Creation & Redemption
The writers of the New Testament often speak of creation in the same breath as redemption.
John starts his version of the gospel making sure that his audience understands that the God he speaks about is the God who created all things and through whom all things exist.

“The original, authentic Word was face to face with God from the very beginning. God Himself is the content of this communication – revealing His personal presence and unique expression in all that exists.

In fact there is nothing original or innovative outside of Him! He is the only Creator and the source of all inspiration and creativity. Everything that is, has ‘Made by God’ stamped on its existence. (John 1:1-4 Translated by Andre Rabe)

When Paul explores the scale of reconciliation in one of his most powerful writings, he starts with reminding us about the person we are dealing with – the Creator of all things:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:15-20)

The psalmist said it this way: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,” Ps 24:1

So how is redemption connected with creation?
The Creator has not forsaken His creation!
The Creator has not given up on His creation.
He has not renounced His declaration that what He made is good.
God believes that everything He made can be saved.

The fall & the beginning of the ‘old’ creation.
Evil did not obliterate God’s original creation. Evil did not succeed in perverting creation to such an extent, that it was not worth saving. Evil could twist, pervert and suppress what God created, but it could not utterly corrupt it.

God still sees a value, in fallen creation, which is worth pursuing and paying the utmost price for.
The new creation is nothing less than God’s affirmation of the original creation.
In the new creation God declares that what He made originally was not a mistake, that creation is worth renewing and restoring.

Another picture that I found helpful is that of a seed. Jesus said: Unless the seed dies it remains alone, but if it dies it produces a great harvest. …. However the new life that spring from the seed would not be possible without the ‘old’ ‘dead’ seed. So in that way it is not completely new.

A seed does not move, breath, grow or do anything else that we associate with being alive. Yet within this seemingly lifeless container lies one of the greatest wonders of life – the genetic code, the logic, that is capable of unleashing a burst of life. There might be a forest in that single seed. As someone once said: “You can count the seeds in an apple, but can you count the apples in a seed?” All it needs is to be awakened.

Different seeds have different types of dormancy and different triggers that break this dormancy. In some seeds, germination is triggered by moisture, in others by light, yet in others by a combination of stimuli. I once read an amazing story about seed that was discovered in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Grain was deposited into a Pharaoh’s tomb together with his remains. Thousands of years later men discovered that grain. When they planted some of those seeds, they germinated. The death concealed within the tomb could not overcome the life preserved within those seeds!

Man originated in God. Although dormant, the seed of God, His genetic code, remains within man. Peter wrote about the fact that we were born not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible – the word of God that lives and abides forever. (1Pet 1:23) Incorruptible seed – think about that. This seed might have been separated from the tree of its origin, it might have been trampled under foot … but it is incorruptible! The logic of its origin remains in tact. There is an environment that can cause this seed to germinate. There are words that contain the spirit environment that causes this spirit seed within man to germinate and produce resurrection life. A person might have no interest in God, and could have been in this state of spiritual death for many years. Oh, but when words of life enter, the very death or tomb in which he lives, becomes a womb; a womb that incubates the very life of God.

What did God come to save? What did God see in fallen humanity that prevented Him from simply destroying it. What did He see that caused Him to pursue us and pay the greatest price for us even before we believed?

Eternal rest.
When God finished creation, He entered His rest on the seventh day – an eternal day. (All the other days have a beginning and an end, the seventh day has no end) Heb 4 also reveals that God ceased from all His work, entered His rest and has never left that rest.

God did not become dissatisfied with what He made and consequently started working on a brand new plan for something that never existed before. The new creation was not another act of creating or work which required God to stop resting and start creating again. God is satisfied with what He originally created and confidently waits for its return to His original design.
God is not nervous about what He made … He is not anxious about your life. What He imagined originally when He first thought of you, is still His only reference to who you are. Agree with God and be at peace.

The New Creation
Let’s look at one of the most popular scriptures regarding the new creation: 2 Cor 5:14-17
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them”

I want to specifically focus on verse 17:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The ‘if’ in this sentence has often been seen as a conditional ‘if’. But Paul uses this ‘if’ as a conclusion, not as a condition. See for instance Rom 8:31 as well: If God is for us, who can be against us? Can you see that the ‘if’ is a conclusion … not a condition?

