Before there was time, there was a Holy Community. The
Almighty, the Word, and the Spirit. These three were one and lived in Perfect
Holy Unity, just as they do today. So there has always been community. At some
point this Sacred Trio chose to incorporate a new creation into their Devine
Circle; Holy Angels. These servant companions we created to share in the
perfectly unified community of Heaven.
Then, the Godhead held Holy Council and conceived of a plan, a plan
so grand all the angels were intrigued with it, but God shrouded it in mystery
deep within the Word to be reviled in the distant future of the Divine Drama. This,
Paul called “the purpose of the ages,” and was the reason for all temporal
creation.
The first clue to this Holy Mystery was revealed in the
statement; “Let Us make man in Our own image, in Our very likeness…” Yes, our
God chose not only to include mankind in His Sacred Community, but He chose to
produce on earth a collective body of people who reflect the unity of the
Trinity.
Christ came to create the community, prayed to unify this
group, and died so He could be embodied by these people.
He called the disciples to follow Him, gave them new names
and a new purpose, He shared with them the greatest gift; Himself. He
continually corrected their selfishness and showed them what true community
looked like. When His time with them on earth was nearly complete, he prayed:
“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the
name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one... My prayer
is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the
evil one… My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will
believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father,
just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the
world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that
you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that
they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you
sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you
have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have
given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous
Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you
have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you
known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself
may be in them.” (John 17:11-26 NIV).
He left this life with the assurance that the Spirit would fill
them, empower them, perfect them, and unify them. As the Spirit moved in God’s
chosen community, men and angels stopped and took notice!
Paul said, “God told me to make clear to everyone how the mystery
came about. In times past it was kept hidden in the mind of God, who created
all things. He wanted the rulers and authorities in the heavenly world to
come to know his great wisdom. The church would make it known to them. That was
God’s plan from the beginning. He has worked it out through Christ Jesus our
Lord.” (Ephesians 3:9-11 NIRV).
God doesn't give us just any place in this community. No! He
ties us more closely to Him than we can be with anyone or anything else. He lives in us
through His Spirit and we make up who He is in His Son.
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the
evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of
service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity
in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no
longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there
by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their
deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become
in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From
him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph. 4:11-16
NIV).
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you
also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and
with his Son, Jesus Christ… God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie
and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:2-7 NIV).
So the Godhead brings about His great, eternal, work; drawing us into Divine Unity. But! There is another force at work,
one at work destroying this fellowship ever since God began to
reveal it. Our adversary lead Adam and Eve out of perfect unity with God, tried
to drive Job from his relationship with God, deceived David, the king of God's Holy people, accused the High Priest Joshua who
was appointed to serve in drawing the people closer to God, tempted and attacked
the Lord in His work to reestablish mankind’s fellowship with God, and is still
driving a wedge between us and the Holy Community.
One way he loves to do this is by setting us at odds with
each other. This is why Paul warns us: “Finally, let the Lord make you strong.
Depend on his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor. Then you can stand firm
against the devil’s evil plans. Our fight is not against human beings. It is
against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world. So put on all of God’s
armor. Evil days will come. But you will be able to stand up to anything. And
after you have done everything you can, you will still be standing.” (Eph.
6:10-13 NIRV)
But Satan wants us to believe it is a battle against flesh
and blood so we fight against our brothers and sisters, our fellow man, instead
of him! This is why we should pray for ourselves what Elisha prayed for his
servant: And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the
Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses
and chariots of fire all around Elisha. – (2 Kings 6:17 NIV).
What better weapon could Satan have than causing us to
believe he's not acting when he really is. When we hear about
Satan appearing, demons possessing, rulers, authorities, and powers of this
dark world and the heavenly world we immediately relegate it to Biblical times
and in our minds all these have become little more than myths. Meanwhile Satan
convinces us that, instead of making up Christ and finding our identity there, we
are just sinners saved by grace. This way we accept that, at our best, we are just sinners.
The truth is this; we may not be perfect but we are being perfected by God’s Spirit. But Satan
would have us focus on our imperfections, or, better yet, the imperfections of
others. Now we are back to warring with the very people with whom God wants us
united.
When we have the eyes of faith to see where the true battle
lies and who the true enemy is, it becomes a simple choice of who we want to be
united with: The Godhead or the devil. So which is it? Do you want to share in
the perfectly unified community which is older than time? Do you want to take
your place in forming the very identity of Christ? Partaking of the divine
nature, as Peter calls it? Or do you want to be a play thing in the hands of
the adversary? Make your choice. Take a stand. Don’t miss out on fulfilling the
greatest mystery of universe, the purpose of the ages, and the plea of God’s
Holy Son.
