"Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved you and gave Himself for us, an offer and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" Eph. 5:1. By this verse we can see God's command to become like Him, and accordingly as we fail in this; God's will for us, we become more like ourselves, or we give our human sin nature more authenticity. The bible tell us we are to decrease, as natural men and women so that He might increase in His function and life in us, and thereby we become as He is, in this present life. Mr Stoney does a magnificent job of showing how this may be accomplished in our mind's understanding and in much of the following I was inspired by his writing to express how God in His plan and wisdom provided a place for us to abide, so that we would be imitators of Him who sacrificed all, so that we might live in the truth!
The word Atonement, which we have all heard many times, no doubt, is a Old Testament word not directly used in the New, but never the less it is appropriate for us. It simply means covering, as in the sacrifice is a covering for sin. That of course was what was accomplished by God's direction on our behalf, by Christ on the Cross. In the New Testament the word has been substituted using, reconciliation. "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation Rom. 5:11. In Corinthians, reconciliation is used to indicate husband and wife reuniting after a separation. So we too are now reunited with Christ beginning with the the rejection of The Son of God from the earth by mankind; proving us wholly incapable of arising to meet any requirement of The Father for working out our own salvation. After all the rejection was performed by the Adamic earthly man, the same as us, which shows the utter inability of man for any case toward God. But then God in His mercy provided His Sovereign Grace as a covering. Thus His Atonement ushered in a new era. The Lord Jesus was placed in a position, one in which we belonged, namely death. But His Resurrection showed the world and the powers in heaven that God had brought in something new. The Believing Adam man could become a new spiritual man in Christ, who we will one day be like He was at His Resurrection, but which we are partakers of now, by His sovereign plan and Grace, becoming a new race of people here and now. A place provided for us to dwell in God's mind; in which we are seen by The Father as new men and women, not in our flesh, but in His Son. We are no longer under trial, the sentence has been accomplished by The Son. A positional place provided. Something I fear many in modern Christianity have been diverted from.
The bible speaks of the first man, Adamic earthy, and a second Man heavenly. There is very little emphasis on this important distinction in today's churches. Its not a mystery, the Word is clear: "The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven" 1 Cor:45-47. It should be evident to all believers that since the first man [us] is no longer being judged or under trial by The Father, and as the second, the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead, a Spiritual Man, that we are inheritors of the Second Man a spiritual fact, we are no longer of the flesh, it cannot be the first, for he is judged as dead by God and we know this by faith in God's actions on our behalf, on the cross. So now by this sovereign plan and His grace we by faith are found identified and provided a place of position in The Son in heaven. Since He is in heaven there is no link to Him here, except by The Holy Spirit, by whom it is made know to our mind, the only place this spiritual truth can be held or even function, that our object is heavenly, and because He was rejected from the earth He must be known by the saints where He is and thus our heavenly status is made know to we who remain behind on the earth. A place provided
In Titus 3:5, Paul uses another important word, regeneration; again a subject seldom expounded upon by the church, at least in its paramount meaning defined in Paul's intended usage, and brought forth by the eminent bible scholar Lehman Strauss as followers. "To be an act of God's whereby He bestowed upon the believing sinner new life. This God's own life, the imparting of His own nature. God Himself is the source and Bestower of His life so that the believers are said to be "partakers of the Divine nature" 2 Peter 1:4, "created in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:10, "born of God" John 1:13, "born again" John 3:3,7, "a new creation" 2 Cor 5:17. If we are to take this at face value and expounded upon with these word from Mr Stoney; "we would, or should see ourselves as connected to Christ where He is in heaven; hence, thorough the spirit, are of heavenly nature, and empowered to fill in a superior way the positional blessing by a relationship, appointed by God, for the earthly man; members of the organic Body of Christ, which is now determined by the ascended second Man".
If the Lord Jesus were here on earth now, we would walk in the grace of the law free from any hindrance to enjoy Him. But this is for another time which is called a dispensation during the millennium, or the thousand year earthly reign of Christ on His return to the earth, seldom mentioned in any church Ive ever attended. He is absent from this place rejected from the earth, which places the believer in a entirely different position; we are not where He is, and He is not where we are, we are not of the earth, but on the earth, we are of Christ in heaven. Christ was refused here, but the bible declares we are hidden in Him; then it is possible only by faith, to be where He is, in heaven, our true status. We walk this earth as new men and women by faith, in that place provided. The world is therefore entirely shut out, as to power and influence. My friends we simply must discover this true truth to live a Christian life pleasing to God!
Since my growth into the faith of my heavenly positional reality I must admit to a great sense of frustration, as I discovered the freedom and joy of the total truth and reliability of my place and life being hidden in Jesus Christ, I saw how the church has abandoned this truth and the lack of interest on the part of my fellow believers to embrace this biblical teaching. Then I discovered why. We it turns out, are voluntary victims.
For the most part the church treats Jesus as if He were still here, they do not acknowledge His rejection. Oh yes they own His Death and sacrifice but engage in a sort of legal works based formula as if we need to please Him by our actions. Of course if we truly acknowledged His rejection we would have to own up to our own failure; and this is not acceptable for prides sake. So as the roman church has done, we create a ritual called the mass which is nothing more than a continued sacrifice seeking continual forgiveness. Not accepting the old man is finished by the Cross the trial over, and by that we are to consider ourselves by faith as dead, instead it is as if the first man [us] was still under trial. This simply cannot be true. The second group we are probably most familiar with, protestantism or reformed theology, brought in after the reformation, which gave us anew the wonderful truth held back so long by the roman church, justification by faith, and thank God for that! However while it admits the sacrifice is sufficient it does not act with a consistency which would enable us to live in the freedom of the second Mans position, by faith; as the reformers and most churches today do not conduct themselves in a practical manner as if the the finished work of Christ has freed them; so they engage in ritual and works still holding the Law up as a guiding light; Thou shall not, come to the alter repent over and over, we must give a tithe, follow the seven guides to spiritual success, enjoy a charismatic feeling, etc. etc. In other words the first Adamic man is still looked at as being under trial for all practical purposes. What a trap, and most reading this are firmly caught in its locked jaws. May the acknowledgement of your position hidden in Christ by faith free you my brothers and sisters, and thereby you may find the place which was provide by the death unto sin for you, of Jesus Christ the Holy son of God.
I will end as I often do with a direct quote from J. Butler Stoney: "The father does not restore the Adam-life; He judged and condemned it on the cross of His Son, and in Him ascended and glorified, receives every returning prodigal in a new life and nature. Hence the position of the saint is now heavenly, united to The Lord Jesus in glory by The Holy Spirit sent down to indwell; through grace he acquits himself in a superior way in every duty incumbent in the first man, as God has appointed; but now the Christian has no link or place here, as the millennial man will have; for then the King will be reigning, and the saint will be with Him where He reigns, instead of, as now, where He is refused"
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