We have recognized our addiction, openly repented and believed tha
t Daddy has forgiven and forgotten our sin of wanting to be “good” the way only He is good. Furthermore, He has given us His Holy Spirit to be good IN us—naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU)—with absolutely no help from us and no credit to us.
We have no clue (until someone tells/shows us) that when we are walking by faith in this way, we can legitimately and truthfully say, just as did our perfect, pattern man, Jesus Christ, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). That is our heritage—why we were created. What else could it mean when God says “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26), but that we will look like God?
When He came to earth as a man, “Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God. Instead he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us” (Philippians 2:6, 7). While He was here on the earth on His mission to save the world, Jesus laid aside His prerogative to act as God, and became a man, just as we are. After receiving the Holy Spirit at His baptism as He began His ministry, He lived just as we can now live—by faith in the Holy Spirit to live through Him—but He did so absolutely perfectly, because He had no sin nature in His physical body to make His walk an imperfect one, as do we.
Now we can see how Jesus could say “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (and send the Holy Spirit to you at Pentecost so you can live on earth by Him, just as I have! – John 14:12). In a real sense, Pentecost prepared us to be the first “second coming” of Jesus!
Each of us is equipped, just as Jesus was, to do just what Jesus did, as God lives in us “…according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). In his book, Megashift, written in the early 2000’s, author Jim Rutz chronicles his year-long trip around the world to investigate what God is doing in the cities, rural areas, and the jungles, events of which the world knows nothing. This included rapidly-multiplying, spontaneously-started, non-professional leadership churches, with signs and wonders galore. including multiple resurrections from the dead that Rutz personally witnessed.
This demonstrates that the “greater works” which Jesus refers to in John 14:12 are quantitative, not qualitative works. The Holy Spirit was only working through one human body while Jesus was on the earth. However, since the Ascension, God’s coronation of Jesus as King over the earth, and then Jesus’ delegation of that authority to rule to us at Pentecost, those works of the Spirit have exploded over the whole world! (Daniel 7:13, 14, 17, 27; Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:13)
So, in summary, Jesus now rules from His Father’s right hand in Heaven, through His people here on the earth, by His Holy Spirit, Who is performing the “greater works” of Jesus through us!
Wow! Do you see it? Each day, all the church members, encouraged and built up as they have met together that week, are spreading out over the world, as plumbers, salesmen, lawyers, carpenters, homemakers, professional athletes, doctors, teachers, etc. They are all “walking by faith,” just as their church has equipped them to do, performing the essentials to be excellent at whatever their profession, and the “Fruit of the Spirit” (love, joy, peace, etc. – Galatians 5:22, 23) is flowing from them to all they naturally meet in the process!
And they don’t even know what is happening! They are energized naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU) by the Spirit of God, and they are “ruling” as they do so. They are doing just what Jesus did as they do their jobs. They are “Jesus on the earth today,” touching whomever they happen to meet with the very life of God, completely NSU.
They are dangerous, atomic hand-grenades to the Devil’s minions they will encounter wherever they go. They will indubitably face, then defeat, and finally rule over those enemy forces with the love, joy and peace that always accompanies The Truth—the law of God applied by the Spirit of God, always extends the rule of God, which is His Kingdom.
When the church awakens, sees this vision, shakes its addiction, ambition and empire-building, and believes that, as we trust Jesus, His Spirit is energizing all we do, our commission to rule over the earth will be fulfilled! As we walk out the door every morning, our thoughts will be,“Let’s go, Jesus! Who will You touch today? Who will you love on through me? I can’t wait to see who it will be! Let’s attack!”
