BORN OF GOD

"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:13

The Full Force of Heaven, Jesus Christ, Coming into the Soul.
Site date: 1/19/2019

INTRODUCTION
"Fulfil ye my joy,
that ye be like minded, having the SAME ..." Php 2:2

"Jesus Christ the SAME yesterday,
and to day, and forever." Heb 13:8
This site is a No Illusion Zone, dedicated to what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29,
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
From Jesus' point of view, coming to Him is all about rest for your soul.
That being the case, this site is dedicated to the doing away of all illusions concerning God's salvation.
Death is the graveyard of all illusions no matter what. Death will find us all out. The only answer to man's dilemma is the Lord Jesus Christ who is both light and life.
Man lives in all kinds of illusions concerning many things in this world. Christians also live in many illusions concerning their salvation.
It is the object of this site (and also The Satisfied God podcast) to do away with all illusions that would negate the purpose of our coming to Christ: Rest for our Soul.
It is my belief that since A.D., most of the woes of Christianity and mankind can be traced back to either the minimizing or the belittling of the new birth (born of God, born again, born from above, saved). This will become clearer in the following discussions.

Based on John 1:13, "Born of God" will be divided in two parts: Not of Man and But of God.
Let's see how far "Born of God" will take us, free from any limitations or restrictions imposed by man.
We will first explore the "not of man" aspect of this verse to gain momentum towards that goal.

Email address: johnckucera72@yahoo.com
Born of God Part 1: NOT OF MAN
The Lord made it very evident that being " Born of God" would not have man as its source in any way, shape, or form: "...not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man." First of all, the Lord makes it very clear here that "Born of God" is totally separate from being born of man. It is not a physical, earthly birth related to bloods and flesh. It is a totally spiritual birth. One birth is totally earthly, and one is totally heavenly. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6) "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." (1 Corinthians 15:48)

Then the Lord excludes "the will of man," doing away with all loopholes for man coming in and hijacking being "Born of God," except in the imaginations and illusions of man's mind. Oh, how man hates to be bypassed, and God, in defining being "Born of God," did just that. Man to this day cannot get his mind around the fact that God introduced and produced a salvation that excludes him, man, from completing it in any way. All he can do is receive it and see what he has received.

Man definitely has a strong will, and God knew that man in many ways would try to circumvent, change, water down, complicate, or become the measure, the reference point, the reality, the consummation, the foundation, the substance and/or the evidence of God's salvation. It is in his very nature from the garden of Eden to "be as God" : "...for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) It is our nature by birth to do so. Jesus' thought about man is seen in John 2:24-25, "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man."

Paul was very concerned that someone would come in and complicate God's salvation. 2 Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Paul warns believers in many places to beware of someone coming in to "...spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 2:8) "... beguile (defraud) you of your reward.." (Colossians 2:18) He warns of someone coming in and saying that it is Christ plus something else for your salvation to be complete. Paul's confrontation with Peter is an example of his concern. Galatians 2:11-14 and Galatians 3:1-3, "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

Paul was afraid of man coming in and adding something to God's salvation. When this happens, salvation becomes an eternal, never-ending equation that is constantly changing and needs to be continualy revised due to some external new circumstance. Paul would say, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." (Galatians 5:9) What does that mean? If you add or subtract from the absoluteness of Jesus Christ in you as being the fullness of your salvation when you were born again, when you began in the Spirit, then you have done away with Jesus Christ in you as being the absoluteness of your salvation. You take away one element of absolute from absolute; then it is no longer absolute.

Paul would ask, "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" You started with a totally heavenly birth which was perfect in every way, and now you are back down here trying to perfect that heavenly birth in the flesh. That heavenly birth, Christ in you, is all the substance and evidence that your salvation needs to be your perfect relationship with God. Now you are trying to be the substitute for the very substance and evidence of what Christ in you already is. "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" You can't make something that is already perfect more perfect than it is. When salvation becomes Christ plus or minus something else, it becomes very complex and complicated. It loses its simplicity, the simplicity that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 11:3. But our salvation never changes. It is not progressive in any way. It is constantly "Christ in you." (Colossians 1:27) Jesus never changes: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) The strength of our salvation lies in the fact that it is absolute. You take the element of absolute out of salvation, and it is no longer salvation. Our Salvation is never progressive like some would have you believe. (More on that later in the "But of God" Part II.)

