Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

The Throne of the Kingdom - As it is in Heaven VII

The Throne of the Kingdom  –  As it is in Heaven
Whenever we view a Throne, the idea of dominion, of authority, of Government comes into view.  Whenever we have a Throne, we have a rule or a Government that is established.  “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  Let us hear this in view of the Throne of God.  His Kingdom is according to His rule.  His rule is found in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The rule of Christ Jesus is to be established in our hearts and our minds.  
In the Old Covenant Israel, God ruled His people through the Law.  Israel was subject to the Law of God, which could never transform their minds.  Israel was subjected to the Word of Covenant, to the Priesthood, to the Feasts, and to all that was spoken.  This word could never make those who come to it perfect, Hebrews Chapters 9 and 10.  
We are subject to the Word of God which can and does transform our souls and minds.  We are subject to the perfect work of Jesus Christ, “by which He perfected forever those who are sanctified, Hebrews 10:14.”  The Throne of God changed from a seat covered with the blood of animals to a Seat filled with the Living Christ.  God rules us through Christ.  His dominion and Throne are in Him.   His blood has forever cleansed those who come to God by Him.    
For me to understand God’s rule.  I have to understand Christ.  He is God’s rule of the Kingdom.  It is not simply that Jesus is the King.  He absolutely is THE KING, and there is no other.  However, His Kingship is established upon His Work.  How we rule with Him is through understanding His work in His death, burial and resurrection.  This is how He rules and reigns in our lives. This is how He transforms our minds.  Glory to God!
 

Thy Will be Done - As it is in HeavenVI

Thy Will be Done – As it is in Heaven VI
Jesus declared in the Lord’s prayer “Thy Kingdome Come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  We as believers have to ask ourselves what is God’s will?  Not simply, what is God’s will for my life, but what is God’s will period!  Do we know God’s will?  Have we considered His will in creation?  Have we asked for His will to be made known to us?  Why did He make man?  What was His purpose in forming a man from the dust of the earth, and blowing into him the breath of life?  All of these questions we need to ask ourselves.
 
In Ephesians 1 God sets forth through Paul His will.  That in the administration of the fullness of times He would gather together all things in Christ.  All things in Heaven and on Earth in Him.  This sounds a whole lot like Matthew 6 if we consider these scriptures together.  Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  That He would Gather together all things in Christ, all things in Heaven and on earth even in Him.  This is what God purposed in Himself.  He purposed to gather man into Christ.  Here is the Heaven meeting the earth.  Here is the divine image of God coming forth in Man, through the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
Ephesians 1:7-14  “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” ESV 
 
This is our salvation.  To the praise of His Glory.  Let this sink in.  We are to be to the praise of His Glory.  How could that ever be?  God gathered us up into Christ.  Here the Heavenly Jesus is filling man with Himself, Heaven meeting the earth, and a New Man Coming forth.   This is it.  That He might gather all things to Himself.  Let us who are His lay down our lives to this, and as Paul said, counting all things but dung that I may win Christ.  We are to leave the things behind, and press toward the prize of the High calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Glory to God!

Heaven is my Throne - As it is in Heaven V

In Isaiah 66 God declares, through the prophet, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.  Where is the House you will build me?  Where is the place of my rest, unto this man will I look.   As we consider this scripture we know that the Living God fills the Heaven and the Earth.  We know through the Psalmist David that there is no where we can go away from the presence of the Lord.  David declared that if he ascended into Heaven, went into the deep, and even into Sheol, the omnipresent God would be there. 
 
What we must ask ourselves as we consider this is what is God’s throne?  What does it mean in Isaiah 37:16 that He is enthroned between the Cherubim?  In this sharing some of this is answered.  Pay particular attention to Heaven and Earth.  God’s Heavenly government was represented in the Law of Israel that was given through Moses, and executed in the earth of Israel, with Jerusalem being the place chosen for the rest of God and the place of His feet.   The Temple was in fact Israel’s place of Judgement.  Here is where the High Priest came once a year with the blood of the offering to sprinkle the Mercy Seat,  to sprinkle the seat of Government, to sprinkle the throne of God.  God’s divine judgement and rulership was based on the words of the Law and the Blood of the Covenant.  Here is where He reigned in Israel, according to the words (law) He had given.
 