Also notice the word ‘therefore’. Whenever you see the word ‘therefore’, ask, what is it there for. You see verse 17 is the conclusion of verse 14-16 in which Paul makes it as clear as can be that all where included in the death of Christ. That is why Paul can no longer look at any man from a human point of view. History recorded the death of one man, but eternity saw humanity included in that event.

The word ‘new’ was translated from ‘kainos’ and refers to that which is new, especially in freshness and age. In other words that which has not been affected by time.

The word ‘creation’ was translated from ‘ktisis’. Strongs define it as: original formation, building, creation, creature, ordinance. It comes from the word ‘ktiz?’ which Strongs defines as follows:
Probably akin to G2932 (through the idea of the proprietorship of the manufacturer); to fabricate, that is, found (formoriginally): – create, Creator, make.

It is also interesting to note that ‘any man’ can also be translated ‘any thing’.

The new creation, therefore, is the original creation that was found again by its founder and cleansed from the affects of time, renewed and refreshed.
The old creation is also the original creation, but in a state of decay, as it was subjected to corruption.

In the same way as there is only one Creator, there is only one creation.
This one original creation has been in different states, namely ‘old’ or corrupted by the events in time, and ‘new’ or cleansed from the decay of time and restored to its authentic glory.
There is no such thing as an evil creation – evil never created anything.
The only thing Satan can give birth to, is lies.

In His death He did the unthinkable, He reached back into the irreversibility of time and loosened the grip of corrupting events from His creation. He reaches back into timeless eternity and restores the first creation to a place of blameless innocence, without a trace of decay or any evidence that it was ever touched by sin.

In Christ, God preserved the logic that was in the beginning, the design that was untouched by the fall, the motivation behind all of creation. In Christ, the Creator finds His creation and establishes such a unity that it can never be lost again.

If there is anything in Christ, if indeed all things consist in Him, then in Him we see God’s authentic thought and design for everything restored. It can mean nothing less than the original creation being restored to that place of relationship to God, as if sin never existed, as if time never decayed.

When the Word became flesh, when the Creator became a creation, the relation between them fundamentally changed. This act of incarnation, in which the Creator embraces his creation, in which God unites Himself with humanity, is the beginning of reconciliation and the end of hostility. Incarnation is how God releases His creation from corruption and affirms once again that what He made is good … when He said man is His image and likeness, He meant it.

I’m sure you have often heard this scripture used in the context of individual conversion, to show how a person’s life changes when they meet Christ. And I can understand that. When we look at the mess in which we lived before Christ and the peace we received when we received Him, this verse makes a lot of sense. However, the new creation has a larger context and relevance than your individual life and experience. God sees the universal renewal of all that exists to His authentic thought before the fall. We can individually participate in that renewal … but the new creation is a larger event that your individual decision.

?[In this new creation all distinctions vanish.] There is no room for and there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, [nor difference between nations whether alien] barbarians or Scythians [ who are the most savage of all], nor slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all [ everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person].
(Col 3:11 AMP)

The New Birth.
When we understand the new creation, it is not difficult to understand the new birth. The new testament uses the words ‘born again’ only in the book of Peter! John 3 actually speaks about born from above. The word which some bibles translated ‘again’ is the Greek word ‘an?then’ which means: from above; by analogy from the first; by implication anew: – from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top. As with the new creation, this refers to a renewal, a restoration of the original.

Let’s have a look at these verses in detail. John 3 speaks of two births – what is born of flesh and what is born of spirit, our natural birth and our spirit birth. He refers to these births in different ways, namely: the spirit birth is also referred to as ‘born from above’, and the natural birth is also referred to as born of water – the natural womb from which we came.

Many sermon’s have been preached on ‘you must be born again’ as if this is something a person can do. However, in the same passage Jesus says: “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” As little as you contributed to your natural birth, as little you are capable of contributing to your spirit birth.

Jesus is stating a fact to Nicodemus: to see the kingdom of God, to even have an appetite for spiritual things, you have to have a spirit dimension … a part of you that has its origin ‘from above’

All men have spirits. There are multitudes of scriptures that show that all men have a spirit.
In Gen 6:3 God says that the life within flesh is His spirit! : “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
Num 16:22 (and others) refers to God as “the God of the spirits of all flesh”.
Job 27:3 calls man’s breath ‘the spirit of God is in my nostrils’

There are too many to mention. The truth is that man has a spirit dimension, a part that originates ‘from above’. It is because Nicodemus had an origin beyond flesh, a spirit dimension, that He had an appetite for spiritual things.