Satan's playground is gray territory. Gray territory is the absence of absolutes. Satan took away the absolutes of what God said to Adam and Eve in the garden. "...Is it so that God has said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" and "You shall not surely die." (Genesis 3:1,4) Satan creates gray territory. Why? Because the foundation of our strength is that our salvation is absolute in every way. The very characteristic of a foundation is that it is absolute. Once you do away with the absolutes of our salvation, then it is not salvation at all. It becomes a free-for-all with everybody adding their 2 cents. There are so many platforms of faith today in modern Christianity. Just look at ourselves. We are a revolving door mentally, emotionally, hormonally, physically, and environmentally. We and things around us are constantly changing. That's why we are not the foundation of our salvation. We are excluded from the equation of being "Born of God" except for being recipients of this overwhelming gift of rest from God and seeing who it is: the person of the Lord Jesus, Christ in you whose fullness came into your soul when you were born again.

The sad thing is that even with so many variables going on with us, we somehow can convince ourselves, or we allow someone to convince us that we are God's reference point for salvation. So many fall under the spell of that persuasion and are brought into the bondage of this illusion. Making God's salvation subject to so many variables sets the stage for Manipulation. Man in so many cases has done just that. Even Einstein would have a hard time figuring out man's equation for salvation. One group says it's Christ plus or minus this, and another says it's plus or minus that. The more complicated, the more man-centered that salvation can be made, the easier it is for man to manipulate it for his own purposes. So many born-again believers are sucked in to going back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to solve their problems, whatever they may be. We, in our minds, leave the Tree of Life and return to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to figure out our salvation. In many cases we don't even realize that we have left the Tree of Life, Christ in us, and are eating of this tree to find rest for our souls or to understand our salvation or to perfect our relationship with God, when all the while we are over here at the Tree of Life.

There are multitudes of variables at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree is a self-destruct tree. This tree will eat your lunch. It will chew you up and spit you out. It magnifies self-awareness and self-analysis. "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3:7) It will cause you to lose sight of your first love. You will wind up in variable land with you as the absoluteness of your salvation which is never absolute. You can get depressed and frustrated in a heartbeat. You become your own salvation there. Your salvation will be dependent on the external which is changing all the time instead of Christ in you. Christ in you will seem far away. This tree will steal the joy of your salvation. God said, "Don't eat of or touch that tree, lest you die." But Adam and Eve did not believe God, and look what happened: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) It started a chain reaction that continues to this day.

The only way out this dilemma is the introduction of another birth: "Born of God." Anything can be justified at this self-destruct tree, and anything can be condemned there. World wars and religious wars have their origin here. One man's good is another man's bad. The end can easily justify the means. A good example of this is Cain killing Abel. They did not have a bad argument. Abel was killed because God accepted Abel's sacrifice, a type of Christ, and rejected Cain's, his own sacrifice. Why? Because the condition of man from this tree is sin, death, and darkness. It is the condition that we are born into. It is called the law of sin and death in Adam. Paul said, "...even when I would do good, evil is present with me." (This is before Paul came to Christ and will be discussed later on). This good and bad tree is not the answer to someone who is born of God, but it looks so good, is pleasant to the eyes, and will make wise. (Genesis 3:6) It is such a temptation to go to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to find the answers to man's problems, so we are deceived in staying there. And the beat goes on and on and on, from one problem to another. The only thing absolute about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that there is absolutely no rest for your soul there. With this tree as its reference point, salvation becomes a multitude of steps, depending on which group you are in.

The REALITY of our salvation is ONE GIANT STEP: "Born of God." The irony is that anyone in any of these many groups of Christianity that are "Born of God" have exactly the same salvation to the same degree. Yet they stay separated because of various manmade doctrines. So sad that is. The beginning and the end, Jesus Christ, is this ONE GIANT STEP FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN: "Born of God," A BIG REST FOR YOUR SOUL.

I conclude that God's salvation is not of man in any way except for man receiving this awesome gift of rest which is "...exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think..." (Ephesians 3:20) and then seeing what we have received. That concludes Part I for now. Any additions will be noted as such later. I refer you to Rabon Byrd's Knowing The Satisfied God podcast for more Old and New Testament examples of our "not of man" salvation. I generalize; Rabon explains things in detail. Now let's see how far we can go with "Born of God," free of all limitations and restrictions of man.

I felt it necessary to add the following to the "Not of Man" part of our general topic.

I am not doing way here with knowing what is the difference between right and wrong. I am not saying that. I make decisions on common sense moral values everyday. And there are consequences to the decisions we make here on earth whether you are born again or not. But the problem comes in when the reference point of the world for righteousness and the reference point for the church for righteousness is the same reference point: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The church has a heavenly righteousness which is Christ Himself who is representative of the tree of life, "Christ in you" which treasure we have in earthen vessels. (Colossians 1:27, 2 Corinthians 4:7) "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; so that, according as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.'" (1 Corinthians 1:30-31) This righteousness is therefore internal, totally based on the person of Christ Himself in a believer.

