Objective biblical reality or doctrine is a wonderful thing, and made more so by being so available in today's world. Our intellect is well served for advancement in it's use. It is not difficult to discover important Christian doctrinal concepts well explained in the bible, and expounded upon by trusted writers; which I am very thankful for. "The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" 2 Tim. 2:2. My principal area of interest and great desire for others to know, is the doctrine of positional/Spiritual truth. Just who are we in Christ? We cannot be the person God has sacrificed so much for by our behavior, works, enthusiasm, rule keeping or even the knowledge of truth. The efforts of our natural flesh will always fail to please God.. As if there could be any justification in the flesh at any time. Only faith can please Him, which is in Spirit. "We are partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped [seen no longer as flesh, but in Spirit in Christ] the corruption [the flesh nature of Adam] that is in the world" 2 Pet. 1:4. It should be obvious by the name of this doctrine that who we are in spirit to The Father is a representative Spiritual thing, in a federal sense. As in Jesus holding that image before God in Himself for us. The Spirit is the only visibility we in fact have for the Fathers satisfaction. "Likewise, count it as true that you yourselves are alive unto God through [the representative reality] Jesus Christ, our Lord" Rom. 6:11. Our natural self, in God's sight is no longer alive to God, this is the first Adam. "You have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" Col. 3:3. This reality must be understood to enjoy the positional advantage and to move forward to maturity in the Body. "And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight" Col. 1:21,22. It could not be made more clear, all before God is Spiritually representative in Christ. However the presence of His Son in glory is reflected back in God's economy in us. His reality, us in a perfect accepted spiritual form. That of Jesus Christ. We must say by this doctrine that the life we now live "which is truly life" can only be accomplished in spirit by faith, and know that as a fact, if we are to believe that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of The Father in our stead. Which is a position we occupy by the presence of a perfect Holy Man Resurrected from among the dead as a Spirit presence there; representing all that we are to The Father. For the bible tells me so!
The objective positional truth should be obvious as one we must enter into by Spirit, in a subjective manner. "For we....worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" Phil. 3:3. This important doctrine declares; we are to be engaged in having a self awareness of our own person-hood, so as to be in touch with our positional mental/spiritual condition. Defined by God as that which is seen by Him as He views His Son. In other words He sees us in Jesus."God has raised us up together [with Christ] and made us sit together [with and in Christ] in heavenly places [a Spiritual existence] in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:6. The result of knowing this as truth by Spirit realized in the renewed mind [the only way we can approach God in worship] is our becoming aware that Jesus Christ is living out His life here on earth in us. He has transferred His life back to us by entering our spirit and mind, we are co-mingled. Allowing life by Spirit. This is the only life we have! It was simply necessary for the Father to arrange this circumstance for life in such a manner, as He is Spirit. The question we should all be asking ourselves is; why is it so hard to live in a positional reality in our walk upon this earth, manifesting this truth? And How is our lack of spiritual vision holding back the function of us in His body? Having a spiritual position as a awareness of life's condition, whether from our prospective our The Lord's is defined by its nature as; something somebody else did for another with no expectations of anything in return. In other words pure Grace. But the result should be, us living out the life of Jesus Christ. Held in that place forever by His Grace. How can we participate in such a glorious privilege when dealing with life itself in the present? We are enclosed in the Adamic flesh. Overcoming this road block of the propensity of a Adamic intellect prevailing in the flesh of our old personality, the old mind and soul, is a question that needs answering. I believe that the answer to that question and more is found by entering into the cloud!
The bible uses the symbolic picture of a cloud often for spiritual purpose. In fact cloud related phenomena are described as evidence of God's mighty, wondrous and inscrutable ways and in fact is a physical symbol of Spirit "And they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory" Matt. 24:30. And; "Then those who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will be always with The Lord" 1Thess. 4:17. The most important image of the spiritual legacy we have received is found in Matt. 17, when Peter James and John go up to the mountain with Jesus. "While He thus spoke, there came a cloud and overshadowed them; and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son; hear Him. Peter says this voice in the cloud was from "His excellent glory". The Transfiguration was a purely Spiritual event.We can share that cloud experience in Spirit by faith in these words "hear Him". This cloud symbol is a metaphor given by God for us to have available a vivid apprehension of spiritual things which we may hopefully sometimes realize. There are many more cloud references to expand this spiritual symbolism. This important God given image is not perceived by doctrine alone. There must be more. Let us enter into the subjective, His cloud, to find it in spirit.
The metaphorical cloud is used by the bibles writers in order to illustrate aspects of their theological message. You could say clouds represent God's unlimited Spiritual extent. From sheltering shade to covering or concealment, speed and mobility as well as the abundant outpouring of the rain of His righteousness. Then there is the Theophanic cloud representing God Himself. The most common usage being the sign of God's presence in the pillar of cloud in Exod. 13:21-22. By these images we are encouraged I believe to not see our Christian experience broken down into doctrinal studies as duty, but entered into as life. What are we to do with knowledge once gained is the question? Spirit must come first for life to take place. For that we must have trust in the totality of His Word. Knowing doctrine will open this door. Subjective entrance by spirit will put us in the room. If we find an object in The Word, the subjective must be taken advantage of to realizes its worth. "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace" John 16:33.