When?
But when and how does this renewal happen? What is the basis and beginning of this new creation, this new birth?
“By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Pet 1:3
“You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.” 1 Pet 1:23

Notice that if we have to give a time-reference for when the new creation started, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ according to Peter.
The new testament writers saw something of much greater significance in the death of Christ, than the death of one single man. History might have recorded the death of one man, but the mystery that was hidden in eternity has now been revealed: humanity … in fact the cosmos, was in Him! “…if one died for all, then all died.” Paul describes the process of His death as both a destructive and creative event in which the divisions between all people where destroyed and through which He created ONE new man. (Eph 2:11-19)

Jesus came to remind us that we have a greater, and more valid identity than flesh. In His death He brings to judgement that identity of man that was tarnished by sin  - the events in time. He reaches into that eternal realm, where the blueprint of man’s design was preserved, and in His resurrection, the new creation begins. He was raised because of our justification.

What He accomplished is reality. Our appeal to man, is to enter into God’s reality. In Colossians this redemption is described as being transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the son of His love. Can you see how the new birth, is just like the new creation – it is the original creation that is rescued from the decay and chaos of the kingdom of darkness.

Our decision for Christ only has substance because of God’s decision for us. Our faith is simply entering into – saying yes – to what God already believes to be true.

As with the original creation, all Adam could do was to open his eyes to the perfection and completion of what God had done already, even so with redemption, our only contribution is to open our eyes to the perfection and completion of the salvation He achieved for us, with us and in us, even before we were aware of it.

Hosea prophesies of the death and resurrection of Christ as follows: “After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him.” God was indeed in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

The Adamic race met its final end in the last Adam – Christ. For as surely as one died for all, all have died … not one survived! He is the firstborn of a new creation – God’s authentic and original idea of man – His image and likeness in human form – has been restored.

What He accomplished is reality and it is complete. The future holds a further unveiling and manifestation of this reality … but the event that made it real was the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

The Full Manifestation
“….the joyful anticipation deepens.
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”
Rom 8:18-25 MSG

Waiting for the full manifestation of these truths is not something that leaves us with a sense of lack in the present. No … this is a joyful expectation … a joy bursting forth in how we live life now.

4I continually thank my God for you because of the grace of God which is given you in Christ Jesus, 5that you are enriched by Him in every possible way, in all the fullness of what can be known and understood and being able to express it fully. 6Just as the evidence of Christ was confirmed within you – you have within yourselves the proof that He is! 7You don’t lack anything – you are fully qualified. You have every reason to expect the Lord Jesus Christ to be made visible through you. 8Who also confirms your blamelessness to the uttermost degree in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ( 1 Cor 1:4-8 a translation from the original by Andre Rabe)

You have every reason to expect the Lord Jesus Christ to be made visible through you!
Through you He desires to give expression to His authentic thought.
To display His image and likeness in human form was His idea from the beginning.

What we hear
The Word John speaks about is not the latest fashionable ‘revelation’, but rather that which was from the beginning. In Christ, God’s original thought was preserved since the beginning. The destiny of this Word was always to become flesh. This Word cannot be contained in books … not even sacred books. Paul said it this way: We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. (1 Cor 2:6-9 MSG)

Would you agree that the Word that was in the beginning, that was with God and that was God, was not a book but a person? The truths contained within the scriptures point towards The Truth, which is a person, not a book! In Jesus’ days there were many who highly revered the scriptures, yet completely missed its message. Jesus said to the religious scholars of His day: “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want. (John 5:39,40 MSG) How often still do we hear messages, backed by many scriptural references, filled with formulas and principles yet oblivious to the person – Christ in you. He still desires to find expression, not only in a doctrine or a teaching, however eloquent they may be, but in a person – in you.
This Word is original not invented last week. This Word is eternal, not seasonal. Even before time as we know it, God made up His mind about us. “… He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world …” (Eph 1:4) Before we did anything to impress or disappoint Him, He knew us, chose us and uniquely identified us in Christ. Christ came to show us what God originally saw in us, that cause Him to take such interest in us.