The world has an earthly righteousness which relates to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which results in having your own righteousness whatever that may be. This righteousness is an external righteousness based on many external things. The fact of the matter is that you cannot attain unto Righteousness at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. No matter how good a person you are, it does not change the condition of the soul from death and darkness to life and light. When the church's reference point for righteousness is the same as the world or a mixture of both heaven and earth, instead of drawing the world away from this corrupt tree, the church reinforces the world to stay there in the illusion of a corrupt righteousness.

When the righteousness of the church becomes earthly in any way, then the world does not have any standard different than itself for righteousness, and that righteousness is then up for grabs depending on a multitude of factors. This mixture in the church of a heavenly righteousness and an earthly righteousness is not only confusing to the world but causes a lot of confusion in the church. Bottom line - this confusion keeps mankind embracing a corrupt righteousness. He is blind and in a state of denial concerning his true condition. He is under the law of sin and death. This confusion keeps the church blind and in a state of denial of its true condition which is free from the law of sin and death by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 1:1-2) Everyone pays the price for this confusion. Now on to Part II.


Born of God Part 2: BUT OF GOD

In an all out effort to make sure that the weight of our salvation is on being "Born of God" where it should be, you will notice that I am quite redundant in stating that because if the weight of our salvation is not on "Born of God," it will by default be on us, and we who have come to Jesus heavy-laden will remain so. Therefore, please excuse the following redundancies aimed at making sure our coming to Jesus corresponds with what Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Great Salvation

To begin to understand the awesomeness of the great salvation God has given us through His Son, it is very important to know how God views things versus how man views things. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) Also, "For a thousand years in Your sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." ( Psalms 90:4) "But, beloved, let not this one thing be hidden from you, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." ( 2 Peter 3:8) I mention these time and space scriptures here just to reinforce the difference between the way God views things and the way man views things. God is not locked up in time and space. Man is locked up in time and space. Man continually tries to put God in that box, and that box continually blows up. God just does not fit in that box. More on these time/space verses later on when we touch on the subject of consummation.

Well, there is a great deal of difference, as you can see from these scriptures, between God's thoughts and ways and man's thoughts and ways. The distance between heaven and earth has been brought out several times thus far. That brings us to a very important consideration: how God views mankind and how man views mankind. God sums up all mankind in one man Adam. He is no respecter of persons. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive...The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (1 Corinthians 15:22; 47-49) "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned..." (Romans 5:12) In Romans 5:15-21 the apostle Paul continues to bring out how God is seeing only two men: Adam and Christ. By one man, Adam, we are born into a condition of death, judgment to condemnation, and sin. By one man Jesus Christ, those born of God, born again, receive the gift of grace, life, justification, righteousness and eternal life. God has it all divided up between heaven and earth in two men: Adam and Christ.

Man sees mankind quite differently. Man has mankind divided up into many parts. You have good men and bad men. You have rich men and poor men. You have male and female. You have the superior and the inferior. You have the black, white, brown, red, yellow race, etc., and all kinds of racial differences. And the list goes on. But God has summed up man and all his differences into one man: Adam.

Because of Adam's sin, just by being born into this world all were made sinners. (Romans 5:19) All are born into death and darkness. All mankind is locked into this condition from birth. Man cannot get himself out of this terrible dilemma; he is born into a condition of his soul being absent of Life and Light. This situation of just being born into a super bad situation needed to be reconciled. So God introduced another man who was the opposite of Adam: His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that this situation of man could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:19 states, "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." "Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God...That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:3,6) God's answer to being born into Adam is to be born into Christ. God's answer to a bad birthright is a good birthright. That is why Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Here are the facts: you and I were and always will be known by someone else. We are either known of God in Adam or we are known of God in Christ. Our relationship with God is totally dependent on whether we are in Adam or in Christ. One is a "Big No" relationship with God, and one is a "Big Yes" relationship with God! "But as God is true, our word toward you was not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us; by me and Silas and Timothy; was not yes and no, but in Him was, yes! For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us." (2 Corinthians 1:18-20.)

Coming to Christ

Since all is bad in Adam and all is good in Christ, how does someone get out of Adam and into Christ? Jesus says, "Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." "Come to Me all you who are fatigued and overburdened, and I will give you rest." Are you down under the load of being in Adam separated from God? Then you qualify for the rest that Jesus offers. He will give you an absolute rest relationship, a "yes and an amen" relationship with God.

