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Revealing of the Son(s)
John R Gavazzoni
June 2, 2002
Thousand Oaks, CA
Failing to "see the forest for the trees," is a common failure when we are inclined to gather facts but lack the wisdom to stand back and "connect the dots" so as to get an accurate picture of the whole matter which we are investigating. This can even be true for the believer whose mind has been touched by the Spirit of Truth and is beginning to receive "a spirit of wisdom and revelation...." (Eph. 1:17).
"Don't sweat the small stuff," is another contemporary adage that comes to mind in regard to spiritual understanding with mature scope. There is always a major aspect of a truth which once grasped will allow the rest to fall into place. When we are disciplined by the Spirit to focus on the Person of our Lord and the meaning of His death, burial and resurrection and move out from there to arrive at conclusions, we will be safeguarded from developing a grotesque or lopsided theology.
With that in mind, may I point out a simple yet neglected truth in regard to the revealing of the sons of God. It is simply this; that the sons of God are revealed as an extension of the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God. The sons cannot be revealed in a way inconsistent with the Son. And here we are faced with a major point in the administration of God, namely that the Son of God was revealed as the Son of Man. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14,17).
But here enters the subtle spirit of antichrist which denies that Christ is come in the flesh (II John 1:7), and the influence of that spirit upon the mind of believers is one that seduces us to rise above our humanity in order to truly be sons of God. God, in His wisdom chose to descend in the Person of His Son and be revealed in Humanness and in such a way as to fully immerse Himself in all that it means to be human.
We, on the other hand, hear a constant call to leave our humanity behind and ascend to imaginary spiritual heights which require dehumanization.I must say it, and say it again and again and again; our Lord, our Elder Brother, the Seed of our sonship, arose from the dead as a Man and ascended above all the heavens to become the glorified Second Man, the Last Adam. The Last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (I Cor. 15:45). Did you get that? He is the New Man, the Last Adam, not some dehumanized lord. He did not discard His humanity in His resurrection and glorification.
There was no body left in the tomb. He came forth out of death complete in spirit, soul and body transforming humanness, not discarding it. From Him, we receive the Spirit of glorified humanness. Our Lord most often referred to Himself as the Son of Man. He wore that title as a badge of honor and waited patiently for the Father to reveal to His disciples that clothed in the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth was the eternal Son of God.
Three of them were to stand on a mountain and see the Father's glory shine out from His body, the body of a Man (Matt. 17:2). They never forgot it. John, still in awe, wrote that they had heard Him, saw Him and handled Him. This was no heavenly apparition. This was God-flesh.Allow me to wax prophetic. Your blessed hope includes being manifested as a son of God? OK, fine. Expect then that you shall be increasingly confronted by your humanness and inescapably so. You will feel the prohibition of the Spirit to be something other than fully human. When your spiritual yearnings begin to soar heavenward you will be brought back to earth by distinctly human feelings and when you tire of spiritual matters and yearn to just be human, you will feel the pull of the heavenly destiny of your humanness. It's a package deal, Son of God, Son of Man.
You can't be one without the other. You have interpreted your spiritual inclinations as the sole sign of divine sonship and have relegated your human propensities to the realm of the gross and sinful. God will have nothing of that. "He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens...." (Eph. 4:10). Do you hope to be an ascended one? Well descent comes first.
Part of the mystery of iniquity (II Thes. 2:7) is that iniquity makes us fully conscious of our humanness and in so doing ultimately serves God's purpose of revealing our hidden divinity. What shall we say then, shall we purpose to sink into all the iniquity that we can in order to get in touch with our divinity? Don't be stupid. Period. Enough said about that.A preacher's just bound to give some advice. So here's mine. Back off a little from all your highfalutin spirituality and stop and smell the flowers. Touch others by the humanity that you hold in common with them.
Quit trying to be a spiritual giant to your kids. Hug them like God in skin. Rejoice with them in the little human joys and be there with them in their earthly pains, without recrimination.Listen, really listen to your neighbor, not from a position of spiritual superiority, waiting for an opportunity to tell them all you know about God. Let the Godness of being a son of God ooze out of your humanness.
If we could be translated back to Jesus days on earth (in a manner of speaking, since He's still on earth in us) we would be just as amazed at His everyday humanity as we would be at His displays of divinity.Stay tuned for future serious, seminal samplings.
John Gavazzoni
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To contact John send email to: John R. Gavazzoni For more writings by John : Click Here...For His Web SiteOr you can write by (snail mail) to:
John R Gavazzoni
758 N. Woodlawn Dr.,
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.
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