How we hear
Jesus said: Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. (Luke 8:18) There is a way of hearing that will enrich you greatly and there is a way of hearing that will rob you.

Prior to this statement Jesus told the parable of the sower to illustrate some of the different ways of hearing. He likens the Word of God to seed … seed that is received (heard) in different ways and consequently produces different levels of fruitfulness. I want to liken the progression of hearing, seeing, gazing and touching that I mentioned above to this parable of the sower.

As the sower goes out to sow, some seed falls along the way on a path – it produces no fruit. For me this speaks of casual, careless ‘hearing’. The path is not ready for nor receptive to the seed. I would say that this is a person that never really heard the message.
Then there is the seed that falls among the rocks. There is a bit of good soil there and so the seed does sprout, but because there is no depth it withers quickly. Often, in the excitement of hearing this gospel, the first response is: what shall I do; how do I apply it? People want to move directly from first hearing this good news to trying to change everything around them. However, it is vital to hear in such a way that what you hear starts changing what you see. Otherwise the excitement might be short lived because as soon as you ‘see’ a contradiction the whole experience withers. This person is at the hearing stage, but has not heard enough to start seeing.

In each of these illustrations there is a progression in the intensity of ‘hearing’ and a consequent progression in the fruit it produces. The next example is a person who hears and having some depth, they allow the word to sink in, to change the way they see. Because of this, the seed sprouts and begins to bear fruit. Yet they allow other seed, other words to have an equal place in their lives. This Word is not yet the ultimate word in their lives, it has not captured their exclusive attention yet. Consequently, the seed is not as fruitful as it could be.

“As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” This is the person who hears and embraces what they hear. This is a way of hearing that captures the persons heart. Embrace this word until you find yourself inescapably embraced by it. The soil does not have to make the seed grow – the seed spouts and grows of its own accord. The soil simply needs to provide an environment for the seed to remain. Jesus once said: “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will bear much fruit”. ‘Abide’ does not take much effort. It speaks more of rest that activity.

What we have seen and gazed upon
As we heed this word, as we give our ears, our attention, we’ll begin to see. “which we have seen with our eyes; that which we have gazed upon”. John uses two variations of the word ‘see‘. The first is ‘horao’.
Strongs define it as: Properly to stare at, that is, by implication to discern clearly; by extension to attend to.
The second word is ‘theaomai’ and it is a more intensive form of the first word, meaning: A prolonged form of a primary verb; to look closely at, that is, by implication to perceive.
Again the progression is evident. Look until you see beyond the obvious. Look beyond the surface and allow the true meaning of this word to captivate your attention. Continue to gaze ans soon you’ll find this word becoming a tangible reality.

There is no method, technique or process that has a greater ability to transform our lives than simply gazing into this mystery, seeing in it the face of our birth, allowing our attention to be captivated by it. Let me be clear. when I speak of being transformed, I do not mean becoming something that you are not. This transformation is a restoration to the original.
And all of us, as with unveiled face, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transformed into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another (2Cor3:18)
But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. (1 John 3:2-3)

Can you see in these how ‘transformation’ is linked to ‘beholding’? Once we start seeing the truth of God’s opinion of us and excitement fills our hearts, the first response should simply be one of adoration – lets see more; let’s look more deeply, let us gaze upon Him. Such adoration will awaken the appropriate response.

Doers of the word, not just hearers
“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does.”

The word ‘doer’ is so much richer than many translations bring across. It’s the same word from which we get ‘poet’.
‘poietes’
a performer; specifically a “poet”: – doer, poet.

It speaks of inspired, passionate expression. When this word is declared as it should be, you’ll hear much more than ‘do’s and don’ts’, you’ll see the face your origin as in a mirror. The secret to accurate ‘doing’ of this word is in accurate ‘seeing’. It is the one who looks intently and continues to look, that finds inspired expression – expression birthed from what he sees.