People all over the world, even as I write, are coming to Jesus right now. They can be alone with a Bible like I was, never really hearing any of these salvation terms like "born again," or "you need to be saved." I was just desperate and had come to the end of me. I opened the Bible, read the first 7 verses of John 15, and here came Light and Life. Jesus "happened" to me. That was 46 years ago. If I only knew then what I know now, things would have been so much easier. I lived in many illusions about my relationship with God, thus this website. People come to Christ from hearing the Word in different churches, Bible groups, hotel rooms, homes, TV, radio, pamphlets on salvation, friends sharing Christ, Bibles in libraries, etc. God basically spoon feeds salvation to anyone whose heart sincerely turns to Him.

"But the righteousness of faith says this: 'Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven?' that is, to bring Christ down; 'Who shall descend into the deep?'; that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what does it say? 'The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart'; that is, the Word of Faith which we proclaim; Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. For the Scripture says, 'Everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame.' For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is RICH to all who call on Him. For 'whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans 10:6-13)

I know of a person who was born again and did not know much more about her salvation afterward. She died. I was aware there was an issue between this person and another, but I did not know that it needed to be dealt with. In dealing with this issue, the Lord let me know in a marvelous way that this person was with Him, and that issue was forever settled. All issues between the born-again are eventually resolved in Him, no matter what they are. That is an absolute. All illusions of grandeur are consumed by the glory of God. So, don't write off anyone as hopeless just because they did not pursue the knowing of their salvation after they were born of God. Don't get me wrong; the Lord wants you to pursue the knowing of what you have received when you were born again. The Lord wants you to find (enjoy), see, and know the relationship of rest that you have been brought into when you came to Him. This knowing, seeing, revealing isn't based on something that comes into existence because you now see it. What is revealed is what God has seen and known right when you were born again. Your salvation is not dependent on you knowing anything about it. I knew zero about what happened to me when I was born again. Peter says it this way, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever..." If you were born again, you are in Christ whether you know it or not. You might think that you just got forgiveness and a ticket to heaven if you play your cards right, but God sees and knows a "Born of God" person in Christ: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

Here is the story. When someone comes to Jesus, the most miraculous thing that will ever happen to him or her immediately takes place. A believer is brought into a rich, wealthy, at rest relationship with God. The following is what God sees even if you are totally ignorant of it. Again, it is what God sees and knows that counts. He alone defines and is the definition of our salvation, not what we think about it or what someone else thinks about it. God defines and is the REALITY of our salvation. This is what He sees and knows: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son..." (Colossians 1:13) "Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My Word and believes on Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life." (John 5:24) God sees that believer pass out of Adam into Christ. Someone who is actually born again might still think that they are yet in Adam on their way to heaven. They might think a lot of things because the reference point of their salvation is still the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They might think that their relationship with God fluctuates with their external actions, emotions, physical well-being, or a change in their environment, but God totally knows them by another person now that they have come to Christ. Christ now is the full measure of their relationship with God as Adam was once the full measure of their relationship with God.

No matter what anyone did to get out of Adam, they could not get out of Adam. They were locked in by birth, just by being born. If they really tried really really hard, they might have reached the level of being as perfect as Paul describes in Philippians 3:5:7, "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." But no matter how hard they tried to escape, they were still in Adam. We are all bound and locked into what Paul describes in Romans 7, the hopelessness of even when we do good, evil is still present with us! Why? Because being the best human being ever cannot change the condition of your soul. Paul says that his best was not good enough to free him from the law of sin and death in Adam. That is what Romans 7 is about. Nothing you did could get you out of Adam. How do you think it is now that you are in Christ? Romans 5:12- 21 says that however it was in Adam it is now much more in Christ but in completely the opposite direction.

Do you think that you can just slip and fall out of Christ? I personally have tried to get out of Christ and told God to leave me alone a couple of times. I was extremely mad at God for not killing me when He saved me. I was a real basket case, and just living was very hard for me. He did not even pay any attention to me. When I finally calmed down, there He was. He had not gone anywhere. He abides faithful because the reference point of our salvation is not us in any way, shape, or form. It is Christ in you and you in Him from the point of new birth. You don't finally work your way into Him and He in you because you now know so much about your salvation. That happened when you and I knew nothing about it. Now, I am speaking here based on the witness of the Word, the Holy Spirit, and my experience in Christ for these 46 years. I know others, and myself especially, that have really blown it so many times it is pathetic. I would like to say that it was not done willfully, but I would be lying if I did. But in spite of the dumbness and frailty of our flesh, the Lord's salvation is greater. His salvation is greater than us all the time. "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23) When we fall, no one has to tell us about ourselves. We know ourselves pretty well if we are at least somewhat honest. Our relationship with Him remains steadfast and fixed on the person of Christ in us. Rabon Byrd explains this quite well using Balaam trying to curse Israel from several mountain tops. (Numbers chapters 22 and 23) Every time he winds up blessing them, overlooking all their shortcomings as a people because the Lord knew Israel by Christ. "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn..." (Exodus 4:22)

