It seems that there is a conundrum that is always present- a paradox. Either God cannot do what He says He wants to do, or we are unable to interpret what He is saying He wants to do.
In Revelations 10 there is an angel standing with one foot on the land and the other in the sea. He is clothed in a cloud(we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses). His head is in heaven( our head is Christ, at God's right hand, head over all things to the church),because there is a rainbow around His head(we are seated in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, and there is a rainbow around His throne) His face is shining like the sun and(just in case you were wondering if this is really a picture of the ONE NEW MAN) his feet are as pillars of fire- and in his hand is a little book. John is given the book, and told to eat it. Then He is told that He must prophesy before kings and peoples and nations.
We can't get into this mighty messenger unless we eat the book. You can read it all you want to, and be blessed by it as you will, but until you EAT IT, you are a passenger in a child safety seat.
Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.
(Gal 4:1-2)
We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the image of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, form glory to glory, by the Spirit, who is the Lord......But it is until WE ALL ATTAIN to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Oh if only we could move as one into the mind of Christ, be admitted together into the councils of God, dwell in the eternal burnings together, become a corporate messenger in the power of the Spirit!
How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
" Your God reigns!"
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,
They shout joyfully together;
For they will see with their own eyes
When the LORD restores Zion.
(Isa 52:7,8)
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints(holy ones,i.e.called out ones...separate ones) together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
(Psa 50:2-5)
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
(Rom 12:1-5)
Until we eat the book that is bitter in our belly, we are not living epistles read of all men. Servants of the Lord, Sons of god, a Kngdom of Priests - many are called but few are chosen........it is hard to digest- my life is not my own, to live is Christ, to die is gain
When I was a child I spake as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.
Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.
(Gal 4:1-2)
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.............. He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a RESULT, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
(Eph 4:1-16)
God have mercy :o)
We are meant to be a part of how God saved mankind- but I don't think we get it!