With that in mind I enjoyed the following translation:

Look and continue to look,
the perfect, complete, and eternal freedom.
Listen; listen intensily;
listen in such a way that it bursts forth in inspired expression.
Allow what you hear to awaken the poet in you;
allow what you see to awaken the artist in you.
Then act; act in the full conviction of what you have seen and heard,
and you will will find delight and affirmation in your action.
James 1:25 (translated by Andre Rabe)

http://hearhim.net/

Download the podcast here: Behold and become.m4a

Testimonies are great as a means of pointing towards the substance. However, the substance of our message is more than our personal journeys in life and more than God’s personal dealings with us. Ultimately, the substance of our message is an introduction to the person of Christ or our message has no substance at all. This gospel is more than the story of God’s involvement in my life so far, or your life so far. God wants to overwhelm us with the reality of His presence to such an extent that the past becomes irrelevant! Even the good memories, the testimonies of God’s goodness can become stale if our awareness of His very present reflection within us, is somehow lost.

There is a place of awareness – Paul called it the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord – that makes every other type of knowledge, discussion or perceived wisdom, irrelevant. Yesterday, today and tomorrow do not add or subtract from who He is. God is, long before time as we know it began. We may use the temporal and stories from our lives to point towards Christ, but he will always be greater and better than what the temporal can contain. He is Himself the content of the gospel and as such the gospel is more than stories about Him, it is the power of God unto salvation.

When Jesus prayed one of the last recorded prayers before His certain death, His words were not nostalgic regarding the past nor were they simply focused on the future, but the power of His testimony was found in its relevance to this moment. Hear what He said and notice the immediacy of His thought.

I have given them the glory You have given Me.

May they be one as We are one.

I am in them and You are in Me.

May they be made completely one,

so the world may know You have sent Me

and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Father, I desire those You have given Me

to be with Me where I am.

Then they will see My glory,

which You have given Me

because You loved Me before the world’s foundation. John 17:22-24

All the prophets bore witness and pointed towards an event; a person, in which the mystery – the fullness of God’s purpose – would be made known. It was not because of a lack of diligence that they only saw and spoke in fragments and glimpses, but because of the enormity of this revelation. There was only One who was worthy to open the seals; only One who would have the strength and wisdom to accurately reflect God’s original idea; only One who witnessed and was part of God’s original motivation to create. The prophets saw glimpses of the mind of God, but Jesus is the mind of God.

In no way does this belittle the prophets, but rather it emphasises the significance of Christ. The messages that came through the prophets had such rich variety, they were relevant in so many different generations and were communicated in such a diversity of ways, but they were all moving towards a climax – the crescendo of God’s conversation with man. The prophets spoke, wrote and sometimes used dramatic action to communicate their message – Jesus is the message. The prophets often spoke a word that was relevant for their generation, their time and situation – Jesus is the complete and eternal Word, always relevant, always fresh. The prophets bore witness to the reality and truth they saw – Jesus is that reality, is that truth. He is the very brilliance and light of God’s character and His aim is not simply to reveal truth to us, but to make us true. As we behold Him we are transformed into that same image!

The One who began it all, the Author of the ages, has not forsaken what He made. He is as surely the Lord of ‘destiny’ as He is the Lord of creation. The Creator is also the Redeemer. He has not retreated into being a distant observer, a purely transcendent God, but continues to be intimately involved, sustaining all existence, upholding the universe.

When John speaks about the Word that became flesh, He is saying that the very mind of God, the reason and very life of God was made visible, so that we no longer have to grope in the darkness, but know His thoughts towards us. He is the true or real light – the essence and reality of everything. If you want to know what God is like, look at what Jesus is like. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. In this one statement He identifies Himself as the ultimate reality, the mind of God revealed.

God’s Word is Jesus Christ. There is only one Word and only one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. All He has to say to us, He said in Christ. All He has to give to us, He gave in Jesus Christ, for in Christ, He gave Himself in all His fullness. Not only did He become man, but in His free gift of grace, He makes us like Himself. Our entire relation with God, happens within this Word. This is the Word that planned our existence, this is the Word through whom we were created, this is the Word that is our mediation, this is the Word that reveals the secret of our identity and the purpose of our existence, and this Word is our only hope and destiny.
The Word Eternal

Long before the first line of scripture
was penned on papyrus scroll,
the Word, unwritten,
existed as the mind of God.

Before the books were gathered
collated as sacred text,
the Word, intangible; invisible,
was planning, was ordering
the ages that were to come.
This Word predates the Bible,
this Word predates creation,
this Word is alive and active
and speaking still today.