Balaam saw all of Israel summed up in Christ, and all he could do every time was bless them to the dismay of the people who hired him to curse Israel. How much more so now actually being in Christ! It still is amazing to me that every morning His mercies are new. It is like the past is gone, and this day is a fresh start. This allows us to get up and go on and on and on and on. Why? Because we are " kept by the power of God.." (1 Peter 1:5)

This power of God refers to being "Born of God." As stated before, the Word, receiving Him, power to become, and fullness are all found in John 1:1-14. These all find their substance and evidence in being "Born of God." That is when a believer is translated out of Adam into Christ, is passed from death unto Life. That's when a receiver of Christ is blessed with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and made accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:3, 6) Now notice that it is not some or most of the spiritual blessings. You get "the whole nine yards"! That's the way it is said where I come from. Nothing is left out. There are no loose ends that I need to tie together. Another aspect of being in Christ is that you and I are made accepted in the beloved, made righteous. (Ephesians 1:6; Romans 5:19) In Adam we were made sinners, and in Christ we are made accepted. In fact, the only way anyone is accepted of God is to be made accepted in Christ by Christ. The apostle Paul states in Colossians 2:10, "And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power..." He is the head of all principalities and powers. That includes you and me and everybody else. This completion happened through no fault or effort of our own. It comes with the territory called Jesus Christ. When did that completion happen to your soul? When you were translated " ..delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son..." (Colossians 1:13) That happened instantly when we were born again. It is complete then because Christ Himself is the completion of it then. Right at new birth, He is the beginning and end of our salvation. We have a complete salvation right up front.

What Happened

Paul goes on explaining what happened to you when you were translated into Christ from Adam, "In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross..." (Colossians 2:11-14) And "For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3) All this is true just by receiving Christ. " For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." God only knows you by one life when you are in Christ, and that life is Christ. He knows us by that Life which is Christ because that is the only Life there. Right when we came into Christ, we died and Christ became our Life and relationship with God. Again, this is what God sees and knows independent of our knowing anything about it. All I knew when I was born again, was life and light came in, and the death and the darkness and the fire was gone. No one was there to say what that meant, but God knew what it meant and that's all that mattered. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 states the same thing, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation..." This is what reconciliation is all about. The old has gone; the new has come. God no longer knows you by the old, Adam, but He knows you by the forever new, Christ, and that Christ in you and you in him.

Paul's ministry was a ministry of reconciliation. For ministry to be ministry in my book it needs to be a ministry of reconciliation, not a "ministry" of separation from God, not a "ministry" of telling Christians what they don't have, but a ministry of telling Christians what they have. "Therefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours, whether it is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:21-23) That's Paul's answer to the carnality of the Corinthian church. You got it all. Even after coming down hard on the Galatian church, the apostle tells them, "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:25-29) That was Paul's answer to the Christians there who had added something of the old to Christ because someone convinced them that their salvation was not complete without it. Sad to say that Peter was responsible for that happening. (Galatians Chapter 2) So the Apostle Paul ushered in God's view of them in Christ. God's answer to their dilemma was "you are complete in Christ."

Faith

Just a note about when does faith come. It comes into believers when the Person of faith comes into the soul. With Christ comes the faith of Christ. We are justified, made righteous, by the faith of Christ. Christ Himself is made unto us righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30) We were "translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son" by the "faith of the operation of God" which is by the faith of Christ. "...having known also that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, if not through the faith of Jesus Christ, also we in Christ Jesus did believe, that we might be declared righteous by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law, wherefore declared righteous by works of law shall be no flesh." (Galatians 2:16 Young's literal translation) This leads to Galatians 2:20-21, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."

Paul declares the same thing in Colossians 3:3-4, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory," and in Romans 6:11, "Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." These scriptures equate to 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The foundation of all these scriptures is Christ in us from new birth. What is Paul really getting at here? The real takeaway here is that when we came to Jesus we immediately were brought into a salvation without sin. We will get into this in more detail later on in the light of Hebrews 9:28. What Paul is saying here is that since you have come to a salvation without sin, reckon it so. Thank God that old things are passed away in our relationship with Him by the faith of Christ, and by the faith of Christ everything is now new, Christ Himself in us being the substance and evidence of that which is past and the new which has come. Thank God that He no longer knows us by sin. Our relationship with him now is one of Christ as our righteousness. That is why we have a "not I, but Christ" relationship with God which is true whether we know it or not.

