"Christ as Life"
Alan Mc Savage
"What is life?" Christ is life. John 1:4 says that in Him is life.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
In John 11:25, He said that He is the life.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
and in John 14:6,Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Then the apostle Paul told us in Colossians 3:4 that Christ is our life.When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Christ is the life of the members of His Body.
Who is Christ? Christ is God. Where is Christ? Christ is in the Spirit.
God's intention in this universe is to bring forth the church as the Body of Christ. How could God produce such a Body? The first step He took was His creation. He created many things and eventually He created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). But at the time of creation, God did not put Himself into man as life. He put man in the garden of Eden in front of the tree of life (2:9), and man at that time was an empty vessel.
Romans 9 tells us that we are vessels, containers (vs. 21, 23).Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? Rom 9:23and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
So, man at the time of creation was in the image of God, but he was empty within. He was made as an empty vessel and put in front of the tree of life. God did this with the intention for man to partake of the tree of life, which signifies God Himself. Psalm 36:9 says that God is the fountain of life.For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
Then John 1:4 says that in Him, the One who is the Word and God Himself, there is life. Life is in Him, so He is the tree of life. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The Lord is life, and we have to receive Him (John 1:12-13).But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. They who have the Son have life (1 John 5:11-12). And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.vs 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The apostle John said, "And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us" (1 John 1:2). Christ is the life. When Christ was manifested, the life was manifested for us to receive. If you have the Son of God, you have life. By this life we have been regenerated, reborn, and by regeneration we have been produced as the members of the Body of Christ. Christ is the life of all the members of His Body, and eventually, this Body will be increased to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
In the The Revelation of Christ Jesus, we see the tree of life once again (Rev. 22:2). In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
The tree of life in the garden of Eden was not within any human beings. It was standing there outside of man, and man was standing in front of the tree of life. But at the end of the divine revelation, the tree of life is within the New Jerusalem. This city is the composition of all the redeemed ones. This means that the tree of life will be within all the redeemed ones.
Furthermore, the tree of life in the Body of Christ (the New Jerusalem) is growing in the river of life (vs. 1-2). And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Where the river of life flows, the tree of life grows. If the river of life is flowing in you, the tree of life is growing in you. When we have the flow of the river, we have the growing of the tree. This concise description gives us a brief yet full picture of life in the entire Bible.
The River of Life flowing out of the Throne of God.
"And on the banks of the river on both its sides, there shall grow all kinds of trees for food; their leaf shall not fade, nor shall their fruit fail to meet the demand. Each tree shall bring forth new first fruits every month, these supernatural qualities being because their waters came from out of the sanctuary. And their fruit shall be for food, and their leaf for healing." Ezekiel 47:12 (Amplified)
Revelation 22:1 says that the river of life flows out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. There is one throne, but how can two persons sit on one throne? You may say that the Bible tells us that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. So it must be that God is sitting at the left and Jesus is sitting at the right. But actually there is not one throne for two persons. Revelation 21 tells us that Christ is the lamp (v. 23), and we know that God is the light (1 John 1:5). The light is within the lamp. Christ Jesus is sitting on the throne of God. and emanating and radiating in an unending, all encompassing, outshining, and out-raying of glory and majesty, wisdom, dominion, power, love, mercy, and goodness is the Father. Shining out of Jesus is the glory of the Father so that Jesus, could say. "If you, have seen Me, you have seen the Father because I and the Father are one."
I want you to see yourself in Christ. See yourself IN Christ. I want you to know that we have a great high priest in the heavens, BUT, He is not only IN the heavens, He is far above ALL heavens so that He might fill ALL THINGS. He is in that high and holy place and He is the high priest of His house. And God's elect, Gods chosen ones, are the body of the high priest and we are a kingly priesthood, a royal priesthood. And to "Him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with Me IN MY THRONE even as I have overcome, as I have come up over and am set down with My Father IN HIS THRONE."
For a long time I had this mentality of one day sitting with him on the mercy seat dispensing judgement on the nations. Oh, did I need to expand my vision. I have since been given further understanding on the throne and you need to see that there is ONE throne where the King of glory and the high priest of the house of God is seated in all the fullness of the dominion and the nature, majesty, wisdom, and power of God, and see yourself seated IN HIM, and when you can see this, then you know what UNION IS! Then you will know what a Son of God is!
I am not claiming that I am the I AM,
but I am the offspring of the I AM.
I am the son of the I AM!
I am of the substance if the I AM!
I have the mentality of the I AM!
I share the nature of the I AM!
I am filled with the wisdom of the I AM to see as He sees!
To know as He knows,
to understand as He understands!
This is why, as we look out over humanity, we should not be dismayed or distressed. As we view things from His perspective we can see the beginning of all things, we can see the end of all things and we can see everything in between, and they are all in the eternal now of the I AM of the indwelling Christ.