“Heaven is my throne room;
I rest my feet on earth.
So what kind of house
will you build me?” says God.

What kind of doctrine could enfold Him,
What kind of information could define Him,
What kind of book could contain Him?

Yet, despite His boundless nature,
within His infinite wisdom,
He devised a crafty plan, by which
His thoughts, His intents
would fit themselves into
the form of a humble seed:
The DNA of His own life,
encrypted within the written Word.

And so began the writing
of that which we now call:
the Bible – the Scriptures.
Within the limitations; imperfections
of human words and human authors
God placed His eternal perfect seed.

A seed is not a tree;
the Scriptures are not our God,
Yet a seed is the beginning, the start -
provided with fruitful soil,
encouraged by water and light,
a seed gives birth to a being
much greater than itself.

His plan foresaw the day
in which this seed would blossom
no longer encrypted; no longer disguised
but fully expressed in the person
of Jesus – the Christ – the Son
The One who was in the beginning
revealed within our midst
Immanuel – God with us -
the Word became flesh.

His desire is still the same:
for His Word to break free of the boundaries
of letters and text and theories
and yet again, became flesh,
and yet again find expression in a person:
you – the chosen – the offspring of God.

So as we approach the Scriptures,
do more than read what is written -
listen to what is spoken.
So once again we can encounter
the mind, the voice, the person
who spoke long before
pen or paper were born.
(by Andre Rabe)
This Great Salvation
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you concerning things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. 1 Pet 1:10-12

When they inquired about the time to which all their writings pointed, the event that would be the fulfillment of God’s purpose and the release of His glory on earth, the Spirit of God within them pointed towards the sufferings of Christ. They realised that we ( those who came after the suffering of Christ ) would be the beneficiaries of this event. How many continue to search the scriptures, trying to find another prophesy that points to another time or event, and in the process neglect the greatest event – this great salvation.

The Jews divided time into two parts, namely: the present age, and the age to come. The ‘present age’ was subject to evil and the ‘age to come’ would be the perfect age in which God rules. In between these two ages they saw the ‘Day of the Lord’ which was, as it were the birth pangs of the new age. The writer of Hebrews is saying that the age of glimpses, fragments is gone and the age of completeness has come. The time of shadows and grasping in the dark has gone, the time of reality and truth has come. In Jesus “… the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” and  “you will do well to heed this word as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (1John2:8, 2 Pet 1:19). Jesus is not just another messenger of ‘the present age’, but He is the Day of the Lord, giving birth to a whole new dispensation.

God anticipated a time and a person in which He would reveal Himself in such clarity and completeness, that for all eternity it would be known as the crescendo, the sum total of His conversation with man. Just as He spoke creation into existence, this declaration would once again be a word of such magnitude that it would give birth to a whole new creation. Just as He originally said: “let light shine out of darkness”, He would once again speak a word that would shine with the knowledge of the favour of God; a message that would radiate the character of God with such accuracy that it would dispel all darkness, destroy all ignorance of His love and leave man without excuse to remain distant. This event would mark the end of the old Adamic race, a race defined by the fall of man, and be the birth of a new humanity, a humanity which God reconciled to Himself, not holding their trespassed against them, a humanity defined by Christ – His final Word regarding man.

Identity revealed
In the face of Christ Jesus the eternal purpose of God, His original intent and thoughts towards man were made plain. This revelation destroys every false identity and unlocks the truth about us. The light that confronted Saul on the way to Damascus was both a destructive force and a life-giving encounter. The flaming fire of the presence of God eternally destroyed Saul, and simultaneously brought forth Paul – the true person that God had in mind since the beginning. As Paul continued to look into this light, he saw the face of Christ shining with the knowledge of the glory of God. As he looked deeply, he became aware of the real significance of Christ, a significance far beyond the miracles He performed, a significance far beyond the few years He spent on earth. He began to recognise, in the face of Christ, the true identity of mankind.

It is this insight into Christ which takes us beyond a mere historic appreciation of Him, into a present awareness of the One who lives; the One who represents my innocence at the right hand of God.

