I am ranting constantly on this blog that God’s way of operation in our lives is always natural, spontaneous and unconscious (NSU), but
we don’t really believe it—not even I, the ranter!
Our addiction to the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, of which we all ate through Adam in the Garden of Eden, tells us that “Yes, you can be an outstanding Christian that people notice! You can be successful and productive, if you just try a little harder to be more obedient, pray, read your Bible and witness just a bit more consistently!” If we are unaware of mankind’s history in the Garden “in Adam,” this unconscious addiction of wanting to be “good” and not “evil” is too strong for us to overcome.
So, God’s solution is THE CROSS. Jesus did not die alone! Just as we were “in Adam” when he sinned and therefore we fell into sin as well, God has put us “in Christ,” so that when He died, we died with Him. Our old Adamic nature “is finished.” As Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live…” (Galatians 2:20).
Furthermore, not only did God take us to the cross to die in Christ, He tells us that “Even when we were dead in trespasses, GOD MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST (by grace you have been saved), AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5, 6).
What a trip we have taken—crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended, and now SEATED IN JESUS AT GOD”S RIGHT HAND IN HEAVEN! Now Paul, from this vantage point, and looking at the world through the eye of faith (simply believing God’s word is true in his life), can joyfully complete Galatians 2:20: “…but Christ lives in me (my “old man’s” sinful, earthly, physical body) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
David, in Psalm 110:1-3, beautifully describes what is happening in more detail: “The LORD (Jehovah – God the Father) said to my Lord (Adonai – the Messiah, Jesus) ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion (us, the people of God). RULE IN THE MIDST OF YOUR ENEMIES! Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.”
Jehovah God’s command to Jesus, who was then seated at His right hand as ruler over the earth, was to “rule in the midst of your enemies” (fallen humanity on the earth). How can that be? Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, now fully the perfect Man, the “Son of Man,” cannot be in two places at the same time!
Here’s how God accomplishes that impossible task, and in doing so fulfills His original intent for man! At Pentecost mankind received the Holy Spirit and became the “rod of Your strength” as ”volunteers in the day of Your power!” in Psalm 110. Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, is right now living THROUGH US here on the earth (Galatians 2:20), in the very “midst of Your enemies.” Wherever we go, whatever we do, with whomever we interact—THE RULE OF JESUS CHRIST HAS COME TO THAT PLACE! The Lord’s Prayer is answered there! We are His on-site Vice-Regents, ruling from Heaven, through these sinful bodies which are dynamically active here on the earth!
So, we are indeed “out of the way,” just as today’s blog posting title implores us to be. This rule, as we have seen in our Ship of the Kingdom diagram, expresses itself through the family, church and civil government. At Pentecost, we (mankind) began to literally watch God fulfill our commission to rule over the earth, NSU! Next week we will begin to see how that is happening. Get ready for a surprise!