Exodus 25:22 “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.”
 
In the Old Covenant God met with Israel, His people according to the Law of Moses.  Now in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ there is another blood applied to the Seat of Mercy, to the Seat of Government, to the Throne.  It is the Blood of the Lamb.  In this Covenant God no longer meets with us according to the Law of Moses but according to Christ.  He is the word of the New Covenant. The words He spoke in the Body of His flesh are Spirit and are Life, and have been caught up in the Body of His resurrection. 
 
In Hebrews 12:18-29, we see the transition of these Covenants.  The writer declares we have not come to Mt. Sinai, but to Mt. Zion the Heavenly Jerusalem.  In this passage of scripture it is declared that we have come to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant.  We have come to the Blood that SPEAKS greater than Abel.  It is declared we have come to God the Judge of All, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.  Consider this closely.  Here in this judgement, God is judging the spirits of just men perfect through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Here like Revelation 5 is the Lamb in the Throne.  Here in this Covenant we are made perfect or complete through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
This is not as the Old where we could never be completed, but always found lacking, always found short of the Glory of God.  Now in Christ Jesus we are complete in Him!  Glory to God!
 
 
 

John Saw a Lamb - As it is in Heaven IV

As it is in Heaven IV – John saw a Lamb
On Earth as it is in Heaven.  We have been looking at Jesus telling the disciples to pray “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” for the last few weeks.   In the Book of Revelation 4 and 5, the Apostle John was caught up in the Spirit and he saw in heaven.  John saw a throne and One on the throne.  And He saw in the hand of the One on the throne a book sealed with seven seals.   John wept that no man could open the Book.  For us all to seek an answer from the Lord, why did John weep? Was it for redemption?  For shortly, John is seeing twenty-four elders falling down before the Lamb and declaring the that the Lamb had redeemed them to God.  The Lamb had opened the seals of the Book.
 
In this setting, in the midst of the throne, stood a Lamb as it had been slain.  I believe this is the key to this entire setting.  The resurrected Lamb, who was slain for the sins of the world, ruling in Heaven.  This is where redemption comes from.  The Lamb that was slain, raised into the Heavens, appearing in the presence of God for us.  Now everything in Heaven is according to the Lamb.
 
The Kingdom coming from Heaven into the earth is according to the Lamb.  Ruling and reigning is according to the Lamb.  Even to consider the words to rule or to reign speaks of the Kingdom.  “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done.”  Let us hear that.  All in accordance with the Lamb.  There is no way to understand God’s Kingdom or Will without seeing the Lamb.  It is impossible.  He is where God’s will is made known, in the Lamb, in Christ Jesus.
 
Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God had made known the mystery of His will.  In this mystery, God would gather both Jew and Gentile together into One Body.  In fact, in Chapter 1 it is written that God would gather all in the heavens and all on the earth in Christ Jesus.  Here is where the fullness of God meets man, in Christ Jesus.  Here is where judgement meets man.  Here is where Life meets man.  Here is where One New Man comes forth.  All in Christ Jesus.  The Kingdom coming in earth as it is in heaven, flowing from the Lamb!  Glory to God! 

