New Year, New Vision

  

“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 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 17:20-26 NIV)

Jesus’s greatest desire for us is perfect love and unity between the Father, Himself, the Holy Spirit, and you and me.

And in this place of perfect love and unity, we have no fear of any curse, condemnation, sickness, rejection, or failure, because in the presence of perfect love, all fear is cast out:

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.  He that feareth is not made perfect in love.  (1John 4:16-18 KJV)

Also in this place of perfect unity with the Trinity, our identity changes from a natural human to something totally different – we become a brand new creation.  A brand-new identity. What exactly is this brand new "creation" that we've become?

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation... God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NIV)

For years, I’ve always thought of reconciliation to mean that we were sinners, we were forgiven by Jesus's blood, and now we are friends with God.  Through the cross, we were reunited with the Father.

And that is certainly true.  It's accurate, but is it the complete picture?  I wonder this because the reconciliation verse is right in the middle of two other verses.  The "new creation" verse (v16), and the “in him we might become the righteousness of God” verse (v21).

And these 2 verses sound a lot like the second meaning of reconciliation.  When you reconcile your checkbook to the bank statement, it means you make the two identical.

When Jesus came to earth, He identified with us, became like us, by becoming human.  But then He was raised from the dead and transformed back into His true identity – King of kings and Lord of lords.

What if He is asking us to identify, to become like Him, now?  Not by us becoming God, but by us becoming one with God, and therefore becoming partakers of His Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4). 

What if we envision the Glory of God as Jesus describes it in the John 17 passage above?  Jesus in the Father, Jesus in us, we in Him, saturated and surrounded by His Glory and Love.  

The promise for beholding His Glory is stunning.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:15-18 KJV)

As we behold the Glory of the Lord, we are changed into that same image.

I’ll admit, this new image of the Glory of God will take some time for me to acclimate to.  I’m used to envisioning the Father on His Throne, Jesus on His throne, both of them surrounded in Glory, with the River of Life pouring out of Them and down to me.  I guess my old vision is more in line with Daniel 7.

Now though, when I behold His Glory, I'm going to try my best to make it look more like Jesus's prayer in John 17.  Jesus in the Father, Jesus in me.  Every cell in my body saturated and glowing in His Supernatural River of  Life, Light, Love, Power, and Glory.  

And then, as amazing as this new image is, what if we add more?  What if we add John 7:38 to the mix and envision this Supernatural River of Life flowing out of us, bringing miracles, salvation, deliverance, and healing to a lost, hungry, and desperately seeking world? 

New Year, new vision.

 

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:38-39 NIV)

For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.  (Acts 17:28 KJV)

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the Heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 2:6 NIV)

But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away... But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:15-18 KJV)

we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV)

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  (Luke 17:20,21 KJV) 

Christ in You, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 KJV)

 

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.  Used by permission of Zondervan.  All rights reserved worldwide.www.zondervan.com.  The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.