In Christ, it is only Christ; just like in Adam, it was only Adam. That is the way God reconciled the problem with all being born into Adam. It's what Jesus did in himself at the cross that allowed us to be brought out of Adam and into Christ with only Christ as our only life. In Adam, Adam was our only "life." In Adam we were dead in sin. Now in Christ we are dead to sin and alive unto God, Christ Himself in us being the absolute substance and evidence of this impossible reality. That is why Jesus said with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. The faith of Christ forged in the fire of His death, burial, and resurrection made the impossible, possible. We are dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore reckon on the fact that we truly have come to a salvation without sin right when we were "Born of God." When we came to Christ, we died, and Christ became our life. Reckon that to be so because it is so. That is Christ in us. Well, to me that is Hallelujah Time. Thank you, Jesus!

Here are Paul's words of reconciliation to the Ephesian church, declaring the good news to those who have already come to Christ. The old is gone and the new has come instantly when they came to Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-9, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Right when we are quickened with Christ, born of God, we go from sin to heavenly places in Christ, from an earth relationship with God to a heavenly relationship with God, all because God is rich in mercy and great love. Now that is good news. That is a ministry of reconciliation. Paul uses this same Greek word g2643 (reconciliation) in Romans 5:11 right before he introduces God's view of reconciliation, being born in Adam but with the hope of being born in Christ. "And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." King James translates this word as "atonement," but it is translated in several translations as "reconciliation." That is the subject here. How is God going to reconcile this seemingly impossible situation? Matthew 19:26, "But Jesus looked on them and said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Well, Jesus is the "all things of God" who has accomplished this impossible act of reconciliation. Right before going to the cross, Jesus prays a prayer "that they may be one, as we are" and "that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gave to me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17:11, 21-23) Jesus is praying the will of God here. The whole problem here for Jesus is that He knows that He is the only one who can fulfill the prayer that He has prayed. It is an impossible prayer for anyone other than Himself to answer. So, the Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed for the will of God, goes to the cross and performs the will of God, and then He Himself becomes the embodiment of the will of God that he prayed for. He becomes the answer and the embodiment of the prayer He prayed for in John 17 in His death, burial and resurrection. He Himself became the super miracle of the reconciliation of God, bringing "whosoever will" into a relationship with God that is exceedingly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us, Christ in us. Jesus, being the embodiment of the prayer He prayed comes into the soul and brings that soul into a relationship with God "one, as we are."

In our earthly birth we were married to our husband Adam, but now in our heavenly birth we are married to our husband Christ. (Romans 7: 2-3) Christ in us and us in Christ. This marriage is consummated when we are born again. "..one, as we are." Now, folks, that is as close as we are going to get to God. Jesus prayed the ultimate prayer of reconciliation for mankind for whosoever will come to Him. "...but He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:24-25) When does this uttermost salvation come into the soul? When we are born of God. The "uttermost" comes into the soul when Jesus enters into the soul. Our salvation will never get beyond the "uttermost." That is a perfect relationship with God. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..." (1 Timothy 2:5) He mediated a perfect relationship with God in Himself. He Himself is the treasure of that relationship in every born-again believer.

Being Deceived

Now, many have put that perfect relationship that Christ Himself is the substance and the evidence of, off into the future, whether intentionally or unintentionally I don't know. We will leave that alone. God knows. One of the scriptures that has been misinterpreted to do that is Hebrews 9:28, "...so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation." When this scripture is put off into the future, something that we come to in the future, then all of a sudden, we don't have a perfect salvation when we are born of God. If this is something we have not come to yet, then we do not have a salvation without sin. Until this appearing takes place, we do not have a salvation without sin. Then you ask yourself, "What is salvation if it is not one without sin? I have to have this appearing to have a salvation without sin since the one I have presently is one with sin because I know that I sin from time to time. I can't deny that. Then this special appearing is therefore absolutely necessary for my salvation to be complete because what is salvation if sin is still the reference point of it?" When this scripture is taken out of context, that is what you come up with. Many have been deceived, including me, with that misinterpretation.

Let's look at this scripture in the context that it was meant to be interpreted in. "...but now once in the end of the world He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation." (Hebrews 9:26-28) Now, no one in their right minds will debate with you that the first appearing talked about here is the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. There's no doubt about that. There is a question about this second appearing. The original scriptures do not have the word "time" in them. I think that was added by the translator because according to our five senses, it doesn't seem like we have a salvation without sin right now because we are looking at ourselves as the substance and evidence of our salvation instead of Christ in us. We think this scripture must be referring to some future appearing of some kind, and that must be when our salvation is finally consummated.