AS it is in Heaven III

As it is in Heaven III
In the Book of Acts there is a record of the encounter of Saul of Tarsus with the Lord from Heaven.  Here was where Paul lost his sight.  He physically lost his sight, and later his eyes were opened.  To me this is speaking of Saul losing his earthly sight and seeing from the Lord from Heaven.  He saw a Light from Heaven who was brighter than the sun.  This speaks volumes to me.
From here Saul would change his name to Paul, speaking of a new creation.  This is what Paul saw in the Light from Heaven, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He saw a New Creation.  Jesus said to Paul, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?”  Who art thou LORD.  I am Jesus whom thou persecutes.”  Saul was carrying orders regarding the Church.  He was persecuting the Church.  He was persecuting the Lord’s Body.
The Lord’s Body, the Church is a Heavenly Vision.  That is seeing from Heaven.  Seeing that the Church is not an institution, not simply a gathering, a building or meeting, but the divine Body of the Lord Jesus Himself is seeing from Heaven.  If we saw this, we would nourish one another in the knowledge of the Lord.  There would be great unity, because we see through Him.  We would not see Baptist and Pentecostal, Lutheran or Episcopal.  We would see the Body of the Lord.
Hear this.  The Church, His Body is a Heavenly position.   You were not the Body of Christ by natural birth.  You are His Body by the Spirit.  Everything of the Spirit is Heavenly.  Through Christ Jesus you and I who are His are living in the Heavenly Realm, above principalities and powers.  We are living through Christ.  We are to be the exhibiting of Christ in the earth.  We are His Body.  Glory to God! 

As it is in Heaven II

As it is in Heaven II
We are considering scripture out of Matthew 6.  Jesus said to His disciples to not be as the hypocrites when they pray, but when they pray to address God as their Father.  “Our Father in Heaven.  Hallowed be they name.  Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  If I analyze this prayer, I can see Jesus relates to His Father as in Heaven.  He then sets forth the coming of the Kingdom of God and the doing of the will of God.  He sets these forth as coming on or in the earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.  
I believe we see the picture of this in the children of Israel.  When they moved from Egypt to Canaan.  In their move was a whole different reality.  In Deuteronomy 11 this picture is set forth.
Deuteronomy 11:10  “For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; 11 but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven, 12 a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”
God set forth that the land the Israelites was going to possess was not like Egypt.  It was not a land where they were going to toil their own labors.   The land they were coming in to possess was a land that was drinking the water of Heaven.  It was a land flowing with milk and honey, and the LORD’s eyes were upon it.  They had come from a land that was full of work and effort.  It was grueling to a land that was flowing with resources.  They were coming to a life of abundance from a life of despair.  They were coming to the place where the LORD would Himself dwell.  In the natural this is a picture of Heaven on Earth. 
Now this is a picture of the natural Israel.  A people that God had taken to Himself to be His people that He would dwell among them.  The picture of Canaan had to be of abundance.  It had to flow of resources and fullness because it was a picture of where God is.  Anytime God is there we will find abundance. 
This picture comes to a reality in Christ.  Jesus Himself is the place that God chose to dwell.  He is where abundance dwells.  He is where the flow of God is at.  We find what Canaan was a picture of in Christ Jesus the Lord.  God moved us from the problem, Adam or the natural man, to the solution who is Christ Jesus.  If we could hear and view what Paul writes to the Corinthians and Romans.  “In Adam all die.”  Here is the picture of the Adamic man death.  Now the greater picture.  “In Christ all are made alive.” 
 Here is how Heaven comes to the earth.  Here is where God’s will is done.  Heaven comes in a man.  God’s will is in a man.  Ephesians 1:9&10 “making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say.”  Thy will be done.  Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.  All things in the Heavens summed up in Christ.  All things on the earth summed up in Heaven.  Here is how Matthew 6 is fulfilled.  Glory to God. 

