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Seeing Jesus

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1 John 1:3 What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

There are some pretty bold claims in this passage. For one John is saying that they have seen and heard Jesus. Second, he is stating emphatically to this gathering of believers: this fellowship – this experience is available to you. Third, they are not only presently having this kind of relationship with the Ascended Jesus, they are having it with His Father! Those are bold claims.

Jesus made claims like this. In the Gospel of John He makes a bold pronouncement to His disciples when Philip asked to see the Father: Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father [cause us to see the Father—that is all we ask]; then we shall be satisfied. 9 Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father? You could reason, Well, Robert, He is Jesus. Of course He could make that bold claim. But hold on a second. In the letter to the Ephesians Paul prays: May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! AMPC Galatians 2:20 echoes these words when Paul emphatically states:  I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me…

Did you catch it? Paul believed Jesus lived inside of him! And if He lived in Paul He also lives in you and me? The implications behind this are far worse than you can imagine. For Paul is saying, If you have seen me – you have seen Jesus. You may be tempted to say that this is not so bad. But wait a minute. If what Paul says is true of himself it is also true of everyone who calls themselves followers of Jesus. I should be able to confidently say: If you have seen me – you have seen Jesus! If you are a follower of Jesus you should be able to confidently say: If you have seen me – you have seen Jesus! Does that cause you to pause? Why? Could it be that the answer is found in Paul’s prayer? May Christ …through YOUR FAITH …[actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts… Maybe the manifest reality of that truth is weak simply because our faith has been weak. We either don’t believe Pauls’ words, or we don’t believe Jesus, or our focus has been stuck on our performance rather than Who Jesus says He is and the Power of His Word. We believe more in the power of the devils lies than the truths of God’s Word. Now that should wake us all up. What are we doing that awakens and reveals Jesus in and through us? What are we cooperating with that causes our faith to grow so big Jesus comes out?

Luke 17:21 states: People will not say, Look God’s Kingdom is here or there it is! No! God’s Kingdom is in you! Is the weakness of our faith predicated upon the immensity of our king? Who is the King in our life?

Golem

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In Jewish folklore a “Golem” is a clay creature that has been magically brought to life through the use of Jewish witchcraft, or kabbalism. The name comes from the Hebrew word “golem,” which means something incomplete or unfinished, like an embryo. The Talmud relates a tale of rabbis who grew hungry while on a journey–so they created a calf out of earth and ate it for dinner. The  rabbis did this by utilizing a formula set forth in the Sefer Yetzirah, or Book of Creation. Just as God speaks and creates, in the Genesis story, it is believed that certain rabbis can do the same. (The word Abracadabra, incidentally, derives from avra k’davra, Aramaic for “I create as I speak.”) Thus, under the rarest of circumstances, a human being may imbue lifeless matter with that intangible, but essential spark of life: the soul. This idea inspired such tales as Frankenstein and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”  Sometimes the golem saves the Jewish community from persecution or death, enacting the kind of heroism or revenge unavailable to powerless Jews. Often, however, Jewish folktales about the golem tell what happens when things go awry — when the power of life-force goes astray, often with tragic results.

It’s interesting to imagine speaking certain words in order to see a clay figure come to life. But in one sense that’s what Jesus, the Word become flesh, did for us. Hearkening back to the creation account, God formed man from the dust of the earth. But God didn’t just speak a word to have us come to life. He breathed into us His Life. In other words, He “kissed” us to life. When God brought us to life He placed us in the Garden of Eden which existed within earths’ bounds. We became sons and daughter of earth, dirt, or soil. In essence you could make a case that God’s Kingdom had come to earth. What’s really intriguing is that when you read Scripture you can make the deduction that the rest of the earth wasn’t like the Garden: Gen. 1:28 And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.  Thus you see 4 Commands regarding the earth: Be fruitful, multiply, subdue, and have dominion. But then in Gen. 2:7-8,15 it states something different in reference to the Garden: Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted)….And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. (If you ever want to do an interesting word study check out the Hebrew meanings for the individual commands) Thus you can draw the conclusion that Adam and Eve’s call and commission from God was to make the rest of the earth like the Garden.

Yet after the fall, and rebellion of man, we became “golems” with the condition of our earth, and its soil coming under a curse. Three dominions vied for control:

satan’s dominion = Jn. 14:30 I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]

Man’s dominion = Rom. 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh,… 

God’s Dominion = Rom. 8:5 …but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit…

Jesus, the Son of Man (Adam = dust, soil, or earth), comes to our cursed and contaminated soil now dominated by satan, his golems, and He speaks. When He speaks He addresses the condition of the soils in His Parable of the Sower or Soils. In His parable He describes 4 conditions: rocky, thorny, fertile, and crow infested. Each soil condition competes with the Word of God. We know from Scripture that Jesus is the Word of God and that the conclusion could be drawn that these soil conditions are actually competing with Jesus, the Word of God, being manifested in us. In fact we could say that what exists outside of us also exists inside of us.

Eternal life then is seeking to grow God’s Garden to overcome the crows, rocks, and thorns inside of each of us. Jesus, the Master Farmer and Gardener, has established His mission of seeing God’s Kingdom – His Eternal Life Existence – Grow, displacing the works of darkness. The question is are we going to continue to be “golems,” under the bidding of a manipulative sorcerer or are we going to receive the Word of Life in the Garden of God? It’s really about obedience and conformity to the Words of God.