Jesus once asked: “Who do men say that I am?”. After His disciples gave Him all the current opinions and hearsay stories, He asked: “And you, who do you say that I am?”. There is an appointed time for you to move beyond popular opinion and come to your own conclusion. Can you hear Him asking you that question today: “Who do you say that I am?” Seeing Him for who He truly is, is not an intellectual exercise; it’s not simply reading about what He did or said. Even His disciples who were with Him did not come to an accurate conclusion about Him from observing Him in the natural. It was only when the Father revealed His own point of view to Peter, that Peter started to appreciate the real Christ. Jesus then immediately started speaking to Peter about his true identity – that He was a piece of a rock carved and originating in another rock. Reminds us of Is 51: “You who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn” In realising His true identity, you discover your own. “The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” (Rom 12:3 MSG).

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Cor 3:18 NAS). Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is the reflection of God’s original thought about us, the means by which we were created, the mediator through whom we are justified and made blameless, the mirror in whom we see the truth that we were indeed created in His image and likeness.

Christ is the revelation of your true identity. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col 3:4 NAS) The word ‘when’ in the Greek is in the present continuous tense. In other words ‘whenever’ is probably a better translation. The Mirror translation says it this way: “Every time Christ is revealed as our life, we are being co-revealed in the same glory (likeness and image of God) being united together with Him.”

More details of the book here: Secret of Contentment

Lets first look at the Hebrew word for glory (kaw-bode’, kaw-bode’) It comes from the word that simply means weight. What on earth has weight got to do with glory!
Let’s find out:
The root word weight is neutral, but then develops into two distinct directions; the one very negative and the other very positive.
On the negative side we find: burdensome, grievous, affliction.
On the positive side: honour, praise, glory.

Enough of the technical analysis; what does it mean in plain English?
Well, if I say something bad about you, something so weighty that it hurts you inside, then I’ve grieved you. Grief is the intense (weighty) sorrow caused by the loss of a loved one. On the positive side: When I say something so good about you, something that carries such weight and substance that it lifts your spirit, then I’ve honoured you. It is an honour that connects the giver and receiver in an intimate way.

Let’s look at how this glory or honour is exchanged between God and us. In the Old Testament, the glory was often manifested as a cloud. (Ex 16:10) The glory of God is His very essence, it is His absolute goodness. It’s a goodness that is so good that ‘badness’ cannot exist in its presence. This is why God hid Himself in a cloud in the O.T. – to protect the people He loved. But to say that His glory is His goodness is far too vague; let’s drill down a bit deeper.

What makes God so good? The first record we have of man experiencing the goodness of God is in Gen. 1:28 (See ‘The ultimate experience’)
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them.. The word blessed (baw-rak) is defined as an act of adoration such as kneeling.

Man’s first experience was the overwhelming display of God’s favour and adoration! The desire within man to worship God was birthed by this experience of God’s adoration – the only appropriate response is to reflect back the adoration He gives.’

God is love and His love for us is so weighty; carries such substance that it is the greatest honour we could ever receive.

‘This sounds like God is honouring us! Should we not be honouring Him?’ are the questions many may ask.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
- Our love is our response to the love He gives us.
- Our honouring Him is our response to the honour He gives us!
- Our praising Him is our response to the praise He gives us!

The only appropriate praise, honour and love we can give Him, is reflecting the praise, honour and love He gives us!
Now lets look at the New Testament word for glory namely doxa:
Thayer Definition:
1) opinion, judgment, view
2) opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
2a) in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory

Let us re-read a few scriptures with this in mind:
Joh 17:22 And the glory(the good opinion, praise and honour) which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one;

2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory (the good opinion, praise and honour) of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from (a lower degree of ) glory to (to a higher degree of) glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

2Co 4:6 Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory (the good opinion, praise and honour) of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The good news is that God favours you! He has done everything necessary in Christ to have a good opinion of you; to demonstrate His love towards you without hindrance. Glory! God no longer tries to hide this glory from us; on the contrary, He wants as to look straight into it. His opinion of you is the weightiest issue of life. No matter what you thought or think of yourself, His opinion is more valid; carries more weight and His opinion of you is good!

There might be many issues in your life that contradicts this good opinion; you might experience many things that tries to disqualify you, and emphasise your need for change, but beholding His opinion(glory) has the power to transform you and your experiences.

As you continue to look into His face; beholding His glory; you will soon start reflecting that same favour back to Him … and to others.

By Andre Rabe