Clouds themselves are non-liner or subjective in nature; they cannot be put in a box like a doctrine. In the Word's observance of clouds we can see freedom, and subjectivity. The word Spirit is derived from the Greek for wind or breeze, also a non-containable phenomenon. Spirit's close relationship to the cloud as a metaphor should not be overlooked. Was The Lord trying to help us see something by using these illustrative non-objective symbolic metaphors for help in us understanding His nature? And therefore a clue as to how we might come to gain intimacy with Him; by the use of our God given reflection, of His image which inculde feelings and Spirit derived emotion. Granted there are unknowns in the cloud, no space constraints, no narrow path, they are expandable and move about in a unpredicted manner as in the wind of Spirit. "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit" John 3:8. Our regeneration is likened to wind by Jesus, which can be recognized felt and heard, but which is beyond understanding. The cloud of His Spirit might prove unsettling even giving way to desperation if entered into with a fully objective doctrinal mind set in stone. His nature of Spirit requires other doors explored, to enter for full enjoyment. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts,[feelings emotion and spirit] to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor. 4:6. In the cloud the path to truth is always moving on His mighty wind.. A potentially frighting place for the word bound. The heavy weight of mans natural Adam desire for direct linear connection is not conducive to Spirit. The land of the law often awaits those coming to Him with intellectual constraints as first order. Yes the doctrinal Word is what informs us of His truth and must be highly prized, never forsaken, always respected. But it can constrain us from fully partaking of the gift He has for us in enjoyment of Spirit if made the daily defining authority of our Christian reality. "For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness" Ps. 107:9.
I realize I am on dangerous ground here, and do not in any way wish to denigrate the true value of doctrine in any way. However I believe that the mental schema of a over balancing of the objective application to the Spirit is self limiting; especially if one lives in a predominantly doctrinal approach to a life in Christ. As in; if question A's answer is found in a direct linear path to answer B we will perhaps learn much about the result of our inquiries when B is arrived at, but gain little insight by the process. In other words the God given opportunity to engage in creativity and explore the inherent intuition of spirit, given by Spirit in the renewed mind, is limited on the track of the book bound. Spiritual joy and freedom is held in check when confined within a dust cover. The liberal fully observant and aware free and available mind of The Fathers insight given to us in His Word is not taken full advantage of when insisted upon by doctrinal precedences only. We have been given eternal life here and now, that we might display His Son in joy, for all the world to see. This will require a sense of our being; a felt sense in spirit of trust and faith regardless of the course of our life. That way is made clear by The Word's truth which we should never neglect.
Paul groaned within himself as he learned of the trap he was in in his flesh nature. "Retched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body [natural human Adam] of death" Rom. 7:24. The same trap we must overcome. This was realized in him and also should be in us, as manifested in the Spirit influenced emotions of the mind/inner man/spirit. Doctrine did not prove it to him or bring it about in the sense of realization of his regret, but a emotional experience made Him aware of great loss. And the answer to His great need was; "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord". "For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" Rom 8:2. Ask this; if Paul groaned in a emotional sense wishing to escape from his own self [remember he was very doctrinal in background] his place of escape from the emotional burden he carried could not be by the knowledge he found in a mental/intellectual way only. But by subjectively entering into the object, a life in The Spirit of Christ, where he sensed his loss. He sought and found a cloud in the liberty of the grace of God as his present portion, a relief in love " I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me". And, "Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with the spiritual" 1 Cor. 2:13. The glimpse of heavenly glory he saw, the entrance of Jesus Christ into the atmosphere he occupied, by sight and sound enriched a godly emotion, he viewed Jesus in all His glory, both here and in heaven. Grace as a sense of the presence of God comes to give life in the cloud. We simply must enter into it in faith. All that I am saying here my friends is; there must be a balance of perception. If one is objective based he risks being cold. Contrarily if mostly subjective he may be controlled by feelings which can be manipulated by the flesh's natural personality.
I think there is a balance to be found, and it is badly needed to meet the high standard afforded to a child of God. I will paraphrase some inspiration I read in my devotional in the following. "Remember the testimony of the Spirit in us is the contrary to the testimony of the Spirit to us. In me, He takes notice of every fault that is not righteousness; but the testimony to us is", "Their sin's and iniquities I will remember no more" 1 Jn. 2:2. In the second we will find our spiritual life!
"If we make the objective doctrinal our standard, we will always fall short of the course of what we propose in our knowledge of the lofty plane we arrive upon. Any criteria we have for ourselves is proven failed by the knowledge of God's word. On the other hand , if we have the Lord Jesus Christ risen and in Heaven as the object of our subjective inquiries [knowing Him in a positional sense] we would prove the power of The Resurrection. Not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding short-comings viewed in the light of sound doctrine. But also in giving us strength to; "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" Phil 3:24. Which is realized in the cloud of His Spiritual provision".
"The word of God teaches us union, but the person of Christ brings out all that we derive from union with Him; which is Spiritual and therefore subjective in nature. The word of God should always be our authority for the reflective realization of our position in Christ. But acquaintance with the Person [Jesus] by in and through Spirit confirms and manifests our position in the living God". H. Nouwen said: "The great paradox of the spiritual life is indeed, that the personal is most universal, that the most intimate is the most communal and that the most contemplative is most active". My friends we will find the freedom to enjoy the Lord using the light shined by sound doctrine upon the ever self expressive power that is eternally emanating from our God. Our way will be made clear as we are entering into the cloud of His Grace in spirit!
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