Some think this is the second coming with Christ coming back in a glorified body that you can see with the natural eye. Some say that this appearing is the appearing of Christ in you. Until the Christ that is in you appears, you do not have a salvation without sin. That is preached as the revelation of Jesus Christ. This revelation is a must so that you can finally have a salvation that is complete. That revelation of Christ, as important as it is in our walk after we are born again, does not apply here. I will make that more clear in the next chapter when we deal with two scripture verses that do pertain to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Christ that is in you revealed. Back to Hebrews 9:28. When does this second appearing take place? It takes place in those who are looking for Him. I was looking for Him way back in 1972. I was desperately looking for Him in a Bible I had never read before, and He, the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared in me right then. I did not know any of this terminology back then at all.

Appearing

That appearing of Christ, referred to in Hebrews 9:28, takes place in a believer when they are born again. That is the appearing of the second. "The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven." (1 Corinthians 15:47) I said all that to say this: when anyone is born again, they receive a salvation without sin right into their soul, Christ the Lord. At that moment in time they are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and a salvation without sin is included. End of conversation. We all have received a "yes and an Amen" salvation right from the start. It is not a "yes, but with the exception of this..." kind of salvation. The "Amen" again to Hebrews 9:28 is 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Now we will look at two scripture verses that deal with the knowing, the revealing of Christ in the believer, after they are saved. Matthew 11:29, "Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls." Colossians 3:4, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory." First of all, this knowing and appearing, is a Spirit-revealed understanding and seeing of what already is, not just a knowing about Jesus, or an appearing of Christ that is independent of the new birth. In fact, without being "Born of God" these two verses would not have a leg to stand on. Matthew 11:29 is totally dependent on Matthew 11:28, and Colossians 3:4 is totally dedpendent on Colossians 3:3. Both of these foundational scriptures, Matthew 11:28 and Colossians 3:3, are the reference point for learning Christ and the revealing of Christ.

The fact of the matter is that the substance and the evidence of our salvation is a gift of rest that comes with being born again, and the substance and the evidence of Christ being our Life is also the gift that happens when we are born again. The kind of learning and appearing here is the Spirit revealing the Person of our salvation, Christ in us, that has been the Rest and our Life with God since we were born again. It is a seeing and appearing of the way God has known us right when we came to Jesus. This learning and appearing has no substance in itself. After we are saved, it is His desire to show us the treasure we have received when we came to Christ, who is both our Rest and Life with God. The main thing not to do is to declare or in any way insinuate that our salvation does not have substance and evidence until we learn Christ, or until He is revealed in us, or until He appears. Paul declares "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ..." (Ephesians 1:3) He then prays that God would reveal the Person, Jesus Christ, who in them, is the substance and the evidence of these statements. Paul wants these believers to know as they are already known of God. From what reference point? When they were born again. That is when Christ became their Life with God, and therefore, they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. My point is that the knowing and the appearing is to show the believer that the substance and evidence of their Rest and Life with God has been there since they were saved. God has been knowing them this way all along since the new birth, and the Holy Spirit is here just for that purpose: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 16:13-15)

When this learning and appearing is said to be necessary in order for you to attain unto a rest that is presently not there or to attain unto having Christ as your life as if he is not already your life, then that is a real deception that will lead to just a knowing about Jesus and an imaginary revealing of Him. In fact, it will draw a believer away from the true reality of Christ in them and the awesomeness of what this means to God: a perfect relationship with himself apart from any knowing and appearings. Be careful here. If the reference point of your salvation is the learning and the revealing, you or someone else will become the substance and evidence of your salvation. Dangerous!

You can only learn Him and come to this appearing by the Spirit showing you what is already there. He shows (reveals) to you the way you are already known by revealing to you what you have already come to in Christ. It is never futuristic in substance and evidence. Substance and evidence is always NOW in Christ because it is the person of Christ Himself in us. It is my sincere belief that if we preach the magnificence of Christ which brings us into a perfect salvation without sin from new birth, and if we pray for a revealing of the perfect person of that relationship, then a believer will automatically turn to see what he has already come to in Christ. The opposite is true however. A believer will never come to anything that is not already there in the person of Christ in them. That is impossible and leads to much frustration and deception. There is absolutely no rest for the soul there. If it is not already real by the Person of Christ in us, we will never come to the reality of it. Our salvation does not have two foundations. The substance and evidence of our salvation cannot be in two places: "Born of God," (Christ in us) and the revealing, knowing, or seeing of Christ in us. If that is the case, then our salvation is not complete when we are born again. We have an incomplete salvation that is dependant on how much we know or have seen (Christ revealed) of our salvation. If you run this to its end, then we, the believers, will become the substance and evidence of our salvation; and therefore, our salvation will not be absolute, and will rise and fall dependent on all kinds of things that happen to us inwardly and outwardly.

