it is continuing. I would like to share with you some of the truths that are unfolding...
If ANY man...
The good news is this- the term ANY is certainly all inclusive... in other words, this message is for anybody who has ears to hear. However, Father did not call you to be just ANY man. Any man can be ANYwhere, and therefore might as well be nowhere. You were not created to be ANY man, a "nowhere" man. You were created to be a CERTAIN man!
How does Father see this man? Isaiah 46:10 tells us the way God sees things; "Declaring the END from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are NOT YET done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Because He sees the end from the beginning, Father does not see a LAME man, He sees that man's ultimate destiny. We read that this man was lame from his mother's womb, yet we know that lameness is not his ultimate destiny. In other words, we know that his destiny was not determined by his natural circumstances.
The point is this - regardless of your natural circumstances, Father can take ANY man and transform them into a CERTAIN man.
"And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a CERTAIN place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." (Luke 11:1) I believe that Jesus prayed from a CERTAIN place, or a place of certainty, because He is THE original Certain Man, whose certain destiny was to change the destiny of ANY man!
You see, THE Certain Man became EVERY man, so we don't have to be just ANY man!
"For He hath made Him to BE SIN for us, who knew no sin; that we might BE made the righteousness of God IN Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Christ became EVERY man, He became what I was, in order that I can become What He IS! It was a complete identity exchange. He became us, so that we can be like Him. He appeared in us, that we may appear IN Him. "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." (1 John 3:2)
THE Certain Man, Jesus Christ, became EVERY man, so that we can become CERTAIN men with the certain destiny to change the destiny of MANY men!
If ANY man be IN Christ...
Then he is no longer ANY man, he is a CERTAIN man by virtue of being IN THE Certain Man, Jesus Christ. So, what does it really mean to be IN Christ? I believe it is much more that a simple sinner's prayer, although that may be where it starts for many.
As we look at the words "in Christ", the word translated as "in" is en in Greek, and its' meanings include- a primary preposition denoting fixed position in place, time or state, that is, a relation of REST. As we consider this truth of a "fixed position of rest" we must understand that is is not a fixed position of rest in a doctrine or a spiritual concept. Our fixed position of rest is in a Person, the Person of Christ! I believe that there are many in Christendom who are resting in doctrines and spiritual concepts. I also believe this is especially true among those of us who are Present Truth/ Deeper Life oriented. We love the latest "heavy revvy" don't we?
It is important also to understand what is really meant by "resting the Person of Christ." For most of us, that phrase might bring a beautiful pastoral scene in our minds- there we are resting in the arms of Jesus, or perhaps resting our head against his chest much like the apostle John describes. Granted, that is a wonderful picture, however if falls drastically short.
For me to "rest in the Person of Christ" is not to be in His arms, it is to know that I am IN Him and my arms ARE His arms. As long as I see myself as a separate entity outside of Him, I am missing His true intent. To "rest in the Person of Christ" is not to lay my head against his chest, it is knowing that my chest IS His chest, that my head IS His head. It is seeing through His eyes, hearing with His ears, speaking with His Voice.
To be IN Christ must also mean that I am OUT of something that I used to be IN. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1Corinthians 15:22) The nature of Adam is not necessarily intrinsically evil, it is intrinsically SELF. The temptation that the serpent offered in the garden was thus, "Ye shall be as gods." (Genesis 3:5) The thing is, they were already like God; "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Genesis 1:27) Because they were already like God, the real temptation was that they would become separate expressions of SELF, rather than being an expression of the Life of the ONE True God. That is still the temptation today, to be an expression of SELF.
To be IN Christ means that I am OUT of SELF... (To be continued)
Doug Fortune
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