Out of God who is in Christ, out of the redeeming God, flows the river of water of life. The river of life is simply the flowing of life, just as the current of electricity is the flowing of electricity. The river of life is life flowing. So beloved, the river of life is God in Christ as the Spirit flowing. It is the flowing of God. Life is simply God flowing into us, through us, and out of us. Rom 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
The pictures presented in the Bible, especially in Genesis and Revelation, are very meaningful. Revelation shows us that God as the light, is in the Lamb as the lamp. Out of the throne of the Lamb of God flows the river of life. This signifies that God in Christ as the Spirit of God flows out to be received by us. We receive Him by drinking Him. When you drink of Him, He will flow into you. When you cooperate with Him some more, He will flow through you and out of you as the Spirit. John 7 tells us that what we drink and what flows out of us is the Spirit, who is God Himself (vv. 37-39).On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So, life is God flowing into us, through us, and out of us.
How God Flows
Now we need to consider how God flows. The Bible shows us that God flows mainly in two steps. First, He flowed by being incarnated. He was in eternity in the heavens, dwelling in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16), who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.but one day He became incarnated. He came down to the earth to dwell among people. In this incarnated One, there was life and light.
Incarnation was the first step that God took to flow out. But this first step merely brought Him to the earth among people. He still could not get into us. So, He had to take a second step, the step of resurrection. The first step was incarnation, and the second step was resurrection. In order to be resurrected, He had to suffer death. By death He was brought into resurrection, and through resurrection He finished the second step of His flowing. By the first step, He was incarnated to be a man with flesh as we are. By the second step, He was transformed, changed in form, into the Spirit of life. In resurrection He is now the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Now He is not merely able to be on this earth among human beings, but He is also able to enter into us, His believers.
Now He is flowing in resurrection, and the way to receive Him is to drink Him in spirit by calling on His name "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." The more you say, "the Name of the Lord Jesus," the more you drink of Him. The more you say, His precious Name, the more He flows in. He flows into us, through us, and out of us to water the whole earth, to quench the thirst of all the needy ones. In the flow, the tree of life grows, indicating that when you have this flow, you have the supply of life. The tree of life produces twelve fruits and yields its fruit each month (Rev. 22:2). The fruit is always new and fresh to meet every need.
In John 14:6 the Lord told us that He is the life. Then in verses 7 through 11 He told us that He is one with the Father. Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied." Then the Lord said, "I have been with you for so long a time, and you do not know Me? Don't you know that I am the Father? I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. I am one with the Father. He who has seen Me has seen the Father." Then in verses 16 through 20 the Lord told us that another person would be sent in the form of the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit, Christ would come to enter into the disciples. Verses 7 through 11 tell us that Christ is one with the Father. Verses 16 through 20 tells us that the Holy Spirit is the reality of Christ. Christ is life to us by being the embodiment of the Father realized as the Spirit. Romans 8:2 speaks of the Spirit of life, and 1 Corinthians 15:45 says that Christ as the last Adam became a life giving Spirit.
The key point to receiving Him and containing Him is our human spirit. Romans 8:6 says that the mind set on the spirit is life. If you want to receive the flow of God as your life, you have to open from the depths of your being to say something like this to yourself:
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about your Name,
Master, Saviour, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim,
kings and kingdoms shall all pass away, but there's something about your Name."
I was recently in hospital to undergo a particularly difficult test. As the Surgeon began the test I felt the words of that little chorus rising up in my spirit, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.Theres just something about Your Name" Brethren there is a calming, restful, healing virtue in that Name.
If you want to enjoy Him as life all day long, you need to call upon His name continually. The more you say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," the more you will enjoy Him. Do not try to be humble or good. That does not work. Simply call upon the name of the Lord.
How can you control your temper? When you feel like you are going to lose your temper, simply say, "Thank you Lord for the peace that reigns in my heart." Then you will not lose your temper. Do not try to be humble or to love others. The more you try to love someone, the more you will not love him. Just call upon the Lord continually. Then everyone will become lovable to you. This is the way to enjoy the flowing of God as life.
Without the real experience of life, there is no practicality or actuality of the church life. Without the real experience of life, we will be divided. We do not need to talk about life in a doctrinal way. We need the real experience of life through the exercise of our spirit. We need to enjoy Christ by drinking Him and giving Him the right of way to flow in us, through us, and out of us. Then we have the Father in the Son as the Spirit as our life. Daily and hourly we need to enjoy Him as our life. When we enjoy Him as life, we are humble and love others unconsciously. This life is nothing less than Christ Himself realized as the Spirit, who is flowing in our spirit. We need to exercise our spirit to say, "I love you Lord, I praise you Lord, I worship you Lord, I thank you Lord." Then we will enjoy the flowing of the living water in us, through us, and out of us. This is the way that we enjoy all the riches of Christ as the tree of life with the full, abundant, rich supply for the actuality of the church life.
Alan
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