With knowing as the basis of salvation, man is free to fill in the blanks of salvation. All kinds of different beliefs come to be because of this. The really sad thing is that the absoluteness of a believer's salvation is lost. Right when we become the reference point of our salvation in any way, knowing Him being just another one of those ways, then we lose sight of the absoluteness of our salvation. When knowing Him becomes the substance and evidence, then "Born of God" is not the substance and evidence of our salvation. You can argue with this all you want, but I and others have experienced this personally. This is really deceptive. I am all for the knowing of Him but only with Him as the absoluteness of our salvation from new birth as the only reference point of our salvation. Otherwise, that knowing will result in just a knowing about Him and not a true revealing, knowing, seeing of Him in us. Much is then left to our imaginations, and imaginations fail when the trials of life come. We need to be careful that we don't become the god of our own salvation or someone else's. Definitely no rest for your soul is found there.

Learning Him is all about enjoying and appreciating your salvation. Romans 5:11 again, "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation...Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand." (2 Corinthians 1:24) Ministry is not about dominion over anyone's faith; thank God. How can you have dominion over anyone who has the same salvation to the same degree as you do? "For who makes thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? " (1 Corinthians 4:7) Everyone who is born of God has received the same Christ to the same degree. "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 Corinthians 1:13) You can't divide Christ. Christ is a person and therefore cannot be divided. When we are born again, we get all of Him all at once. The church, His body, is defined in this way, "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:22-23) We all get the same wage, the same fulness. The same treasure is in the earthen vessel of each believer. Matthew 20:1-19 refers to everyone getting the same wage no matter when they came on board. The comparison in Verse 20, "So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen" is between Israel and the Gentiles. Israel as a nation rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah; then the Gentiles were brought in. Whether Jew or Greek, both come to the same salvation in Christ. Christ is not divided into special interest groups.

Consummation

This brings us to this term consummation. When is our salvation consummated? Now we go back to the scriptures that I began Part II with: "For a thousand years in Your sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." ( Psalms 90:4) "But, beloved, let not this one thing be hidden from you, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." ( 2Peter 3:8) Time and space are only relevant in this world. God created time and space when He created this world, but God Himself is not bound by time and space. With Him, according to the scriptures above, all things are happening all at once. That is kind of hard to imagine, but the person that got saved in 100 A.D. and the person that got saved today, got saved at the same time to God. We think it is a real long time between the two, but to God it is simultaneous, all at once.

When is our salvation consummated? When the consummation who is Jesus Christ the Lord enters into our soul, when the beginning and the end who is Jesus Christ the Lord enters into our soul. It's so sad to see Christians looking for something that has already happened. Many get caught up looking for this consummation externally. I know of some that thought they would not see physical death only to experience dying. They really believed that would not happen. Some professed that the Lord spoke to them that He was going to come back, in what is known as the second coming of Christ, before they died. Well, they died, and the Lord, according to their expectation, did not come back.

Others keep expecting some kind of consummation year after year. They don't know what it is, but they are sure that there has to be a consummation to this salvation. Some just feel that it is when they die and go to heaven. Whatever the case, these illusions of a consummation have caused a great deal of frustration in many believers when they could have been so comforted that the consummation of their salvation had already come in them right when they were born of God. Instead, they felt abandoned and lied to by God. In some cases people actually prophesied that this particular thing was going to happen before they died. What a needless disappointment these people have gone through. Well, now they realize that they are in glory, and all that disappointment is absolutely not there. All those illusions are long gone. Some believe that the consummation is when Christ is revealed in you, but this is a revealing of something that is already there. The revealing itself is not the consummation. Jesus Christ the Lord Himself is the consummation who has been there from new birth.

Romans 8 declares our present condition now that we are in Christ and brings our salvation to a consummation climax. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." (Romans 8:30) "What, then, shall we say unto these things? if God is for us, who is against us?...Who shall separate us from the love of the Christ? (Answer: Nothing and nobody!)... For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) This is definitely a very strong salvation, very far from frail and fragile, because He (not we) is the foundation of it.

Our salvation is totally done as far as God is concerned. All this happened when we were born of God. When we came to Him, He took over completely. He brought us all the way to glory by, in, and through Jesus Christ in the twinkling of an eye. God totally bypassed man, including ourselves. Our salvation is consummated. Christ is the consummation of it in us at new birth whether we know it or not. We have rest for our souls right from the start.

God has redeemed us from a time and space relationship with Him and brought us into an eternal "in Christ" Spirit relationship with Himself. It is from this place that the Body of Christ is the church in the earth.

Now, Lord, open the eyes of our understanding and give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the recognition of Him, the Word Himself in us, as the substance and evidence of all the many words of this sharing, Amen.