As IT is in Heaven

As it is in Heaven
We as believers make statements like, I wonder what Heaven will be like?  Or I am sure they are having a good time in Heaven, speaking of a loved one who has passed on.  But have we really stopped and considered what Jesus said in the prayer that we call the Lord’s prayer?
Matthew 6:9 "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth."
Thy will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.   If we do not know how it is in heaven, as we usually declare to one another, then how can His will be done on earth as it is in heaven?  How would it be possible?  Included in God’s will is that His Kingdom would come on earth or in the earth according to the translation you may read, as it is in heaven.   Let’s look at God’s will by the scripture.
Ephesians 1:9 “making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,”
The mystery of God’s will is to sum up all things in Christ.  ALL THINGS!  That says it all, correct?  We can spend eternity knowing this but let us consider it right now.  All things in Heaven and in Earth even in Him.  Now when we say this, consider first that Paul wrote this to the church.  He makes a point of it in the first verse that this is written to the Church, the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.  With that said, all things according to the Church are to be as it is in Christ Jesus.  This is how it is in Heaven upon the earth.
Let me be plain.  How it is in Heaven is how it is in Christ Jesus.  Heavenly places are defined by Him, not by our imaginations or how we think they are.   I’m not talking about fruit trees here.  I’m talking about the divine nature of the Lamb.  There could be fruit trees.  There could be green grass.  You could have a body, but none of that would be as it is in Heaven. I’ve made a statement for years.  If we live forever, but don’t have our minds and hearts changed is that Heaven?  I would say it is not.  If I do not take on the mind of Christ, if I do not take on His divine nature, it would not be as it is in Heaven.  
So, as we know Him, we know what is Heavenly.  When we live in Him in this present earth, we manifest that which is in Heaven in the earth.  Our earthen vessels are given that we who are His may manifest Him in the earth.  This is the Kingdom coming from Heaven upon Earth.  This is it.  Christ revealed and seen in you and me, and then that of Him which is revealed and seen made real that we live out of Him.   This is God’s will coming on earth.  Christ, the Heavenly One revealed, and manifest in the earth by the Church.  Glory to God!

Greater Works V - Living out of the Abundance of His Supply

Living out of the Abundance of His Supply
In the beginning God made the man Adam and placed Him in the garden of Eden.  God made the earth and rested.  He placed man in His finished work, in His rest.   The provision of God was before the man.  The trees of the garden were for fruit to the man.  A river ran through the Garden.   A mist came up and watered the land.  Adam was in God’s work.   Adam was to care for God’s work.  Of course, we know the rest of the story.  
 
The picture of God’s provision is painted again with the children of Israel.  Israel is brought out of Egypt.  Through God’s mighty hand they are brought into Canaan. Israel did not earn or come to Canaan by their own strength.  Israel did not leave Egypt by their own strength.  They came out of Egypt by God, and when they entered Canaan it was though the LORD.  God’s supply was before them.  Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey.  A land that God was blessing.  Israel was entering into God’s provision, and like Adam they were to keep it.
 
These two pictures that God painted are pictures of God’s supply.  Isn’t grace living out of what God has provided?  The Strong’s definition of grace is the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in the life.  The Apostle John writes of Christ Jesus that of His fullness have we received and grace for grace.  We receive of God and we walk in what He has supplied.  His supply to us is that in Christ.  He is what we live out of.
 
Colossians 2 says “As you have received Christ Jesus walk in Him.”  Our promise, our Canaan is Christ Jesus the LORD.  He is the land we have been planted in.  We are to dwell in Him.  I have considered this for years and feel that God has just begun to make it real.  How do I dwell in Christ?  How do I walk in Him?  These are not religious statements that the Apostle Paul made but the reality He was captured in.  His cry was to find Himself in Christ.  That is the land we are planted in by the Spirit of the Lord.
 
We are baptized into His Death.  All His death speaks and declares is to be real in yours and my heart.  Everything declared in His burial is to be made known in us, and all that is in His resurrection is to be realized.  Here in this land we live as dead to sin.  We live as crucified to the world.  This is part of our life, and we live unto God in Christ.  All things of Christ are to be known, experienced and expressed.  He is a flowing fountain, a river of life, manna from heaven, and a healing ointment to name a few.  
 
This supply we have come to will never run dry.  It will never become old.  We are like the land that God said in Deuteronomy 11 that His eyes are on.  We are the land that the rain of heaven is flowing unto to produce the crop of the Lord.  To bring forth that of Christ Jesus.  What a glorious place we have now come to.  Let us turn our soul and realize all that is in Him!  Glory to God.